Hisayuki Toriumi

Hisayuki Toriumi (鳥海永行, Toriumi Hisayuki, July 9, 1941 – January 23, 2009) was a Japanese animation director, novelist, and screenwriter. Sometimes his name can also be seen to be credited as Nagayuki Toriumi/N. Toriumi in English lettering.

He is best known for his association with Tatsunoko Production, becoming part of their Directing Department and being in that position for the first Science Ninja Team Gatchaman series among other works. In his later years, he was more commonly associated with Studio Pierrot and also achieved great success with many works there.

He is not related to the former Tatsunoko screenwriter Jinzo Toriumi, who often worked on the same productions. Around Tatsunoko, the two were nicknamed "Tatsunoko's Big Tori (Jinzo) and Little Tori (Hisayuki)" (大鳥 Ootori and 小鳥 Kotori) because of their physiques .

Bio[]

He was born in Isehara, Kanagawa Prefecture an graduated from the Department of Political Science, Faculty of Law, at Chuo University.

Toriumi joined Tatsunoko Production in February 1966. He had an interest in film and had attended the Scenario Institute since college, so he initially wanted to be a scriptwriter, but since Tatsunoko Production did not have a Literary Department at the time, he joined the Directing Department. He was mentored by Ippei Kuri, Hiroshi Sasagawa, and Seitaro Hara, and decided to pursue a career as a director. He became the first generation of directors at Tatsunoko Production to have been brought up in the studio, rather than a former manga artist or someone who had moved from another studio.

After gaining experience directing several works, he was selected as the general director of Science Ninja Team Gatchaman in 1972. When it was aired, its realistic orientation and hard-hitting depictions and direction overturned the common sense of the time that "TV cartoons are for children," and it was highly praised. It became a huge hit that became synonymous with Tatsunoko Production, and was a pioneer of the subsequent anime boom. After that, he served as general director for Hurricane Polymar, Tekkaman the Space Knight (episodes 14-26), and Gowapper 5 Godam, before leaving the company in December 1978 and starting work as a freelancer.

In his days at Tatsunoko, Toriumi was considered the more serious director in charge of heavy, realistic material while Sasagawa was generalized as the one dealing with comedies. His works tended to also carry a strong sense of family, or a "father and son" type theme, but on the other hand he had no interest in romantic stories or drama involving the relationships of men and women. He was also well-known among his proteges like Mamoru Oshii for favoring sadistic characters, such as Berg Katse in Gatchaman.

Before he left, Toriumi was approached to direct Gatchaman II, but declined because he had already concluded the story and felt it was fine where it stood. Everyone else in the directing department also declined, so Hiroshi Sasagawa was forced to direct it with an assistant (Seitaro Hara). Toriumi instead closed out his involvement with Gatchaman with the light novel SF Roman Science Ninja Team Gatchaman.

Studio Pierrot era[]

In May 1979, Yuji Nunokawa, who had previously left Tatsunoko, founded Studio Pierrot to produce The Wonderful Adventures of Nils. Toriumi also joined as a founder along with other directors from Tatsunoko, including Masami Anno, Hiroshi Kawabata, Motosuke Takahashi, and Mitsuo Kaminashi. Toriumi served as the chief director on the Nils anime, but Mamoru Oshii, who had followed Toriumi to become his apprentice, also participated as one of the directors. Toriumi would follow this up with directing the Japanese-French co-production Esteban, Boy of the Sun (aka: Mysterious Cities of Gold). He had accepted the job hoping to work with the staff of Nils, but when Nunokawa approached Mamoru Oshii to direct Urusei Yatsura, Oshii accepted without telling Toriumi and stepped down from his position as assistant director.

In 1983, he produced the world's first OVA, Dallos, and in 1985, another OVA, Area 88. He then officially left Studio Pierrot but continued working as a freelancer for the company as well as others.

Later works and Death[]

In 1990, he served as general director of the TV special Like the Clouds, Like the Wind which aired on the Nippon Television Network. It was an animated version of Kenichi Sakami's Harem Novel, which won the first Japan Fantasy Novel Award. It also attracted attention for the involvement of many of Studio Ghibli 's elite staff at the time, including character designer and animation director Katsuya Kondo (My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service) .

