Interview: Animator/Director Isamu Imakake and Producer Hisaaki Takeuchi talk “The Laws of the Universe”

Interview: Animator/Director Isamu Imakake and Producer Hisaaki Takeuchi talk “The Laws of the Universe”

December 31st, 2018

W.R. Miller

Humans come from Venus. Earth has a primary god, Alpha, married to a mother goddess, Gaia. Under their guidance, plus cycles of reincarnation and evolution and good behavior, one can achieve enlightenment. Meanwhile, five university kids are endowed with powers to fight evil space reptilians who, as it turns out, may have the capacity for love.

Such is the scenario painted by The Laws of the Universe (UFO Gakuen no Himitsu), a series of four films from Japan’s H.S. Pictures Studio, distributed in the U.S. by Eleven Arts. Part Zero premiered October 10th, 2015. This year, Part One premiered at the Awareness Film Festival in Los Angeles on October 6th. The producer, Hisaaki Takeuchi and director, Isamu Imakake , came to Los Angeles in December to promote the film for Oscar consideration.

Imakake has contributed to several significant anime productions throughout his 30-year career, among them Aim for the Top! Gunbuster, Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, The Irresponsible Captain Tylor and Cowboy Bebop.

“When I was in elementary school, I saw Uchû senkan Yamato / Space Battleship Yamato (1974),” he recalls. “I got so excited when my brother took me. I was inspired by the universe and the drama between Kodai and Yuki.”

Imakake regards himself as “almost 100% self-trained. Hayao Miyazaki was one of the most inspiring. The first anime that I created was a paper anime. I made holes in the paper, as a high school student. After I graduated from high school, I went to Tokyo, and there I attended a special school for animation.”

The young artist freelanced at Studio Gainax, where he worked on the six-part OVA (Original Video Animation, or direct-to-video) series, Aim for the Top! Gunbuster (1988).

“When I started in this industry, I did a lot of work. The important thing is to create these stories, but the most important thing is, I feel, is a purity—this spirit of oneself. In anime, you have to make that image alive. In order to do that, you need to be pure, and enjoy it. Those are things that I really think are important,” he says.

Producer, Hisaaki Takeuchi (left) with animator/director, Isamu Imakake (right).
Photo by W.R. Miller – ©2019 W.R. Miller

Imakake worked as an in-betweener on the six-part OVA series, Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket (1989). “The one thing I experienced with this was I met this person, Mr. Kawamoto, and he’s the guy that brought me in to Cowboy Bebop [as a “set designer”]. So our relationship through Gundam was significant in my career.”

On Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water (1990), “That was my first animation where I wrote the original genga [key animation],” Imakake says. “I was the head of animation, for the first time. For me, I wrote the genga where they arrived in Paris. Gratan I and Gratan II, I wrote everything. I designed it. Animated.”

On The Irresponsible Captain Tylor (1993), he says, “I did the mecha designs. So the person I worked together with on Tylor, now I’m involved with in The Laws of the Universe as second head director. We’ve had a good relationship since then. So it’s all connected,” Imakake says.

On Cowboy Bebop (1998), “I did set design. But together with the director I worked with creating the total atmosphere, the environments. Backgrounds. I co-ordinated everything. It was a very exciting job. I haven’t done the theatrical version,” he says.

Cowboy Bebop used a handheld camera effect during fight scenes which, according to Imakake, was a “first” for anime. “This was when 3D computer graphics came in. We really developed using these techniques.”

In the mid-90s, Isamu Imakake worked on a controversial TV series that he prefers not be named, where he felt “I spiritually didn’t feel comfortable”—and he consequently left the project. His wife introduced him to Ryuho Okawa, controversial founder of the Happy Science religious group and the Happiness Realization political party in Japan. Okawa enlisted Imakake to help make feature-length anime promoting his religious philosophy.

Says Imakake, “In 2000, I was called in to do The Laws of the Sun as a project. I really really liked it. I felt fulfillment. I felt very comfortable and at the same time, I realized how challenging this anime was. I was fulfilled but like it was like the challenge was going to continue on. So I felt there was a lot of potential in this field of animation.”

By “field,” Imakake is referring to “The state of religious art. Like Michaelangelo, right? He drew the painting on the ceilings. At that time he drew as a painting. He was telling a story through painting. If he had a technical grasp of creating anime or moving story, he probably would be doing a great great job using animation. That’s what I’m trying for.”

