Gatchaman Crowds Chief Writer Talking About the Characters

Hi all!

Like the July issues of Animage and New Type I wrote about last week, the July issue of the Japanese anime magazine Animedia also had a article on Gatchaman Crowds. In fact, it had a nice 2-page spread for the show, which featured a nice piece of artwork created specifically for the magazine. Here is a picture of these two pages:



The majority of the text in the article was made up of comments about the characters in the series by Toshiya Ono, the man in charge of the Series Composition and its head writer. Figuring that people here would be interested in what he had to say, here's what the article says:

How do you wrap it up?

It's a greedy production filled with battle and youth and growth and fighting spirit!!

Look, and we will unveil the new Gatchaman. Gatchaman, the hero who will defeat the aliens and the unknown MESS that would harm the people of Earth. While holding the notebook-like NOTE in one hand, the cry of "Bird Go!" will transform the special suits of the allies of justice. With this image, everyone must feel good inside.

"That's not quite right," says Series Composition and Scriptwriter Toshiya Ono, "I think it's due to O.D that is looks that way now. He is the most mature, probably because he has the best understanding of both genders. Paiman is the self-proclaimed leader, drinking beer and wearing black momohiki, just like some old man...... (Laughs) There are many individual players among the members who each possess their own special abilities, so basically, they are coming apart."
(Note: Momohiki are a traditional style tight fitting trousers that is stereotypically worn by older men)

So, many of them are not motivated!? I suspect that Hajime's vitality will be divided up among this "interesting" group.

"In several ways, since modern people expect shortcoming and troubles to occur somewhere. For example, if Utsu-tsu is not having a good day, she'll disappear in a puff. And although Joe is one of the elite, he somehow lacks self confidence. Hajime is a foreign object entering into this group, causing a chemical reaction to occur. They will grow, both in their pride in being Gatchaman and in their youth, coming together as a team in their fighting spirit. Of course, there's also the battle with aliens, so this production cannot be easily divided into genres. You will see it change rapidly from the start, and the final point where you're taken will be quite unexpected...... I want you to enjoy the excitement of not knowing where it's heading."

Okay! In order to enjoy it all, leave it to the unknown destination of the "Crowds" train!



The article also included small captions for each of the main characters. These consisted of the same information we've already seen in the past, just rewritten slightly. But they did include a few longer captions with comments by Mr. Ono on J.J. Robinson, Rui Ninomiya, and Berg Katze. These captions are as follows, with Mr. Ono's comments in quotes and the rest coming from the writer for Animedia.

Regarding J.J. Robinson;

Who oversees Gatchaman?

A huge alien who is 3 meters tall.

Gatchaman is overseen by the alien J.J.. He is the one who sends out the Gatchaman. After he has deciphered the poem-like "Predictions" to determine the location of the enemy, he dispatches them.

"All of the members are not sent on each mission, and the size of the threat determines who will go. Serious Sugane will jump up, and Paiman says, 'Go!' (Laughs) Even when there's no emergency, that doesn't mean that there isn't a fire in everyone's heart."


Regarding Rui Ninomiya;

Is she another ally of Justice?

Rui might be so.

Wanting to improve the world with a hand that is different than that of Gatchaman, Rui has now further evolved Facebook and Twitter by developing the SNS "Galax." To people who interact on the internet, she is the super genius who created such systems to let them help each other in the real world!

"Rui is not satisfied with a world that does not easily change, and her aim is a world where people will help each other even if there is no reward or return. A new type of human that will change the world... Along with Hajime, Rui appears to be one of them."


Regarding Berg Katze;

Is he an ally of the enemy or evil? The self proclaimed "Alien" appears!

"He's an evil ally who supports criminals like the air around them. Katse is a symbol of the bad air produced by people. Therefore, can I simply call him an enemy? This is what I worry about when I'm writing the scripts. In this modern era, we can see all sorts of malicious people over the net, acting like a faceless enemy. But, on the other end, we see that the enemy is just another human, so there is probably a solution...... The world of this production is hard work, but I hop that a little of this message will come through."


I hope you've found this look into Mr. Ono's views of the characters interesting!

James

Thanks so much for sharing this article, James. I must have missed it before, but is OD like Katse...both genders? Of course, the article does refer to OD as "he"....but they often did that for Katse, too...

__________________

There is no problem that cannot be solved with time, patience, and a judicious amount of high explosives.

Ok, yeah I missed that...LOL...thanks, James! Even in English, it's tough to know whether to call a transvestite a "he" or a "she"...

I am laughing at your phrase "pull a Gel Sadra"! I wouldn't put it past them, either!

__________________

There is no problem that cannot be solved with time, patience, and a judicious amount of high explosives.

__________________
Perspective Alters Reality

Hmm, I'm prepared to give it a chance to be a good anime, albeit one that has very little in common with the original Gatchaman series. But to me, it's going to have to stand or fall on its own merits (or lack thereof) and not coast on fan loyalty to the original Gatchaman. And I won't really know what I think until I've seen the stories (per episode and series-long), and the characters' behaviour and interactions.

Granted, it could be quite a while before it's available with English subtitles. I'll be curious to hear how popular it becomes in Japan -that will probably be very telling.

__________________
Die Sonne tönt, nach alter Weise, In Brudersphären Wettgesang, und ihre vorgeschriebne Reise, vollendet sie mit Donnergang.

My fanart is here

Most fansub groups do torrents only, but some release direct downloads as well, it all depends on the group in question. Also, quite a few have been around for years, so their releases are assured to be spy/malware & virus-free. The single one time I got a virus was when I downloaded a game from a publisher I didn't know. The torrents of all those 100+ anime series on my external drive have all been clean. As for the copyright issues, I'm no expert in this field, but IMO when it comes to anime the danger of recieving a loveletter from FBI is much lower than in the case of movies.

Also, one of the best things about fansub groups is their speed. This season I'm watching five other series beside Gatchaman (all of which have already aired. What takes Tatsunoko so long?) and I've downloaded all of their subtitled first episodes on the same day they've aired in Japan. No waiting for when/if someone decides to purchase their licences or anything.

__________________
Die Sonne tönt, nach alter Weise, In Brudersphären Wettgesang, und ihre vorgeschriebne Reise, vollendet sie mit Donnergang.

My fanart is here