Kon panned most of Itoso’s ideas but thought that Santa Company might make an interesting film. Forget about ‘someday,’ do it right away. Kon retorted, “’Someday’ may never come, and you could end up dead before that. Itoso replied that he hoped to create his own original work someday. One day, Kon asked Itoso whether he had ever thought about why he was drawing. But shortly after production got going, Kon was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. The offer was a valuable opportunity to be involved in this ambitious work, the product of first-rate creators. In 2010, producer and founder of the Madhouse production company Maruyama Masao approached him to take part in the production of Dreaming Machine, an animated film directed by Kon Satoshi. Just as he had anticipated, Itoso gradually began attracting attention in the anime industry. He decided that an animated film made in the Ghibli style by someone who had studied under Miyazaki would provide the necessary hook, and the work he created incorporated elements of Studio Ghibli films Kiki’s Delivery Service, My Neighbor Totoro, and Laputa: Castle in the Sky. He believed that a work by an unknown would be hard to publicize and would in any case draw little attention. “Do It Now, Not Someday”Ĭoluboccoro, a work that Itoso created in 2007 but that was only released in theaters in 2019, would be a touchstone piece in his oeuvre. Thanks to repeated discussion about visualization in the films, he absorbed the view of nature depicted symbolically in Miyazaki’s works. By chance, plans for a Ghibli Museum were afoot at that time, and Itoso was asked to create storyboards for short films that would be shown exclusively there. Itoso created this watercolor as part of his audition portfolio for the seminar.Īt the seminar, Itoso spent all his time with Miyazaki, at that point in retirement, who devoted many hours to mentoring seminar students. He followed this practice to the letter, submitting watercolors of women in profile incorporating his own touches, and successfully passed the audition. He had also noted that crucial scenes in Miyazaki’s films often showed close-ups of the female characters in profile. In any case, Itoso was convinced that the only way he could get a foot in the door would be to submit drawings with a Miyazaki flavor. Itoso decided that this was either because the staff’s designs had been retouched to give them the characteristic Miyazaki flavor, or that they were so devoted to Miyazaki that their output unconsciously reflected his style. He discovered that although Miyazaki’s name did not appear in the ending credits as a character creator, each work unmistakably reflected his distinctive touch. That was around the time that Miyazaki Hayao announced his (short-lived) retirement following the 1997 release of Princess Mononoke, and Itoso learned that Studio Ghibli would be auditioning candidates for its Higashi Koganei Son Juku seminars, created to nurture the upcoming generation of anime artists.Īs part of his strategy to win a place at the seminar, Itoso watched several Studio Ghibli animated films closely. Some of his professors were also involved in creating anime, and as he listened to them talk, he became convinced that he should switch to the field. Thinking about his future, by the time he was 17 he had decided that he would become a manga artist and left his native Hiroshima to enroll at the art college Tokyo Zōkei University.
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A child refused this kind of entertainment might ordinarily pout or make a fuss, but instead, Itoso decided that he would think up interesting stories no one else knew and proceeded to create his own manga, modeled on Dragon Ball, his favorite story.Īs a young teen, Itoso was crazy about soccer, but realized he was not talented enough to become a professional player. All his friends were avid readers of the magazine, but Itoso’s parents thought it was a poor educational influence and kept it away from him. The weekly manga magazine Shōnen Jump was in its heyday during Itoso’s childhood. Itoso wears many different hats-movie director, university professor, and business executive. He is a shrewd strategist who has managed to raise a cumulative ¥850 million through crowdfunding, a feat that earned him a spot in the Guinness World Records. Not only is Itoso a gifted creator, his business acumen has brought a fresh wind to the world of Japanese animation.
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For the feature-length animated films Coluboccoro and Santa Company: The Secret of Christmas, both released in 2019, he eschewed the customary production committee model and set up a structure giving him full ownership of the work’s copyright. After studying under acclaimed Studio Ghibli director Miyazaki Hayao in his teens, Itoso Kenji was chosen by several famous directors and producers to produce their works.