Yoshiyuki Sadamoto

Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (貞本 義行, Sadamoto Yoshiyuki, born January 29, 1962, in Tokuyama (now Shunan), Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan) is a Japanese character designer, manga artist, and one of the founding members of the Gainax anime studio.

Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
Yoshiyuki Sadamoto at J-Popcon in Copenhagen, 2007
Born (1962-01-29) January 29, 1962
Tokuyama (now Shūnan), Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan
NationalityJapanese
Occupation(s)Character designer, manga artist
Known forNeon Genesis Evangelion (manga)
Sample of Sadamoto's art, featuring Rei Ayanami of Neon Genesis Evangelion

Career

When Gainax was originally founded as Daicon Film, Sadamoto served as animator on the second animated project, the Daicon IV opening animation. His first assignment as a character designer for Gainax was the film Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise, released in 1987, he continued to design characters for Gainax with the series Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, Neon Genesis Evangelion, FLCL, and Diebuster. The official manga adaptation of Evangelion, published between 1994 and 2013, was fully written and illustrated by Sadamoto. He also collaborated with director Mamoru Hosoda to provide character designs for the films The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars, and Wolf Children.

According to Yasuo Otsuka, who guided Sadamoto as a newcomer, there are only three people whom he regarded as more skillful than himself that he has met during his career. One of them is Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. The other two are Sadao Tsukioka who became a visual creator, and award-winning director Hayao Miyazaki. When Otsuka met the three men, he seems to have felt that he was taking off his hat to them at once. However, he thinks that only Miyazaki completely mastered a genuinely superior animation technique at present. He guesses, "A too excellent person might despair in the group work".

In a 2013 interview with Japanese Entertainment website Nihongogo, it was revealed that Sadamoto is a stickler for details and wouldn't feel comfortable illustrating anything too unfamiliar to him. "In general, I don’t want to draw something that I have to study further in order to draw. For example, I could not draw a medical manga because it’s impossible for me to make a lie about medicine. Also things like Soccer and Baseball. I am unfamiliar with these worlds so it would be too difficult to show the actual plays." When asked about dream collaborations he revealed an interest in working with Robert Westall and Philip K. Dick but apologized "These are all deceased people, sorry."[1]

Criticism

On August 9, 2019, Sadamoto criticized on Twitter a statue featured in the “After ‘Freedom of Expression’?” historical art exhibition at the Aichi Prefecture Museum of Art, Statue of Peace (2011), by Kim Seo-kyung and Kim Eun-sang memorializing comfort women, girls who worked in wartime brothels in World War II for the Japanese military. The statue was first installed by its creators in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul as a form of political protest. He also criticized a movie in the exhibition that showed a picture of the Emperor of Japan being burned and then stomped underfoot, he referred to it as "indistinguishable from a certain country's style of propaganda". Sadamoto said "I wanted it to be an art event with academic contemporary art at its core...Remove the crazy [propaganda]-affirming media and the exhibition could still be redeemed." he follows "I'm not going to completely reject the act of turning propaganda into art, but honestly speaking, it did not speak to me at all on an artistic level." His comments have been criticized by some Koreans and English speakers who replied to his tweet with displeasure of his views.[2] According to Gainax co-founder Toshio Okada, Sadamoto's feelings towards Koreans were already a factor of animosity during the production of Nadia, during which he blamed outsourced Korean animators for oscillations of quality during the series' "Island Arc" and would go on angry tirades disparaging their work, leaving the studio on his motorcycle. Anno believed this was part of miscommunication in the production process, and Okada attributed it to cultural differences.[3]

