Jinzo Toriumi (鳥海 尽三 Toriumi Jinzo, February 1, 1929 – January 17, 2008) was a screenwriter and novelist best known for his association with works from Tatsunoko Production and Nippon Sunrise.
He also served as the director of the scenario circle Otori Kobo from 1988, was a lecturer at Waseda Scenario Gijuku and Yoyogi Animation Academy, and was a long-term member of the Japan Scenario Writers Association and the Japan Broadcast Writers Association.
He is not related to the prolific Tatsunoko director Hisayuki 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[]
Born in Takikawa-cho, Sorachi-gun Hokkaido ( now Takikawa-shi), and graduated from the Film Department of Nihon University College of Art. While at university, he studied under the screenwriters Tetsu Suyama and Takeo Matsuura, and made his debut in 1958 under the pen name Jinzo Sakai with the Nikkatsu film Moon Tonight.
He continued to write screenplays for Nikkatsu live-action films such as I Told You So and Young Port until 1964. He also worked on the TV drama Wanpaku Doumei. However, after his master Suyama passed away and the heyday of Japanese films came to an end with the arrival of the television era, he lost his job, so he applied for a staff position for Mushi Pro and joined its Literary Department. This started his tenure as one of the longest serving active screenwriters, along with Masaki Tsuji, when he became involved in Mushi's Mighty Atom (better known internationally as Astro Boy).
Tatsunoko Years[]
In 1965, he was asked to move to Tatsunoko Production as a contract employee. He wrote the script for the ninth episode of Tatsunoko's first TV anime, Space Ace, titled "The Primitive Giant Appears." Initially, Toriumi was the only person in the literary department, but he was later put in charge of planning as well.
During his time at the company, he also wrote scripts for Mushi and Toei series such as W3 and Sally the Witch. For these assignments, he tended to work in tandem with his friend, the producer Kei Iijima, and screenwriters Tadashi Hirose and Yoshitake Suzuki under the joint alias of Takashi Mikisato.
Toriumi was very pivotal in the planning of many early Tatsunoko works, establishing melancholy and quite grim yet hopeful worldviews as well as particular favored themes. By the time of the planning of Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, he would be joined by his frequent collaborator Satoshi Suyama, and mingle with other planning staff such as Akiyoshi Sakai and Takao Koyama in their company idea meetings. Toriumi, along with Suyama and Sakai, would also establish the joint penname Sacre Burn for the planning of the Toei film The Great Battle of the Flying Saucers (a prototype to UFO Robo Grendizer).
By the time Toriumi left the company in December 1977 to establish Tori Pro, he had served as head of the literary planning department and production department, and had risen to the position of director and head of the planning department. His last official work at Tatsunoko, after the death of Tatsuo Yoshida, would be Take Off! Machine Hiryuu, on which he worked on the planning for.
Tori Pro[]
Toriumi, Suyama, and Sakai would form their new company together, but continue as freelancers for Tatsunoko while developing their own new projects. Toei, who served as the advertising agency and co-producer for Take Off! Machine Hiryuu, would produce Tori Pro's only anime series Space Genie Daikengo in assistance with Tatsunoko's contractor Green Box.
During this period, the three writers used the joint pen name Wataru Hibiki to write the original stories for the manga Microman and Secret Command Machine Detective 999 , which were serialized in TV Magazine. They would also collaborate on the planning and screenplays for Science Ninja Team Gatchaman II and the preceding Gatchaman radio show. Unfortunately, Space Genie Daikengo failed to do better beyond its initial 26-episode order and was cancelled in part due to Tori Pro's lack of sales staff and financial difficulties.
Tori Pro would continue to collaborate on Science Ninja Team Gatchaman Fighter and the 1982 anime Cry of the Wild, but their continued difficulties led them to disband after the completion of their screenplay work on the latter.
Sunrise, the return to Tatsunoko, and other exploits[]
Toriumi then joined the planning department of Nippon Sunrise in 1983, writing screenplays on Ryosuke Takahashi's works such as Armored Trooper VOTOMS and Panzer World Galient, and in 1984 would also return to his old workplace Tatsunoko for the planning of Super Dimensional Cavalry Southern Cross.
Other notable works planned out in the 1980s and 1990s included Mister Ajikko, Mitsuteru Yokoyama's Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Jungle King Tar-chan, and Galaxy Warring States Heroes Rai.
In 1989, Toriumi would pen the light novel Novel Science Ninja Team Gatchaman: The Condor Flies for Enix Publishing, as a way to reinvent Gatchaman for the late 1980s. Unfortunately, due to the massive liberties he took with the characters fans had grown to love, sales of the book were low and did not pave the way for any sequels he had hoped to write.
His novelist work would also show in writing the 3 volume series Dororo: A Novel for Gakken through the year of 2001.
Death[]
Toriumi passed away of liver cancer on January 17 , 2008, at the age of 78.
Notable Quotes[]
"If you think about it, Dr. Nambu is also an awful man. He gathers kids together and makes them fight against some horrible guy from outer space. That's why I killed him in the middle of "Gatchaman F." - Columbia Gatchaman DVD vol. 3 liner notes
"What was that story about? I've forgotten a bit, but it is true that concepts were incorporated into Tekkaman. A character like Andro Umeda appeared, and I think the setting changed from Earth to outer space." - Fantoche 7, about the rumored "Gatchaman Part 2"/third year broadcast extension plan
Body of Work[]
Besides screenplays for various series, Toriumi was pivotal in a lot of planning for Tatsunoko's series bibles and setting up the shows' concepts.
