Most creative individuals tend to stick with one discipline and focus on excelling at that. Then you have people like Shinji Aramaki. With a career spanning multiple decades, he has helped shaped the face of anime and games as well as made bold strides in the new field of CG animation. So I was naturally ecstatic when he agreed to an interview.
For many he is known as one of Japan’s top mecha designers. Having been a member of the team that created the original Microman toys back in the 80s. These would later partly become known as Transformers, in case you’re wondering.
Apart from his mecha designing talent, Aramaki is also an animation director and co-runs a CG animation studio. Not only tackling a variety of much loved Japanese properties, such as Harlock and Appleseed, but also garnering the attention of Western outfits like
All this then and it’s maybe no real surprise that he came from relatively humble beginnings. As he explains, “Until I entered high school, I grew up in the North of Kyushu in the rural region surrounding Fukuoka. It was indeed a very small village, as it only had a couple of small shops and to buy something like manga. I had to get onto a bus that came just once an hour. It took about 20 minutes to ride into town. It has not changed much to this day. After I entered junior high school, because it was in the nearby town, I was able to buy my own books other than what was in my local library.”
After his schooling he moved into animation and was one of the few early Japanese designers to work in the US.
“When I worked on Pole Position or Mask, I was still young (around 23-24). It was such a big advantage for me to have had an opportunity to work in America at that age.”
Following on from Mask and Pole Position, he also had a formative role in the designs that would later be used in Transformers.
“While I did not work on the animation for Transformers, I did the original toy designs released by Takara (who are now known as Takara Tomy).”
These original toys were known as Microman in Japan, “These then became the basis for the first Transformers. As the toys were bought out by
The original Microman designs are the Generation One versions of Transformers and for anyone that grew up in the 80s and played with the toys, then you can see that Aramaki’s involvement is a bit of a big deal.
This skill and fascination with transforming mecha also became the basis for his later work back in Japan. As he made a name for himself by designing bikes that would transform around their riders into a new form of power armor.
“Though I no longer ride motorbikes, from around the age of 16 and throughout my 20s I loved motorbikes and rode them a lot. Bikes are simple vehicles that just consist of a few wheels, an engine and its frame. There is nothing wasteful in its construction. Including its instability, it is an exciting and fun vehicle. Though of course it can also be dangerous.”
“From a design point of view, it’s also similar in size to that of a person. There is a joy in controlling it with the sensation that you are one with the machine. Above all there is a real charm to the fact that the vehicle only becomes complete when a human being is riding on it.”
“So I was very excited when I came up with the concept for the Mospeada mecha. With this, the motorbike was a mecha that transformed around the rider and thus became more linked with it. Creating a new type of power suited hero. I still remember how delighted I was when the design of the Mospeada was completed and it was used in the anime, then finally as a transformable toy too.”
“However Mospeada was my first ever design for anime and while I was very happy to see it made into a toy, there were aspects that I was not completely content with. So the Garland, from Megazone 23, built on this mentality of designing transforming motorbikes further. So over time people came to associate me with these types of designs, when really it was more a matter of coincidence in terms of the work I did.”
Naturally his take on what it means to design mecha is also quite interesting, “You need the ability to observe designs as well as to express them, the sensitivity to technological knowledge and the desire to acquire that. You also obviously need a degree of intuition, curiosity for things you've never seen as well as some logical thinking too.”
Though the most important aspect to good mecha design is, “That it is expressive. It has a character and a story behind it. But above all it has to be cool.”
While Aramaki has created a lot of very memorable mecha designs, he’s also had to work for a variety of clients over the years and obviously they all have different ideas on what they want.
“There are various approaches but for me though it most often starts with listening to the ideas directors have and try to realize them into a design. First, I have a meeting with the director so I understand their ideas. Often as I listen to the director, pretty clear images emerge in my head. This happens when the director already has a clear idea. In this case, it is relatively easy to do the work, because all I need to do is to realize his vision by using my ‘filter.’ In the various meetings I sense that they have a pretty clear image and once I see that I immediately draw a few images on the paper almost in the form of doodling to begin with. Then I leave them for a while and later I think about the first drawing from other angles as I remember what was discussed. Then I bring the drawings closer to the finished form that I have in mind.”
However, other directors don’t always have a clear vision but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
“There are times when the director does not have a clear and established image so the design process proceeds in such a way that they and I together look for the clear vision. In that case I create a new design from scratch, based on their minimum requirements. This is a little difficult but sometimes can bring about an amazing design.”