Toriumi later became best known for directing Shimajiro the Striped Tiger, a long-running childrens' anime. He originally had wanted to adapt Jung Chang 's novel Wild Swan into an animated film for Studio Signpost, but the president Keiji Kusano requested he work on Shimajiro, explaining "It will take some time to realize that , so can you do this instead?". Toriumi was initially uncertain, as a childrens' anime of that sort wasn't his field but Kusano persuaded him, citing his work on Nils as having impressed him. In response to that, Toriumi directed Shimajiro with the policy of no flashback scenes, only present-day stories while not necessarily aiming for a hit show. Even if the stories could be monotonous and the show had little movement in the animation, he still wanted to make sure the cuts (scenes) would not get boring.

Sadly, Toriumi died of heart failure on January 23, 2009 at the age of 67, and his reign on Shimajiro came to an end. As a result, the three black cat characters he had enjoyed writing for the most in the show (Dot, Karakusa, and Paisley) were retired from the franchise out of respect to him.

Notable Quotes[]

"Originally, the story started with an evil organization called Galactor, and there was Katse on that side, and the Science Ninja Team, and then there was Nambu and Ken, and they fought, which was a simple formula. So there was no need for any explanations. When I first read the proposal, the story started with Ken gathering his friends, but that would have been too much explanation for an action anime. So, we started from the idea that this was what was there from the beginning. Then, the story got very long, and because we focused on each person individually, their pasts started to emerge through flashbacks. So, we didn't decide anything that wasn't necessary." - Fantastic TV Collection vol. 3: Science Ninja Team Gatchaman pt.2

"I don't remember what the hints for Leader X were originally, but Katse was the top commander, and in order to trick his subordinates, he created another boss, but in fact, this Leader X didn't exist.... Katse himself was Leader X, and the initial setting was that he created a fictitious character to manipulate people. But in the case of anime, it's hard to express that sort of thing, so I started off by trying to do something with just images. After that, it gradually became more and more of a stretch. It's not like I decided from the beginning that Leader X was like a pencil. It's just that when I was drawing the storyboard, I happened to look at the pencil and thought, "Oh, this is fine," or, "I wonder if it would be good if I drew him like this." So it expanded more and more to images, and since it wasn't based on logic, I said that anything is fine. Anything is fine depending on how you look at it. However, in terms of shape, it doesn't matter if he's a pencil-like object, or if he's a computer. Dr. Nambu also said, "We don't know." - On Leader X's finalized setting.

"At first, I was thinking of making a story about the future, but no matter how science fiction it is, if it's too far into the future, it won't feel realistic, so I decided to go back to 2001, and there was a horror movie about that, right? I'm just trying to use that as a standard. So, for example, 10 years from now, or 50 years from now. Well, for example, if we look at Tokyo 10 years ago, not much has changed. That's why I thought it would be okay if things remained the same 10 years from now." - On the setting of Gatchaman

"I think that was Tatsuo's hobby. They might actually be a father and hide their face, or they might actually be an older brother and hide their face. For example, in 'Mach Go', there was the Masked Racer. But I hate that sort of situation. The Red Impulse captain had a good design, but he also had a strong image from 'Decision'. Also, I was concerned about the voice actor's voice. When it was good, it was extremely good, but when it was bad, it was completely bad. So, I decided that if the series was going to last a long time, it would be better to kill him off quickly. Tatsuo came to also see the first issue that time. I guess he was dissatisfied. The situation of Katse, who is both a man and woman as revealed later, and the decision to make Joe the main character in the latter half of the story were all my own decisions." - His recollection on killing Red Impulse

"The direction that I took the show in diverged entirely from the direction that Jinzo and Suyama had created in the first year of the series as part of the Literary Department, and it came to a place that was more like my sole discretion. So the stories where the monster mecha appears according to the patterns that the Literatary Department did, and the flow of the mystery-solving stories that I was in charge of became intertwined."

