is a Japanese anime creator, director, screenwriter and novelist. He was born in Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture, and studied at Nihon University's College of Art. He is best known for creating the Gundam franchise.
Tomino, began his career in 1963 with Osamu Tezuka's company, Mushi Productions, scripting the storyboards and screenplay of the first Japanese television anime series, Tetsuwan Atomu (also known as Astro Boy). He later became one of the most important members of the anime studio Sunrise, going on to direct numerous anime through the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Tomino is perhaps best known for his transformation of the "Super Robot" mecha genre into the "Real Robot" genre with 1979's Mobile Suit Gundam, the first in the Gundam metaseries. He has also won numerous awards, including the "Best Director" award at the recent 2006 Tokyo International Anime Fair (for the 2005 film Heirs To The Stars). Two anime series directed by Tomino (Mobile Suit Gundam in 1979-80 and Space Runaway Ideon in 1980) won the Animage Anime Grand Prix award.
Tomino often writes lyrics for the various songs featured in his series under the pseudonym . Tomino (as Iogi) has collaborated with artists such as Yoko Kanno, Asei Kobayashi, MIO and Neil Sedaka.
Tomino is noted for directing several well-known anime series throughout his career, such as his most notable work, the Mobile Suit Gundam series, beginning in 1979, and which was later followed onto numerous sequels, spinoffs and merchandising franchises, Aura Battler Dunbine, Brave Raideen (in which he directed the first 26 episodes), and numerous others. His recent work includes Brain Powerd (1998), Turn A Gundam (1999), Overman King Gainer (2002) and most recently, The Wings of Rean, released in December 2005 and running till August 2006.
1970s
Tomino made his directorial debut with 1973's . This show, loosely based on Osamu Tezuka's manga Blue Triton, showed a different perspective than the traditional "good vs. evil" show. The star, Triton, a 10-year-old boy, is the last survivor of the Tritons, a tribe from Atlantis that was wiped out by the "evil" Poseidons. However the viewers learn later on that the story was not so black and white after all.
In 1975, Tomino worked on Brave Raideen, his first mecha work, in which he directed the first 26 episodes. Raideen was renowned and influential in its innovative portrayal of a giant machine of mysterious and mystical origins, and has gone on to inspire numerous other directors and series, including Yutaka Izubuchi's 2002 series, RahXephon. Tomino also later worked on 1977's Voltes V.
While many of the series Tomino has directed throughout his career contained an upbeat and positive tone, in which the majority of the protagonists survive, a number of his shows during the early years of his career (the late 1970s through early 1990s) contained endings in which a significant number of characters and protagonists died. In 1977, Tomino directed Zambot 3; in its final episode, a large number of the protagonists kill themselves to defeat the main antagonists. By doing so, the main protagonist survives and the Earth is saved. Certain sources cite this series as the origin of a nickname used by some anime fans, , although it should be noted that Tomino had directed and worked in a number of series in which the vast majority of the protagonists survive.
In 1979, Tomino directed and wrote Mobile Suit Gundam, which was highly influential in transforming the Super Robot mecha genre into the Real Robot genre. Mark Simmons discusses the impact of Gundam in his book, "Gundam Official Guide":
In an interview published in Animerica magazine, Tomino discusses what he was trying to accomplish with Mobile Suit Gundam:
Although the last quarter of the show's original script was canceled and it had to be completed in 43 episodes, its popularity grew after three compilation movies were released in 1981 and 1982. Mobile Suit Gundam was followed by numerous sequels, spin-offs and merchandising franchises, becoming one of the longest-running and most influential, popular anime series in history, being chosen as No. 1 on TV Asahi's "Top 100 Anime" listing in 2005.
1980s
In 1980, Tomino directed Space Runaway Ideon, a series which like Mobile Suit Gundam was cancelled on its initial run, but featured movie versions later on. The final Ideon movie, 1982's Be Invoked ends with all of the characters dying and the home planets of both the heroes and villains being destroyed (though all the characters in the show are subsequently shown alive in spirit form, and travel to a distant planet to be reborn). However, the series he immediately directed afterwards, Xabungle, contained a much more lighthearted and upbeat theme, with the vast majority of the characters surviving, in stark contrast to Ideon.
Tomino followed Xabungle with 1983's Aura Battler Dunbine which featured an ending where a large number of characters were killed. Tomino's next show, 1984's Heavy Metal L-Gaim was again a stark contrast to this theme, with all of the heroes surviving.
In 1985, Tomino directed the first sequel to 1979's Mobile Suit Gundam, Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, which was noted to be amongst the best Gundam series ever produced. This show once again featured Tomino's "Kill'em All" bent, particularly in the last few episodes. Tomino's involvement in the following Gundam series, 1986's Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ darkened the originally upbeat, comedic theme of the show. In 1988, Tomino concluded the saga begun in Mobile Suit Gundam with the Gundam motion picture Char's Counterattack. This was another Tomino feature in which most of the heroes were killed.
1990s and 2000s
Tomino would direct an additional Gundam motion picture, Mobile Suit Gundam F91 in 1991. This movie, which took place 30 years after Char's Counterattack, re-launched the Gundam saga in a new direction by featuring a completely new cast.
In 1993, Tomino directed his next Gundam series, Victory Gundam, which (like F91 before) attempted to relaunch the Gundam saga with a completely new cast. Like Zeta Gundam before it, this series featured the deaths of a large number of the protagonists. However, this was to be the very last Tomino series in which this was to happen. Each of the series he directed and created afterwards contain much more upbeat and lighthearted themes in which the vast majority of the protagonists survive.
In 1996, Tomino wrote and directed Garzey's Wing, and in 1998 wrote and directed Brain Powerd. In 1999, he returned to Gundam with Turn A Gundam and in 2002, directed two compilations movies for it entitled Turn A Gundam I: Earth Light and Turn A Gundam II: Moonlight Butterfly. Also in 2002, he directed Overman King Gainer, and in 2005, Tomino directed 3 compilation movies summarizing the events of 1985's Zeta Gundam. His most recent series was the 6-episode The Wings of Rean, which first premiered on the Internet across Bandai Channel, the broadcast beginning from December 12, 2005 with the final episode starting on August 18, 2006. Also in 2006, Tomino made a special cameo appearance in Shinji Higuchi's tokusatsu film Japan Sinks.
At the 2009 CESA Developers Conference, Yoshiyuki used his keynote speech to criticize the gaming industry, citing that video games "bringing no productivity at all" and that "consoles are just consuming electricity". His surprising remarks have sparked mass discussions online.
