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I would like to state for the record that if not for the success of the Yamato plamo, Bandai might not have been able to push for the rebirth of Gundam in movie form, because Bandai might have been a 'C' class player in plastic models at that point. Yamato gave them money to play with and pick up the pieces when Gundam failed. Remember that, Tomino. Gundam failed too.

I don't read any bitterness or animosity into Tomino's statements. Sounds to me more like he resented Nish's audacity to actually place demands on the people who were working for him. Imagine. Pushing people to do better work. I've worked for people like that. You start out not liking them, then noticing that you're doing better work, then developing respect, then eventually "getting it."

I believe that's the process Tomino went through and it's implicit in his comments that it helped to make Gundam possible. Don't read a 30-year grudge into it when it's self-evident that everyone learned the right lesson in the end.

Oh Tomino and his silly double think.

But yeah a good producer to call bullshit on a crazy director and/or other producer is always nice (ie Gary Kurtz in relation to George Lucas).

Though with the NISH I am sure it was kind of the other way around most of the time.

Has Matsumoto issued any statements?

Yeah, it helps to remember while reading this that Tomino is coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs as well. Also, this is an older quote that predates Nishizaki's death.

On a related note, Izumi and I are in the process of translating a piece by Toshio Okada about the time he and Anno went to visit Uncle Nish with an offer to make a new Yamato. Pretty incredible stuff, so stay tuned.

I'm sure Nishizaki would have loved a 'turnkey' operation in getting a new Yamato going, back then. It's pretty clear Gainax had at least some of the right 'feel' and 'taste'and just needed proper direction.

This would have been in the slight window just before 1992 (and his connections to Atlantis, Mu Film and Amuse Video, has anyone in Japan discussed this?) and 1994's Yamato 2520.

It's an interesting question. If Gainax had signed on and worked on a new Yamato, would Nishizaki have forgone the trips to America, to NYC, and maybe kept him from the latter arrest on drug charges?

I have a theory that hanging around the American music biz scene may have gotten him hooked on dope...

Based on the Okada report, Nishizaki's style of "production" back then seemed to consist of throwing - and then taking back - huge sums of money away from assorted studios and animators.

He told Anno he could make Yamato "any way he wanted", but balked when Anno mentioned that he wanted to keep the Matsumoto characters and mecha intact.

He also had several female "assistants" in mini-skirts that interrupted the meeting to give him his "medicine".

I guess this project just wasn't fated to be. Wonder why.

I'm leaping to assume, by 'after Nadia' this must have been before Evangelion. I'm doing this on the fly so bear with me. Eva was running 1992, so ramp-up to production was 1991, Nadia was '89...narrow window there. Only thing I can think of is Anno was grinding on Eva and Bandai Visual jumped on Nishizaki due to successful sales of the Yamato LD box sets. "Hey! make us a new Yamato! here's lots and lots of monies!"

The Nishizaki/Matsumoto relationship was seemingly quite sour at that point. I think this is reflected quite clearly in Yamato 2520, he just wanted quits from the man and the legacy that was created.

Man, the PS game stuff must have really chapped Nishizaki's shorts. not for the mecha but those lovingly 'spirit of Leiji' chara designs.

I wonder, and this is complete speculation, if hearing of Matsumoto getting a big deal Government medal while he seems shunned and ignored, if that was just the last straw...

Begrudging respect is about as good anyone is going to get in Tomino's world. But Tomino seems to be a difficult guy, so this is actually pretty complimentary.

That report has got to be awesome stuff. Where did you find it?

I used to have a copy of a weird Making Of video that showed the making of Yamato Rebirth and Yamato 2520. In the video Nishizaki is seen constantly twitching w/ facial tics. I wondered if that was due to drug abuse or maybe he had some sort of debilitating medical condition that's caused him to self-medicate. I also wonder if Yamato's psychedelic warp sequences were his idea.

That's 'The Quickening,' a documentary/promo piece from '93. You're right, he was pretty twitchy in that. His last onscreen appearance was an interview on the Yamato Resurrection DVD. The tics were gone, but he was pretty slurry, enough to require subtitling. He actually sounded kind'a drunk, but I'm sure it was just age and fatigue.

About the warp sequence, here's a weird twist: that episode of Yamato was the one (and only one) storyboarded by Tomino! But I heard from Ishiguro that the warp sequence was a group effort.

> Eva was running 1992, so ramp-up to production was 1991, Nadia was '89...narrow window there.

--Steve Harrison (http://patrickmacias.blogs.com/er/2010/11/farewell-to-yoshinobu-nishizaki-tomino-dishes-on-the-nish.html?cid=6a00d8341bfb8d53ef013488d05a93970c#comment-6a00d8341bfb8d53ef013488d05a93970c)

Huh? Eva in 1992? Source please; in *1993*, Gainax was still working on the _Honneamise_ sequel which Anno was supposed to direct, and certainly hadn't done anything on Eva:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neon_Genesis_Evangelion_%28anime%29#Honn.C3.AAamise_sequel

I think Gainax was able to have several irons in the fire at that point in their history, but hey, it's not a show I really care about. I'm going off the 'secret planning book' pictured in the Evangelion Newtype 100% collection, which seems to have a 1990 date tagged to it.

but hey, '92. 93, in AmeriOtaku (tm) terms that's the same time, because it's old...

Steve, if you mean the Proposal (http://wiki.evageeks.org/Neon_Genesis_Evangelion_Proposal), that was definitely 1993.

(The Notenki Memoirs (http://www.gwern.net/docs/2002-notenki-memoirs) are pretty clear about the timeline. The only stuff happening in 1992 was _Aoki Uru_, and a claim by Okada that he was discussing some sort of mecha anime.)

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