>Does only the director know the direction of the story's mysteries?

Yes. Neither Suyama, the writer of the literary settings, nor the writers of each episode would know. So, I would tell Suyama about the story two or three steps ahead in small doses. Then Mr. Suyama would put together the scenario in that direction, and I wouldn't reveal everything.

>So, the fact that the female commander of Galactor and Berg Katse wound up being the same person was not prepared with any hints?

No, what was it, "The Plan to Assassinate Dr. Nambu"? I was conscious of that story. So I thought about what I could do, and first I wanted to introduce a woman who would be amazing. I think in the script at the time, the mysterious woman was written in parentheses as Berg Katse, but (Shigeharu) Shiba told me, "The actors will be conscious of that, so it's better not to write that."

> Did you (Toriumi) also set Joe's parents as Galactor?

Yes, by that time I didn't even consult with anyone, and just did it, and that's how it ended up (laugh). When I said I'd killed off Red Impulse, everyone made a big fuss, and the president came into the editing room like, "What the hell?" and said, "Show me" (laugh).

>Did Tatsuo think that Red Impulse would be alive until the climax?

I think so, in the same way as the Masked Racer. I think that was mostly just Tatsuo's hobby. But he didn't scold me. He said, "Wouldn't it be possible to say that he was actually alive??" so I said, "I'll think about it" (laugh).

Body of Work[]

Direction (Tatsunoko-specific)[]

Mach Go Go Go - Episodic director
I'm Gazula- Episodic director
Dokachin- Episodic director
Sanshiro Kurenai- Episodic director
The Insect Story of Orphan Hutch- Episodic director
Decision- Episodic director
Mokku of the Oak Tree- Episodic director
Science Ninja Team Gatchaman- Chief director
Hurricane Polymar- Chief director
Tekkaman the Space Knight- Chief director (episodes 14-26, taking over after Hiroshi Sasagawa)
Gowapper 5 Godam- Chief director
Paul's Miraculous Adventure- Episodic director
Science Ninja Team Gatchaman: The Movie - Chief director (though Kihachi Okamoto was publicly credited in his place)

Direction (Other companies)[]

The Ultraman- Chief director (episodes 1-13, Sunrise)
The Wonderful Adventures of Nils- Chief director (Studio Pierrot)
Space Warrior Baldios: The Movie - Chief director (Toei)
Esteban, Boy of the Sun- Chief director, animation production, storyboards (Studio Pierrot)
Dallos- Chief director and original author (Studio Pierrot)
Area 88- Chief director (Studio Pierrot)
LILY-CAT- Chief director and original author (Studio Pierrot)
Salamander- Chief director (Studio Pierrot)
Like the Clouds, Like the Wind- Chief director (Studio Pierrot)
Soryuuden- Episodic director (Kitty Film)
Beyond the Rising Time- Chief director (Studio Pierrot)
Shimajiro the Striped Tiger- Chief director (Studio Signpost)
Pinka-chan and her Sea Friends- Chief director (T-Factory)
Shimajiro: I Love Discovery and Experience! - Chief director (Television Setouchi)

Screenplay Credits (Tatsunoko)[]

Science Ninja Team Gatchaman
Hurricane Polymar
Tekkaman the Space Knight
Gowapper 5 Godam

Screenplay Credits (Other)[]

Space Warrior Baldios (movie version, Toei)
Beyond the Rising Time (Studio Pierrot)
Whirlwind of Yojimbo (Nippon Television Network, Studio Pierrot)

Storyboards[]

Ninja Warriors Tobikage (Studio Pierrot)
Baoh the Visitor (Studio Pierrot)
Shimajiro the Striped Tiger - Storyboards for OP and ED (Studio Signpost)
The Legend of Snow White (Tatsunoko)

Planning[]

Star Musketeer Bismarck (Studio Pierrot)
Shimajiro the Striped Tiger- Series composition (Studio Signpost)

Light Novels[]