“Whichever the approach I may take, what’s important is that the other parties like my design, so I pay a lot of attention to the kind of person I am designing for.”
“The hardest thing for me to do is in fact to design things for my own work. Being my own client is in fact the most difficult.”
In recent years, Aramaki has sat in the director’s chair on various anime and he explains that it’s by no means the same process compared to mecha design, “To do mecha design, after the first meeting the whole process is done on your own. Once you finish drawing the design you get it approved and then it is done. On the other hand, to work as a director means you have to keep communicating the vision and explaining the various details to other people. There is a stage where you work on your own, but that is just a small part of the whole process. So the biggest difference between designing and directing is that to direct, one works with many talented staff and you work together to create something. This is also what makes directing interesting.”
Again, like with his mecha design Aramaki’s inspirations in terms of directing are similarly numerous, “Many directors have influenced me. There are directors that I learned various things from, there are directors whose works are my favorite and then there are directors whom I respect as a director myself. There are too many to write them all down and the explanation would be very long. However when I first produced my own anime, the only clue I had was the storyboard of the first episode for Future Boy Conan, which came as a supplement to Animage magazine.”
“I learnt almost all the things I needed to know from that storyboard. In that sense, one can say that Hayao Miyazaki is my greatest teacher.”
From doing traditional animation, the shift into CG was an interesting one, especially as the main motivation came from problems in dealing with complex mecha designs in traditional anime production.
“I originally began to design mecha because I wanted to make anime or films that featured plenty of mecha action. However the kind of mecha I like are very complicated and involve detailed designing. Therefore it is an awful lot of trouble for an animator to draw. To make that complicated mecha take an active role in anime, the animators must continue to draw hundreds or even thousand of images. I received many complaints about this at the time and, as I am not actually an animator, I felt really bad about it.”
“Because of this, I was interested in CG quite early on. During the 80s I bought a computer that was available in those days and I also used Wireframe’s software so I could make 3D models. So I explored various possibilities. In 1993 I left the design and planning company I was working for and then found a job at a company that made CG special effects for films. There I started to make CG designs for games and movies.”
“Around 1997 I became completely freelance and began to work on mecha designs for anime. Like the production design work which I had been doing before, I took on CG based TV adverts as well as work on game movies. These two flows became one in 2004 when I got involved in the first Appleseed film.”
“For me to make films using CG is the most suitable way to realize the images that I have in mind. So for the time being I think I am going to continue using this method, though I don’t know what the future holds yet.”
“CG is still a new technology and it evolves quickly. One needs to understand this when directing otherwise you waste production time, increase your cost, have various human resources issues and it also becomes difficult to improve the overall visual fidelity of the final film. However, looking at the technological advancement in Hollywood or the Euro-American game makers and the advancement of their sensibilities, I became concerned we might be left behind. These were the reasons why we decided to set up our own studio, Sola Digital Arts. Though we knew it would be a risky undertaking.”
“I was very fortunate that at the time of setting up the studio, I met Joseph Chou, a producer, who shared the same vision with me. In 2010, he and I founded the studio to continue to make CG films.”
“Since then in the last four years we have worked on two CG films, a few short films and ‘pilot films’. Where we are now, we finally have a reasonably stable ‘pipeline’, good staff, many client companies as well as external staff that can support us. As a result, compared to before, our work and overall visual fidelity is now rather good.”
“That said, there is still so much to do and there are so many challenges that we must tackle. I have to develop myself further in many ways and I still believe I have the potential to do so. However I feel a big sense of achievement from what we managed to do in the last four years. I am sure I can surprise and entertain people even more with the help of everyone.”
Games are also a big part of Aramaki’s life and he is an avid gamer, he also enjoys quite a variety too, “There are so many it is difficult to narrow them down. My favorite games are Demon’s Souls, Last of Us, Dead Space 1 and 2, Assassin’s Creed, Earth Defence Force, Halo 1,2,3, Fallout and even though it is a little older I also enjoyed Bio Hazard (Resident Evil). What I currently enjoy most though is World of Tanks.”
This interest in tanks and World War 2 vehicles also inspires him for his future projects; “I want to make a film themed on World War 2 air battles featuring classic planes, the ones with propellers, before I die.”
