Interview with Ryosuke Takahashi

Yoroiden Samurai Troopers Story 2 - Interview with Ryosuke Takahashi (Yoroiden Samurai Troopers, 30th Anniversary Book, Tatsumi Publication. Translation provided by The URWWS.)

## Introduction

Ryosuke Takahashi is one of the key people behind Samurai Troopers. In the past, he worked on "0 (Zero) Tester" and "Cyborg 009. He has also worked on "0(Zero Tester)" and "Cyborg 009". He was also the director of "Dagram: The Fang of the Sun" and "Armored Trooper Votoms", two of the most popular robot animation series of the 1990s. What prompted Mr. Takahashi to join "Samurai Troopers"? Yoshie Kawahara, who has known Mr. Takahashi for a long time and was involved in the planning and production of this film, looks back on those days and gets to the bottom of it.

Interviewer Yoshie Kawahara

## Interview

Was Ryosuke Takahashi the Kaosu of "Samurai Troopers"?

Everyone has a different story, but let's do our best together! That was my role.

Yoroiden Samurai Troopers (hereinafter referred to as "Samurai Troopers"), which has been broadcasted from the Showa era to the Heisei era, is in many ways a rather unique program. No, actually, it is not special at all, but it is probably correct to say that it was a program that looked special.

What was so special about it? Perhaps it was the fact that, for better or worse, it kept subverting users' expectations from the very beginning.

To put it simply, it's an animation show about five boys who put on special armor and fight bad guys that look out of this world. There's not much new about it other than a bit of Japanese flavor in the appearances, but that's how it turned out.

In fact, I was in charge of the planning for Samurai Troopers.

At the time, there were only two people in charge of planning and development at Sunrise, aside from the general manager. I was one of them. Since it was a planning department, we were always working on various projects, but as there were only two of us, we could do whatever we needed to do. We had one goal in mind. In order to do that, we had to get sponsors, agencies, and 1V stations to read our proposal and say, "This program will be beneficial to us.

To do this, make the sponsors, agencies, 1V stations, etc. that read the proposal think, "If we do this program, it will be profitable. That was my job. That was my job. And "Samurai Troopers" was just one of them. After receiving the 0K from the sponsor, the actual work to make the animation began. From this point onward, it is usually the case that

However, "Samurai Troopers" started with a very tight production schedule from the planning stage, so in the beginning, the scenario writer and director Takahashi Ryosuke had scenario meetings in our planning room annex. Having been on the production side of things, it has been my experience that the scenario meeting is attended by the scriptwriter (in charge of series composition and each episode), the director, and the literary (setting) creator, so I initially thought that Takahashi was the director of "Samurai Trooper. However, when I opened the door, I found out that the first half of the film was directed by Shigeru Ikeda, and the second half by Mamoru Hamatsu, and although it said "series composition", the chief writer was the famous Enzo Toriumi.

Then the question arises, "So what was Ryosuke's actual role in the Samurai Troopers? The question came to my mind after all this time.

What do you think? Ryosuke-san?

Takahashi: The reason why I was invited was because of "adult reasons".

There were two reasons. The first was that the head of the human resources department called me up and said, "We're going to make this kind of film, and we're thinking of appointing this person as the director. But I didn't think he was the right person to be the director, so I told him not to do it. There was another candidate, but he said he was not the right person either.

So I said, "Is there anyone else? = I recommended Mr. Shigeru Ikeda. He had done the storyboards for "Armored Trooper Votoms," and although he was an unknown quantity as a director, I thought he was a hidden ace. He had good qualities and was well received on the set because of his concern for the staff. He also said he wanted to try it, so it was decided.

The other thing was to deal with the scenario chief, Mr. Jinzo Toriumi. Mr. Toriumi was originally a veteran of the Nikkatsu film company, and later joined Mushi Productions. At Mushi-Pro, Mr. Tezuka (Osamu) himself was actually an amateur in the field of film.