SF Roman Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (Asahi Sonorama, 1978)
Moonlight, Shooting the Magic Mirror (Sonorama Bunko, 1979)
Shadow of Time (Sonorama Bunko, 1980)
The Target is the Devil (Sonorama Bunko, 1981)
Full Moon Legend Indra (Part 1) (Sonorama Bunko, 1982)
Full Moon Legend Indra (Part 2) (Sonorama Bunko, 1982)
The Legend of Darosulnarian (The Myth Collapse Edition) (Kodansha X Bunko, 1984)
Waterless River Mayfly Story (Asahi Sonorama, 1987)
LILY-CAT (Sonorama Bunko, 1987)
The Man from the Golden Country - Spherical Figurid (1) (Sonorama Bunko, 1988)
The Devil with an Angel Mask - Spherical Figurid (2) (Sonorama Bunko, 1988)
The Two-Headed Tiger - The Legend of the Porcupine (Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko, 1989)
The Battlefield of the Grim Reapers - Spherical Figurid (3) (Sonorama Bunko, 1989)
Tropical Water Wolf Legend - Spherical Figurid (Part 1) (Sonorama Novels, 1991)
Tropical Water Wolf Legend - Spherical Figurid (Part 2) (Sonorama Novels, 1991)
Yomonki (Asahi Sonorama, 1993)
Broken Holy Sword - Legend of the Knights of Light (Dengeki Bunko, 1993)
Bronze Magic Sword - Legend of the Knights of Light (Dengeki Bunko, 1994)
Resurrection of the Divine Sword - Legend of the Knights of Light (Dengeki Bunko, 1994)
Breath of the Golden Dragon - Legend of the Knights of Light (Media Works, 1996)
Saint Eight Dogs Volume 1: The Legend of Fushihime (Dengeki Bunko, 1995)
Saint Eight Dogs Volume 2: The Duel at Horyukaku (Dengeki Bunko, 1995)
Saint Eight Dogs Volume 3: Revenge at Gyurou (Dengeki Bunko, 1996)
Saint Eight Dogs, Volume 4: The Mysterious Cat of Mount Koshin (Dengeki Bunko, 1996)
Saint Eight Dogs Volume 5: The Demon Castle's Counterattack (Dengeki Bunko, 1997)
Nobunaga Genki: The Legend of the Overlord Europe - The Strategist of the Underworld (Wani Novels, 1997)

Toriumi also wrote features for the Asahi Sonorama Fantastic TV Collection volumes featuring Gatchaman, including The Story of Joe, the Condor as well as possibly having been the ghostwriter for Science Ninja Team: Special Interview.

Trivia[]

As seen in the quotes, it is "The Little Tori"'s influence that greatly changed many aspects of the planning crafted by the "Big Tori" and Satoshi Suyama for Gatchaman. During the production of the series, he admitted to arbitrarily deciding to set that Joe's parents were killed by Galactor for a more interesting story, before then revealing later that the Asakuras were Galactor operatives themselves that attempted to leave the organization. "The Little Tori"'s influence would also dictate that scripts would wind up rewritten to incorporate such key ideas he had either involving Joe or Berg Katse, down to Katse's character setting being changed from a woman in disguise to a mutant that could shift between being a man or a woman. Because Toriumi had also decided the idea of Leader X being an AI system made by Katse would be difficult to convey in an animated story, he also set about on changing that setting to X being an alien and in fact the true master of Katse who had manipulated his unfortunate life from the very start.
As also related in those old quotes, one of Toriumi's decisions proved controversial among other staff, in him deciding to kill off Red Impulse after admitting that he hated the character and had been looking for an opportunity to do so. Ultimately, the series ended with the other Red Impulse members killed off as well, and the sequels directed by Sasagawa and Hara only utilized Ken's trauma and memory of his father for more tragedy (down to the repeat of a "Red Impulse impostor" plot in II). It is unknown if "The Little Tori" would have been on board for directing the rejected Gatchaman Part 2 that "The Big Tori" and Suyama had tried pitching to Fuji TV (which eventually became Tekkaman the Space Knight when pitched for NET), long before he eventually decided he was done with the work.