Takao Koyama (小山高生 Koyama Takao, April 21 , 1948- ) is a Japanese screenplay writer and author. He founded the screenwriters' group Brother Noppo and is a professor in the Character Modeling Department at Osaka University of Arts. Up until 1987, he was credited by the actual notation of his name (小山 高男).
Bio[]
Born in Akishima, Tokyo. In his second year at Waseda University, he was hired by Planning Group Q and worked part-time creating questions for the TV program Quiz Time Shock. After graduating from Waseda on March 1 , 1972 , he joined the anime production company Tatsunoko Production. He was in charge of planning and writing scripts for many Tatsunoko anime series as a member of the Planning and Literary Department. Koyama was especially fond of the Time Bokan series, for which he planned and wrote until the final work Itadakiman, and was active in reviving it as Kiramekiman.
Koyama had officially left Tatsunoko Production in August 1975 to go freelance and began working on other companies' productions, but he felt a strong sense of gratitude towards the company that had raised him, and he supported it when it was in a difficult situation after the death of Tatsuo Yoshida, and the gradual exit of staff members to other companies.
He was particularly keen on nurturing young talent, and in July 1986 , he opened the Anime Scenario House in a classroom rented from the Nippon Television Music Academy (now the Nippon Television Academy). By 1987, he had produced such writers as Toshihisa Arakawa, Satoru Akahori, Hiroyuki Kawasaki, Yumi Kageyama, and Aya Matsui. In January 1988, he formed the group Brother Noppo to provide jobs to the writers he had nurtured.
In April 2005, he became a professor in the Department of Film and Media Studies at Osaka University of Arts. However, he was given less work as a screenplay writer, and in 2006 he had not written a single script. As a result, he announced that he would stop being a writer for anime and focus on other work. In August 2014, Brother Noppo announced that it would end its role of discovering and nurturing writers and become Koyama's personal office at the end of that month, and that all other affiliated writers would become freelancers and independent. His son, Makoto Koyama, had also became a writer and was affiliated with Brother Noppo.
Koyama has worked on many anime series such as Dragon Ball, YAWARA!, and Galaxy Angel, and has a long-standing relationship with Toshiki Inoue, a regular scriptwriter for the Heisei Kamen Rider series. Many of Koyama's students have participated in Galaxy Angel and Lightning Super Express Hikarian, for which Inoue served as series composer.
Body of Work[]
Koyama was also regularly in the planning meetings for early to mid 1970s Tatsunoko series such as Gatchaman and Tekkaman the Space Knight, even if his screenplay work would be minimal or he would wind up not writing for a show.
Screenplay Credits (Tatsunoko)[]
- Inakappe Taisho
- Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (episode 94)
- Tamagon the Counselor
- Kerokko Demetan
- Neo-Human Casshan
- The Song of Ladybug
- Time Bokan
- Time Bokan Series: Zenderman
- Cheerful Dwarves of the Forest: Belfy and Lillibit
- Time Bokan Series: Time Patrol Team Otasukeman
- Time Bokan Series: Yattodetaman
- Dash Kappei
- Time Bokan Series: Gyakuten! Ippatsuman
- Time Bokan Series: Itadakiman (only episode 7)
- Starzan S
- Showa-era Idiot Story Book: Most Refined
- Doteraman
- Red Photon Zillion
- This is the Kameari Police Box in Katsushika Ward (special for Jump's Grand Parade)
- Legend of Heavenly Sphere Shurato
- Time Bokan 2000: Phantom Thieves Kiramekiman
Screenplay Credits (Other)[]
- UFO Warrior Daiapolon (Eiken)
- Blocker Corps IV Machine Blaster (Ashi)
- Urusei Yatsura (Studio Pierrot/Kitty Film, series composition for episodes 1-21)
- Dr. Slump and Arale-chan (Toei)
- Don Dracula (Toei)
- Tokimeki Tonight (Toho, Group TAC)
- Perman (Shin-Ei)
- Super Robo Galatt (Sunrise)
- Kompora Kid (Toei)
- High School! Kimengumi (Tsuchida Pro -> Studio Comet)
- Saint Seiya (Toei, series composition for episodes 1-73)
- Project A-ko 2 (APPP)
- Dragon Ball (Toei, episodes 83-153)
- Mashin Hero Wataru (Sunrise)
- Kojiro of the Fuma Clan (JC Staff)
- Legendary Idol Eriko (Ashi)
- Kariage-kun (Toei)
- Akuma-kun (Toei)
- Dragon Ball Z (Toei)
- Mashin Hero Wataru 2 (Sunrise)
- NG Knight Ramune & 40 (Ashi)
- Magical Angel Sweet Mint (Ashi)
- I am Chokkaku (Studio Pierrot)
- Marude Dameo (Studio Pierrot)
- Floral Magician Mary Bell (Ashi)
- The Brave Express Might Gaine (Sunrise)
- Willow Town (E&G Films)
- The Slayers (JC Staff, only season 1)
- Hell Teacher Nube (Toei)
- Savings Warrior Cashman (Toei)
- Maburaho (JC Staff)
- F-ZERO Falcon Legend (Ashi)
Novels[]
- This is the Kameari Police Box in Katsushika Ward
- Dr. Slump and Arale-chan
Manga[]
- Dr. Slump Briefly Returns (V-Jump)
- GO! GO! ACKMAN (V-Jump anime comic version)
- Savings Warrior Cashman (V-Jump remake)
Video Games[]
- Dragon Ball Z: Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans (screenplay)
He is also credited for Dragon Ball Z Kai due to the fact episodes he worked on were recycled for that series.
Trivia[]
- The name "Brother Noppo" and his self-proclaimed title of "Asia's Tallest Screenwriter" come from Koyama's height of 194cm. He pitched this to Hiroshi Sasagawa, the director of the Time Bokan series, and appeared in Yattodetaman as Cameraman Koyama, a tall, giant character whose face is not visible. He also appeared as a voice actor in the 1993 OVA Time Bokan: Royal Revival, saying just the line "I'm Koyama".
- In November 1977, he joined the Mahikari sect of Buddhism. Since then, he has written books introducing the sect, given lectures sponsored by the sect, and engaged in missionary activities around the country.
- As he was recuperating from an illness during the production of Yatterman, he was not involved in its production, and as for Itadakiman, he was removed from the series composition due to friction with Fuji Television producer Masashi Oka (he only wrote the screenplay for episode 7 of this series, "If You Eat It, It's Over!"). As stated in his "Noppo and Time Bokan" retrospective, Koyama does not recognize the Itadakiman series as part of the Time Bokan franchise due to Oka's meddling and its failure. He had noted that even if Oka had not replaced him with Akiyoshi Sakai as the composition writer, he would have stepped down from the series anyway due to the offensive setting of Buddha possessing Headmaster Ochaka. It may be for this reason that his initial pitch document for Kiramekiman bore the Itadakiman name, as a way to make a better version of such a title.