Sōji Yoshikawa

Sōji Yoshikawa
Sōji Yoshikawa
吉川惣司
Born	February 22, 1947 (age 77); Tokyo, Japan
Occupations	Animation director; Scriptwriter; Storyboard artist; Animator; Character designer; Stage director; Novelist;
Years active	1963–present
Known for	Lupin the 3rd: The Mystery of Mamo

Sōji Yoshikawa (吉川惣司, Yoshikawa Sōji, February 22, 1947 in Tokyo) is a Japanese anime director, scriptwriter, animator, character designer, as well as a stage director and novelist. He has occasionally worked under the aliases Kazumi Takahashi (高橋和美, Takahashi Kazumi), Kyōdō Oda (小田経堂, Oda Kyōdō), and Haruka Kyō (京春香, Kyō Haruka).

His best known works as a director are Lupin the 3rd: The Mystery of Mamo and Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, as a scriptwriter are Future Boy Conan and Armored Trooper Votoms, and as a character designer is Fang of the Sun Dougram.

He has played most of the roles in anime production, from animator, episode director, storyboard artist, scriptwriter to director, and has directed each production process.^[1] In addition to anime, he also created the original story, wrote the script, directed the play, and served as general director for the Theater Company Hikōsen. This began when Masaaki Ōsumi, the director of the 1969 anime TV series Moomin, asked him to help out with the troupe. He also worked as a novelist, mainly on novelizations and spin-offs of animation works.

In an interview with Yasuo Ōtsuka for the Lupin III Perfect Book: Complete Collector's Edition, he cites Yoshikawa as a representative member of the Japanese anime world, along with Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, and Osamu Dezaki.

Early life

He was a big anime fan from the beginning, making animation with an 8mm camera.^[1] He was also a fan of manga artist Osamu Tezuka.^[1] He has been a fan of science fiction since he read Shōnen Shōjo Sekai Kagaku Bōken Zenshū by Kodansha when he was a kid.

Career

A fan of Osamu Tezuka's works, when Yoshikawa was a sophomore in high school, he saw a "Mushi Production's first batch of animators wanted" news article and applied for the job, which led him to enter the anime industry.^[1] He originally planned to go to art school, but dropped out of high school to join Mushi Productions.^[2] He then worked as an animator on Japan's first anime television series Astro Boy.^[2]

In 1964, Yoshikawa participated in the founding of Art Fresh with Gisaburō Sugii and Osamu Dezaki. After becoming independent, he continued to participate as an animator in Mushi Production's Works, which Art Fresh was involved in, such as Gokū no Daibōken. After that, he began to participate not only in works produced by Mushi Productions, but also in works produced by Tokyo Movie and A Production, where Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata worked. He has worked as an episode director and storyboard artist on works directed by Tadao Nagahama, Masaaki Ōsumi, Dezaki, Miyazaki, etc., including Star of the Giants, Moomin, Ashita no Joe, Lupin the 3rd Part I, and Future Boy Conan, and made his directorial debut with Tensai Bakabon.^[3]

In 1978, at the age of 31, he directed the first Lupin III film, The Mystery of Mamo.^[3] While Miyazaki's second Lupin film, The Castle of Cagliostro suffered at the box office when it was released, this film was a huge hit with distribution revenue^[a] of 900 million yen.^[4] However, due to the low social status of animation in Japan at the time, this hit did not lead to an increase in his subsequent work. Later, with the rise in popularity of Miyazaki and Cagliostro, this film became neglected, but with the spread of the Internet, the film began to be reevaluated through word-of-mouth and gained a reputation equal to that of Cagliostro.^[2]

Yoshikawa participated in and provided scripts for many Sunrise robot animations directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino and Ryōsuke Takahashi in the late 1970s and 1980s.^[3] He was initially scheduled to take over as director for Combat Mecha Xabungle. However, he requested to step down due to his busy schedule, and only participated in writing the script, with Tomino taking his place as director.^[3]^[5] He was deeply involved in the story as the main writer for Armored Trooper Votoms. In an interview, Yoshikawa said that he wanted to do what he left undone in The Mystery of Mamo.^[3] According to Takahashi, the main character, Chirico Cuvie, reflects quite a bit of Yoshikawa's personality.^[6]

Yoshikawa was the chief director of Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, an anime version of the game Kirby series, which aired from 2001 to 2003.^[7] The anime was produced by A-Un Entertainment (later renamed Dyna-Method Inc.), a CG studio where Yoshikawa was a senior director and board member. One of the reasons that the 100th episode of the Kirby: Right Back at Ya! anime contained some problems, inconsistencies, and heavy-handedness in the plot and development is that Yoshikawa, who wrote the final episode, learned that his wife was in critical condition at the time and had to rush through the script and leave it in incomplete form in order to be present for her dying moments.