This childlike enthusiasm also made it into his recent take on the Leiji Matsumoto classic Space Captain Harlock, to which he directed a CG feature length film of, “Harlock was a big turning point for me, in many ways. I learned both the potential and hazards of photo-realistic CG animation. However, it was a wonderful experience to direct a film about Harlock. He was indeed a hero I admired in my childhood you see.”
In terms of other projects, as Aramaki has worked on Masamune Shirow’s Appleseed series, so I was curious whether he wanted to make anything else from his back catalogue.
“Black Magic was animated 30 years ago based on the storyboards drawn by Masamune Shirow himself. I sometimes wonder what if I used his old storyboards and made a CG animation film; how would that look?”
Arguably one of the biggest projects Aramaki undertook was the very successful Halo Legends series. Acting as the project’s creative director, he oversaw the various episodes handled by different teams and studios. He also directed his own episode as well as contributed mecha design for another.
The origin for the idea also came about in really the best way possible, through actually playing the games. As he explains, “It all began when I was just playing Halo, though playing it backward from 3, 2 and then 1. I was impressed by the cinematic visuals of the game and interested in the hero, Master Chief. I talked with Joseph about making this into a movie. That was the start. In Spring 2009, Joseph hooked up with Microsoft Games through his contacts and he pitched the idea. Fortunately the timing was good and they took interest in the plan and the project got the go ahead.”
“I can say that like I enjoyed playing the games, I truly enjoyed working on this project.”
Harking back to his days as a mecha designer, Aramaki also created an early form of Mjolnir power armor for the episode called the Prototype.
“I came up with a concept for Prototype when I was reading a novel version of Halo. I went to see the managing director of studio Bones, Masahiko Minami, to plead to him that my friend and animator Yasushi Muraki could direct this.”
“Minami agreed. When Muraki the director and I first sat down for a meeting I showed him a rough sketch of the powered suit design that made the Spartan suits look more rugged and heavy. Muraki really liked it and told me to keep this design, so there it was.”
“In fact, I later proposed another design that was more slender and stylish but he was adamant that he wanted to keep the original design. So the alternative was turned down.”
The design in question also bears a fair few similarities to his work on the anime MADOX-01, that also had a very rugged looking green power armor. In some ways, The Prototype’s design was intentionally inspired by MADOX as he went onto clarify, “Yes it is similar (laughs). Actually, this too has something to do with Muraki. He liked MADOX a lot so I think I drew a design like that to please him.”
Despite being one of Microsoft’s flagship titles, Aramaki was refreshingly given free reign on the Halo Legends project. Though it seems more content was planned but not quite realised. As he goes on to say, “With this work, I think I was able to do pretty much what I liked without restrictions. What I found disappointing though was that we had originally planned to make a full CG feature length film after we completed the Halo Legends series. However we were not able to do this. If it is possible, I still want to make it.”
Whether he’ll get to realise this new projects, or make his Halo Legends film, it’s clear that both Aramaki and Sola Digital Arts still have their work cut out for them. I just hope amongst his busy schedule he’ll still continue his excellent mecha design work.
A day in the life…
8:30am - Get up, though I often sleep in and get up later than this.
9:00am - Breakfast is original cereal and tea.
10:30am - After coffee, I leave for work. On foot and by train I get to Sola Digital Arts in Shinjuku. On the train, I dream up the day’s work, but other times I play games on my smart phone or listen to podcasts of news.
11:30am - After I arrive, I spend an hour or so emailing and planning or organizing my schedule.
12:30pm - Storyboarding and rough design. If staff call me, I check rushes or have meetings with them. My day often passes like this. Sometimes when there is too much to do, I find myself not knowing what to prioritise. As I start one thing or another, the various issues become apparent and I end the day feeling as if I did not accomplish anything worthwhile.
4:30pm - Lunch… late lunch. I often eat alone at my desk. But when the work is going well I sometimes forget to eat.
10:00pm - Knowing that my performance will drop off, I give up work and go home by train. I always doze off on the train journey back home.
11:00pm - A lovely dinner, made by my wife. Sometimes with wine or beer. My recent favorite thing is ‘pale ale’.
12:00am - I play games, currently World of Tanks is my favourite, or I watch recorded TV programme or anime. If not that, then I watch a film on cable.
2:00am - SLEEP!
Thanks to Shinji Aramaki for agreeing to do the interview.
Translation by Dr. Darren J. Ashmore.
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