Planning (Tatsunoko-specific)[]
- Mach Go Go Go
- I'm Gazula
- Sanshiro Kurenai
- Hakushon Daimao
- The Insect Story of Orphan Hutch
- Sky Fighter Z (shelved)
- Inakappe Taisho
- Kabatotto
- Decision
- Mokku of the Oak Tree
- Science Ninja Team Gatchaman
- Tamagon the Counselor
- Kerokko Demetan
- Neo-Human Casshan
- The New Insect Story of Orphan Hutch
- Hurricane Polymar
- Science Ninja Team Gatchaman Part 2 (rejected, attested to in 1977 interviews)
- Urikupen Rescue Team
- Tekkaman the Space Knight - Pitch developed from the rejected Gatchaman Part 2
- Time Bokan - Developed from the earlier unaired pilot Quick and Simple Tanmar
- Gowapper 5 Godam
- Paul's Miraculous Adventure
- Time Bokan Series: Yatterman - Developed initially as Yatter Dokan from the earlier, rejected Time Bokan sequel pitch Time Dokkan
- Temple the Balloonist
- Take Off! Machine Hiryuu
- Science Ninja Team Gatchaman 2 (rejected, uncredited publicly but it's basically his brand)
- Science Ninja Team Gatchaman II
- Time Bokan Series: Zenderman
- Science Ninja Team Gatchaman Fighter
- Super Dimensional Cavalry Southern Cross
- The Insect Story of Orphan Hutch (remake)
Planning (Other companies)[]
- Space Genie Daikengo (Tori Pro, Toei)
- Mister Ajikko (Sunrise)
- Mitsuteru Yokoyama's Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Sunrise)
- Jungle King Tar-chan (Group TAC)
- Galaxy Warring States Heroes Rai (E&G Films)
Screenplay Credits (Tatsunoko)[]
- Space Ace
- Mach Go Go Go
- I'm Gazula
- Dokachin
- Sanshiro Kurenai
- The Insect Story of Orphan Hutch
- Sky Fighter Z (shelved)
- Inakappe Taisho
- Kabatotto
- Decision
- Mokku of the Oak Tree
- Science Ninja Team Gatchaman
- Tamagon the Counselor
- Kerokko Demetan
- Neo-Human Casshan
- The New Insect Story of Orphan Hutch
- Hurricane Polymar
- Urikupen Rescue Team
- The Song of Ladybug
- Tekkaman the Space Knight
- Time Bokan
- Gowapper 5 Godam
- Paul's Miraculous Adventure
- Yatterman
- Ippatsu Kanta-kun
- Temple the Balloonist
- Take Off! Machine Hiryuu (co-wrote final episode)
- Gatchaman II
- Gatchaman Fighter
- Super Dimensional Cavalry Southern Cross
- I'm Gazula (scripts recycled for remake)
- The Insect Story of Orphan Hutch (remake)
Screenplay Credits (Other)[]
- Mighty Atom
- W3
- Sally the Witch
- Akko-chan's Got a Secret
- Space Warrior Baldios
- The Crazy Knight - Don de la Mancha
- Cry of the Wild (as "Tori Pro")
- Armored Trooper VOTOMS
- Panzer World Galient
- Samurai Troopers
- Mister Ajikko
Awards[]
- 2000 Japan Scenario Writers Association Merit Award
- 2008 Tokyo International Anime Fair 2008 4th Achievement Award
Trivia[]
- Toriumi immortalized himself, in a way, via utilizing his Jinzo Sakai alias as inspiration for the character Genzo Sakai in Mach Go Go Go, along with directly naming another racer after his fellow writer Tadashi Hirose.
- Daikengo, due to its exodus of Tatsunoko staff members, can be said to be one non-Tatsunoko anime that Tori Pro worked on that still carries a heavy "Tatsunoko Touch" in its story and character archetypes. In particular, it appears Toriumi recycled the element of "cyborg guardian older brother riding an animal-themed mecha" from the rejected Gatchaman 2 planning for the character of Bryman, and other Tatsunoko parallels can be drawn with other characters in the series.
- Toriumi had a great fondness for name puns and wordplay with characters, which were utilized a lot in productions like Hurricane Polymar and Tekkaman the Space Knight; Takeshi Yoroi's name meaning "Armored Samurai", Joji Minami meaning "Southern Cross", Andro Umeda being a pun on "Andromeda", etc. The name of Luna Kozuki in Neo-Human Casshan is even an orphaned remnant of when Casshan was to be named Joji Minami, with the two being intended to have space-themed names (though ultimately, with the removal of the space-related backstory in the Casshan series, the Joji Minami name wound up being more fitting when it was recycled for the space-faring Tekkaman)
- Perhaps inspired from his boss' early preferences, Toriumi could be seen to be pivotal in the formation of the "hero, heroine, younger brother" trio in early Tatsunoko human-based works such as Sky Fighter Z and Gatchaman. However, his attempts to repeat that formula's success in Androider Joji (early stages of Neo-Human Casshan) and the Tanmar project that became Time Bokan were negated; Noboru Minami was written out of being Friender's operator in favor of Friender being powered by a dead dog's brainwaves, and the youngest Tanmar character Choroichi was replaced with the robot Chorobo.
- Thanks to Toriumi's efforts in Time Bokan though, he also spawned the creation of another popular and infamous trio, this one for villainous sorts. The arrangement of a beautiful woman, a brawny man, and a skinny, nerdier man and their personalities would prove successful enough to be repeated in each following sequel series, with the succeeding trios even originally having been intended to be Marjo, Grocky, and Warusa simply taking on new names and appearances until later works such as the Royal Revival OVA clarified them all as being separate but incredibly similar individuals (while some later sources also show that they are related to one another).