Even when I was at Tatsunoko Productions, where I later moved to, Mr. Yoshida (Tatsuo) was also an amateur when it came to video, so he favored Mr. Toriumi. Mr. Toriumi, who was then the head of the literary department, had a lot of say. There were times when he would not allow storyboards or direction to change the script. Because of this, some clients thought of him as someone who was difficult to control.

Of course, he was my senior, but I had worked with him when I was at Tatsunoko Productions, and he had written the scenario for "Armored Trooper Bombs" on the recommendation of Fuyushi Gotake, and we had a good relationship. So I said, "Well, I'll do the series composition," and got the people around me to agree.

After all, I was responsible for rejecting two candidates for director. So, in essence, my job was to handle the personnel side of things.

Haha. Oh, I see. That made a lot of sense to me. This is very valuable for Ryosuke. I've met Mr. Toriumi a few times myself, but I've never met him. I've met Mr. Toriumi several times, and he was never scary or difficult to talk to. I've met Mr. Toriumi several times, and he was not a scary person or someone you couldn't talk to." However, in any world, people pay attention to rumors passed down from generation to generation.

Some people didn't like Mr. Numamoto (Seikai) at Takara Takahashi (now Takara Tomy), but I was loved by him and we got along very well. After all, Takara is a client, so as long as you keep that in mind, you are safe.

In short, Ryosuke was my "armor" to strengthen my persuasive power to the outside world. He was also able to do the series composition, which was a great deal.

Takahashi: It may not be so for the writers, but the founders of Sunrise at that time thought that there were two or three loaches under the willow. But that was not a mistake in terms of business. Just because "Saint Seiya" was a hit, I could see the point. I also made five of the "eight beads" in "Nanso Satomi Hakkenden" and added a woman as the villain. It reminded me of the strong female enemies in Toei movies of yesteryear, an element of Japanese fantasy, but something that was not present in the robot genre. Mr. Toriumi agreed with me and said, "Oh, that's right. In the visuals, we put a castle on top of Shinjuku.

Mr. Toriumi agreed with me, saying, "Oh, yes. In the visuals, the castle is built on top of Shinjuku.

The straightforward character of Mr. Shioyama (Norio) is fine for those who like him, of course, but there may be people who don't like the very passionate and aggressive character of "The Star of the Giants" or "Tomorrow's Joe" and prefer a clean character who doesn't feel sweaty.

That's why young animators such as Koji Osaka, Kazuya Kise, and Shukoh Murase drew cool pictures of Mr. Shioyama's character in the later 0VA series. I think this combination was a big help to win Samurai Troopers fans.

That's right... It's definitely one of the driving forces that made the series popular among boys, its intended audience, as well as among female fans, who have continued to support it ever since.

The role of Ryosuke Takahashi, the series creator, is not visible from the front of the work.

On the other hand, when you look at the beautiful character designs and armor designs, there are many people who have the impression that it is not so different from the robot series that Sunrise had been making until then.

Takahashi: I only made robots in my original works, so that was my power at that time. Mr. Toriumi had already created the basis of the story, and I just went to the scenario meetings and tried to reinforce it. I told Ikeda-kun, "All you have to do is to make a model of the story." He did just that.

I made the first breakthrough and then tried to persuade the outside world. There is no right answer in this world, but if you can do that, you can leave the rest to the professionals, and they will make something wonderful.

I'm currently teaching animation at a university, but students like the appeal of the work, and don't pay much attention to the "backbone" of the work itself. There is a framework of a story, and it is important to twist it a little, and the basis of entertainment is in the invisible. I left "Samurai Troopers" after about 20 episodes, but I understood that "this kind of thing is popular now." I was trying to capture that as the appeal of something that is built on such a structure.

I thought it would be impossible to make a film that would appeal to girls, even if I tried. So, I left that to the director. I think I was only conscious of it on the set. In particular, Shinichiro Kobayashi, the desk clerk, was always conscious of the person on the other side of the screen. He was very attached to the Samurais troopers, and that's why he made 0VA.