Imakake progressed to become a director for Okawa with The Laws of Eternity (2006), followed by The Mystical Laws (2012), The Laws of the Universe: Part Zero (2015) and Part One (2018). Part Two and Part Three are in the works.

“For The Laws of the Universe, I created all the character designs,” Imakake says. “But when I decided on a character, I did not design on today’s style because the theme is so big. So I was imagining, not just 10 years from now, 20 years from now, even a hundred years in the future, or maybe a thousand years into the future, how the people would see those characters and how they would relate to it. A much bigger painting I have in my mind.”

Although Japan’s anime industry switched from paper to digital in 2011, Imakake says he prefers to draw on paper for his animation, which is then digitized for production. “Definitely paper. But, for The Laws of the Universe, the character designs were done by tablet. So getting the ideas out, everything’s on paper.”

In November 2018, Mirai director Mamoru Hosoda mentioned a concern that Japanese feature animation will soon dispense with the traditional hand-drawn approach in favor of 3D CG, like the films of Disney and Pixar. Does Imakake concur?

“Eventually, I think so,” he says. “But CG costs more money, right? So there’s a budget issue. We don’t have as many high-skilled 3D creators in Japan, yet. It’s a time-consuming thing, either drawing by hand or 3D, it’s the same in time constraints, anyway.”

Hisaaki Takeuchi, one of four producers on Laws of the Universe, indicates Part One was made in 2D at a budget of 600 million yen, plus promotional costs, far cheaper than making a 3D CG film. “Even though 3D would be a high budget, we still feel that 2D is more important as you can see with [Studio] Ghibli and Hosoda-san and Dragon Ball. All this history and Japanese culture that we have established is still here. So we want to continue on with 2D for awhile.”

Laws of the Universe is Takeuchi’s first animated project. “I liked Disney animation, like Peter Pan, when I was younger, especially in middle school age,” he says. “The reason is because you can experience the dream work which we can’t experience in reality. I really liked that. Especially with Disney, the themes of love, dreams and happiness.

All these things are expressed through the characters. So, in watching the animation you can become part of the character. You can actually go into the same world together with the character. The music, sound, the character and the environmental—everything comes together. That’s the one big backbone with Disney works. I really like that.”

Who is the intended audience for this film? Takeuchi responds, “Our target is women. The reason is because they can see Zamza, the lady girl, [Queen of the Reptilians] being aggressive. How Zamza’s mindset is changed during the course of the film from imperialistic to realizing the importance of love and harmony. In that aspect, women is one of the targets.

“Also, the theme is the universe. So, many people who are interested in space people as well as the mystical part of the universe. Those are two targets that we have.”

Delving more into the backstory of Laws, Takeuchi says, “There are Venusians living on Venus, but when Venus was destroyed, or vanished (because of the age of the stars; stars vanish, right? Because they get old as well), all the Venusians came to Earth, to start a new life as Earthlings. That’s a myth story.

“There’s probably people who flew in with a spaceship from Venus, but also their spirit, after they died, they flew in to Earth in spirit and born as Earthlings.

“One more thing I would like to say about this movie,” Takeuchi says, “is that there are space people living on the earth today, so how can we understand each other? And also nuture each other? That’s the main thing. What it comes down to is love. Love and understanding and nurturing each other. Even though there are differences in skin, ethnicity, we hope that we all realize through the power of love that we can all come together. That’s the message we want to convey.”

The studio has already started on Laws of the Universe, Part 2, expected to be released around 2020.

(Thanks to H.S. Pictures Studio Marketing Director Yoichi Utebi for translating this interview.)

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W.R. Miller

W.R. Miller - known informally as “Bob” – has written for Starlog, Comics Scene, Animation Magazine and Animation World Magazine. Bob has been involved in animation for two decades, as a writer, character animator, special effects animator, and storyboard artist - For more information about Bob, check his website: http://wrmilleronline.com/.

He has just completed Batman: The Animated Interviews, a five-volume work featuring the executives, producers, directors, writers, actors, designers, storyboard artists and composers involved with the making of Batman: The Animated Series and its spinoffs. BearManor Media is the publisher.