Yasushi Nirasawa helped revitalize Kamen Rider in the ’00s, but could he have done it without the influence of Joel Schumacher?
Category: Profiles
Kenichi Sonoda, Lumroid, and Hobby Shop Musasiya
Before he started working for Gainax and ARTMIC, a young Kenichi Sonoda illustrated a series of popular advertisements for a hobby shop in Osaka.
The Early Doujin of Kenichi Sonoda
Long before Gunsmith Cats or Gall Force, Kenichi Sonoda got his break thanks to doujin he published with a group named Comic Circle VTOL.
10 Years of General Products
The shop that Daicon III built spent ten years selling garage kits, posters, t-shirts, and doujinshi to the otaku generation.
The Cars of Yasuo Ōtsuka
The legendary animator that mentored Takahata and Miyazaki has another passion beyond animation: four-wheeled vehicles.
By His Signature You’ll Know Him: Early Illustrations by Hideaki Anno
Decades of accolades for directing genre-warping projects like Aim for the Top! Gunbuster, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Shin Godzilla have obscured an important fact — Hideaki Anno really knew how to draw.
The Unappreciated Mechanical Design of Akira Toriyama
Known best for creating Dragon Ball and Dr. Slump, Toriyama is also a fantastic mechanical designer.
Camo Nets, Zimmerit and Grit: The Gundam Manga of Kazuhisa Kondo
There’s been no shortage of creative people who’ve put their touch on the Gundam franchise over the last forty years, few are as under appreciated as Kazuhisa Kondo.
The Secret History of Gainax: 1981-1992
Long before Evangelion changed everything, Gainax’s inaugural decade was filled with missteps, cancelled projects, head-scratching ventures doomed to failure, and… porn.
Masamune Shirow’s Legacy of Adaption
Though he’s been out of the manga game for well over a decade, Masamune Shirow’s work continues to be tapped for adaption by the Japanese animation industry.