Many of the staff came to Sunrise because they wanted to work with the company that was making original robotics, and the "color" of what they had worked on would show up in their work. In addition, even though they belong to Sunrise, they are all professionals who are on their own. I guess we all have different feelings.

Takahashi: Anyway, what I was most concerned about was the personnel. I wanted to make sure that there would be no internal conflicts.

I'm working on the same kind of coordinating role at the university now. Of course, what we talk about in the field is different from what we talk about in the university. To be honest, such things are troublesome. But I can't tell others to do such a troublesome thing. Anyway, I have to keep in touch with many people. I have to do everything from making arrangements to reporting after the fact. The after-action report is very important for the next project. But it is also very tedious (laughs).

What kind of characters overlap with Ryosuke Takahashi's work style?

When I was only looking at the work, I had no idea that Ryosuke had such a role in it. It's not every day you get to be in such a position.

I had no idea that Ryosuke was playing such a role when I only saw his work. It's not every day you find yourself in such a position.

But how could Ryosuke do such a troublesome job?

Takahashi: Well, I think it's because I was an only child. As an only child, I had to make all the connections to the outside world by myself.

By the way, Ryosuke, you grew up in a single-mother household, didn't you? It's like being a Shin without an older sister.

Takahashi: To do that, you have to fit in with the secular society. I used to work for a normal company, and I was very comfortable with that. But there are people in the animation industry who are not suited for that kind of work.

I think most people are in this field because they are not good at that kind of thing. This includes myself.

Takahashi doesn't even write "petitions" at all. You can't get a budget unless you get a stamp from the department head or someone who has the authority to approve it. But since he doesn't know about such things, it's convenient to have someone like me to help him adjust to the outside world. I was able to handle such things with a certain degree of dexterity while working on the animation production.

I'm sorry, I didn't know what a "Request for Proposal" was either. I never asked for a budget, and if I had a request to make to the producer, all I had to do was say it.

I'm sure that's not the case now, but in the Showa era, Sunrise was a small company, and I guess only a part of the head office and the accounting department knew about such "general corporate systems", but they were able to get by.

Takahashi: Even if I think I've been doing fairly well as a director for a long time, there is always someone (a film) that I have to move up to soon. When I was working on "Zero Tester," "Space Battleship Yamato" came out, and I was so disappointed when I compared it to that. I was taught not to take things too easily, and in "Cyborg 009", it was "Mobile Suit Gundam". If you think it's going to be okay, it always ends up that way.

The more I learn, the more interesting Ryosuke's position in "Samurai Troopers" becomes.

The more I learn about you, the more interesting your position is in "Samurai Trooper". The good thing about this kind of work is that you don't have to take on everything by yourself. You don't have to do it alone, you can leave it to someone who is good at it. The person who took on the job did a great job. Of course, good people often have strong opinions.

Of course, good people often have strong opinions, so it's okay to clash with them at first. It's okay to clash at first, as long as it doesn't turn into an unpleasant dispute. Mr. Shioyama, Mr. Toriumi, Mr. Ikeda, and Mr. Kobayashi, all of us with different senses and tastes, come together to do our jobs.

We all have different backgrounds, but let's do our best together. You know.

That was my role.

That's why Samurai Troopers is not my own work.

No, that's not true, Ryosuke.

Ryosuke's words, "We all have different personalities, but let's work together for a single purpose," is exactly what "Samurai Troopers" is!

It's just like "Samurai Troopers"!

Didn't you see such a character in "Samurai Troopers"... ...Ying Yu-Su.

"Ryou, can you slay the flames?"

Like Kaosu, who built a bridge at Arago Castle, and disappeared, leaving such a challenge to Furious, Ryosuke gave a challenge: "With this material, can you make "Samurai Troopers" succeed?