Works

Anime television series

Astro Boy (1963 TV series) (1963-1966) - Animation
Shin Takarajima (1965) - Animation
Son Gokū ga Hajimaruyō Kōfū Daimaō no Maki (1966) - Animation
Gokū no Daibōken (1967) - Animation
Fight Da!! Pyūta (1968) - Episode director/Animation
Star of the Giants (1968-1971) - Episode director/Storyboard
Moomin (1969 TV series) (1969-1970) - Storyboard
Ashita no Joe (1970-1971) - Episode director
Tensai Bakabon (1971 TV series) (1971-1972) - Director of the first half of the series
Lupin the Third Part I (1971-1972) - Storyboard (ep. 1^[b] and the last ep. 23)
Kunimatsu-sama no Otoridai! (1971-1972) – Episode director
Anime Documentary Myunhen e no Michi (1972) - Director (animation part)
Doraemon (1973 TV series) (1973) – Storyboard
Little Wansa (1973) - Episode director
Kōya no Shōnen Isamu (1973-1974) - Storyboard
Zero Tester (1973-1974) - Script
Karate Master (1973-1974) - Storyboard
Aim for the Ace! (1973 TV series) (1973-1974) - Storyboard
Samurai Giants (1973-1974) - Storyboard
Hoshi no Ko Chobin (1974) - Script
La Seine no Hoshi (1975) - Script
Gamba no Bouken (1975) - Script
Time Bokan (1975-1976) - Script
The Adventures of Pepero (1975-1976) - Script^[c]
Gaiking (1976-1977) - Script
UFO Warrior Dai Apolon (1976) - Script
Blocker Gundan 4 Machine Blaster (1976-1977) - Script
Paul's Miraculous Adventure (1976-1977) - Script
Robokko Beeton (1976-1977) - Script
Ore wa Teppei (1977-1978) - Script
Wakusei Robo Danguard Ace (1977-1978) - Script
Chogattai Majutsu Robo Ginguiser (1977) - Script
Invincible Super Man Zambot 3 (1977-1978) - Script
Invincible Steel Man Daitarn 3 (1978-1979) – Script
Future Boy Conan (1978) - Script
The Rose of Versailles (1979-1980) - Storyboard^[c]
The Ultraman (1979-1980) - Script
Cyborg 009 (1973 TV series) (1979-1980) - Script/Storyboard^[c]
Marco Polo no Bōken (1979-1980) - Script
Fang of the Sun Dougram (1981-1983) - Character design/storyboard^[d]
Belle and Sebastian (1981-1982) - Script
Shiroi Kiba: White Fang Story (1982) - Director/storyboard
Game Center Arashi (1982) - Script
Combat Mecha Xabungle (1982-1983) - Script
The Mysterious Cities of Gold (1982-1983) - Script
Armored Trooper Votoms (1983-1984) - Script
The Yearling (1983-1985) - Script
Galactic Patrol Lensman (1984-1985) - Script
Panzer World Galient (1984-1985) - Script
Bosco Adventure (1986-1987) - Script
Kissyfur (1986-1988) - Japanese side Director/Script
City Hunter (1987-1988) - Script
Star Street: The Adventures of the Star Kids (1989-1990) - Japanese side Director
The Wonderful Galaxy of Oz (1992-1993) - General director/Character design supervisor/Head writer
Bit the Cupid (1995-1996) - Head writer/Script (all episodes)
Monkey Magic (1999-2000) - Head writer/Script (all episodes)
Kirby: Right Back at Ya! (2001-2003) - General director/Head writer/Script/Storyboard