Works
Year Title Role Media Source
1981FINAL STRETCHArtist/StoryManga
1981LONELY LONESOME NIGHTArtist/StoryManga
1981CRAZY RIDERArtist/StoryManga
1983Daicon IVAnimatorShort film[4]
1987Royal Space Force: The Wings of HonnêamiseCharacter designerFilm[5]
1988GunbusterAnimation directorOVA[5]
1990–1991Nadia: The Secret of Blue WaterCharacter designerAnime[5]
1993ROUTE20Artist/StoryManga
1994–2013Neon Genesis EvangelionArtist/StoryManga
1995–1996Neon Genesis EvangelionCharacter designerAnime[5]
1997Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & RebirthDesign directorFilm[5]
1997The End of EvangelionCharacter designerFilm[5]
1997DIRTY WORKArtistManga
1998PilgrimArtistAlbum
2000System of RomanceArtistManga
2000FLCLCharacter designerOVA[5][6]
2002.hack//SignCharacter designerAnime[7]
2002–2005.hack (video game series)ArtistVideo game
2004–2006DiebusterCharacter designerOVA[5]
2006Gunbuster vs Diebuster: Aim for the TopCharacter designerFilm[5]
2006The Girl Who Leapt Through TimeCharacter designerFilm
2007-2021Rebuild of EvangelionCharacter designerFilm[5]
2009Summer WarsCharacter designerFilm
2012Wolf ChildrenCharacter designerFilm
2013Short Peace (Gambo)Character designerFilm
2018Starwing ParadoxCharacter designerVideo game
2020Great PretenderCharacter designerAnime
2020+Zero Seiki Movie 1: EmeraldasCharacter designerMovie

[8]

1992–1993Aoki UruCharacter designerManga (Character Design)[9]

Artbooks
  • Sadamoto Yoshiyuki Art Book ALPHA (Published April 1, 1993) ISBN 4-04-852385-6
  • Sadamoto Yoshiyuki Art Book DER MOND [Limited Edition] (Published September 30, 1999) ISBN 4-04-853048-8
  • Sadamoto Yoshiyuki Art Book DER MOND [Popular Edition] (Published January 31, 2000) ISBN 4-04-853031-3
  • Sadamoto Yoshiyuki Art Book CARMINE [Limited Edition] (Published March 26, 2009) ISBN 978-4-04-854275-3
  • Sadamoto Yoshiyuki Art Book CARMINE [Regular Edition] (Published August 26, 2010) ISBN 978-4-04-854480-1
  • Yoshiyuki Sadamoto CD-ROM art collection (GAINAX sale in 1993)

References
  1. David Chang (September 11, 2013). "Yoshiyuki Sadamoto x Nihongogo Interview @ Japan Expo USA 2013 1st Impact". nihongogo.com. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  2. Morrissy, Kim (August 12, 2019). "Evangelion Character Designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto Attracts Criticism Over 'Dismissive' Tweet about Korean Comfort Women Statue". www.animenewsnetwork.com. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
  3. Okada, Toshio (15 July 2021). 某国外注の絵が酷すぎた…庵野ブチギレ「どこにナディアが描いてあります？」「我々は紙芝居を作っているのではない」「ラーメン入れるのやめて下さい」『ふしぎの海のナディア』【岡田斗司夫切り抜き】【庵野秀明】 (in Japanese).
  4. Eng, Lawrence. "Daicon III and IV Opening Animations - Trivia". Cornell Japanese Animation Society. Retrieved April 8, 2016.
  5. Dani Cavallaro (Oct 28, 2008). The Art of Studio Gainax: Experimentation, Style and Innovation at the Leading Edge of Anime. McFarland. pp. 205–207. ISBN 978-0-7864-3376-6.
  6. "Character Designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, Rock Band The Pillows to Return for FLCL Sequel Series". Anime News Network. Retrieved 4 July 2016.
  7. Toole, Mike (October 16, 2003). ".hack//Sign Review". Anime Jump. Archived from the original on September 26, 2007. Retrieved January 20, 2007.
  8. "WIT Studio Announces Great Pretender Anime for 2020". Anime News Network. July 5, 2019. Retrieved July 5, 2019.
  9. "Gainax President Hiroyuki Yamaga unveils artwork from Wings of Honneamise sequel and upcoming free-diving series". ani-gamers.com. June 4, 2015. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
  • Yuki, Masahiro. "The Official Art of .hack//Roots". (May 2007) Newtype USA. pp. 101–107.
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