Anime films

Lupin the 3rd: The Mystery of Mamo (1978) - Director/Script/Storyboard/Character design (partial)
Lensman (1984) - Script
Mother: Saigo no Shojō Eve (1993) - Script

Short anime films

Garon (2013) - Director/Script

OVA

Armored Trooper Votoms: The Last Red Shoulder (1985) - Script
Armored Trooper Votoms - The Red Shoulder Document: Roots of Ambition (1988) - Script
Umi no Yami, Tsuki no Kaze (1989) - Dramatization
Armored Trooper Votoms: Shining Heresy (1994) - Script (all episodes)
The Silent Service (1995-1998) - Script
Armored Trooper Votoms: Pailsen Files (2007-2008) - Head writer/Script

Stage

Star Guardian (1986) - Original story/Script/General director
Tanoshii Moomin Ikka - Script
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - Script
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - Director/Script

Bibliography

Sci-Fi New Century Lensman (Novelization of anime film)
Galactic Patrol Lensman 2: Valeria planet rescue operation (Novelization of TV anime series)
Armored Trooper Votoms The First Red Shoulder (Novelization of OVA)
Armored Trooper Votoms The Last Red Shoulder (Novelization of OVA)
Armored Trooper Votoms: Pailsen Files (Novelization of OVA)
Mother: Saigo no Shojō Eve - Original Story (Novelization of anime film)
Mearī Aningu no Bōken Kyōryūgaku wo Hiraita Onna Kasekiya (メアリー・アニングの冒険恐竜学をひらいた女化石屋, The Adventures of Mary Anning: The female fossil digger who paved the way for dinosaur studies) (co-authored with Michiko Yajima)

Notes

^ The distribution revenues are different from the box office revenue common in Japan today. It is the share of the distribution company that remains after subtracting the share of the film exhibition company from the box office revenue.
^ As Kazumi Takahashi.
^ ^a ^b ^c As Kyōdō Oda.
^ As Haruka Kyō.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "監督がスゴイ!! 〜アニメ版カービィ誕生編〜" [The director is awesome: The birth of the anime version of Kirby]. Kirby: Right Back at Ya! (in Japanese). CBC. August 12, 2022. Retrieved April 16, 2024.
^ ^a ^b ^c "映画「ルパン三世ルパンVS複製人間」最新技術でよみがえる39年前の傑作監督だけは「今さらほめられても...」" [The film "Lupin the Third: The Mystery of Mamo," a masterpiece from 39 years ago brought back to life with the latest technology, only the director said, "It's too late to praise me now"]. Sankei Shimbun (in Japanese). August 27, 2017. Retrieved April 16, 2024.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Oyama, Kumao (October 21, 2016). "今夜『金曜ロードSHOW』で放送『ルパン三世ルパンVS複製人間』を読み解く5つのポイント" [Airing tonight on Friday Road Show! Five Points to Understand Lupin the Third: The Mystery of Mamo]. Excite Review (in Japanese). Excite. Retrieved April 16, 2024.
^ "アニメ様の七転八倒第67回虫プロブームとマイナーだった宮崎アニメ" [Anime-sama's Seven Ups and Eight Downs No. 67 Mushi Production Boom and Miyazaki Anime that was minor at that time]. WEB Anime Style (in Japanese). Style. August 11, 2006. Retrieved April 16, 2024.
^ Tomita, Hideki (January 4, 2022). "『戦闘メカザブングル』40周年湖川友謙インタビュー①" ["Battle Mecha Xabungle" 40th Anniversary Interview with Tomokane Kogawa ①]. Febri (in Japanese). Ichijinsha. Retrieved April 16, 2024.
^ "石川智晶 Special Contents 《第2回》石川智晶VS高橋良輔" [Chiaki Ishikawa Special Contents 《Chapter 2》 Chiaki Ishikawa VS Ryosuke Takahashi] (in Japanese). FlyingDog. Retrieved April 16, 2024.
^ "『星のカービィ』テレビアニメ版のブルーレイボックスが今冬に発売決定" [A Blu-ray box of the animated TV version of "Kirby the Star" will be released this winter]. Denfaminicogamer (in Japanese). Mare Inc. August 12, 2022. Retrieved April 16, 2024.