artist, director, screenwriter and novelist. He was born in Odawara,

Kanagawa Prefecture, and studied at Nihon University's College of Art. He is

best known for creating the Gundam anime franchise.

Career Tomino, began his career in 1963 with

Osamu Tezuka's company, Mushi Productions, scripting the storyboards

and screenplay of the first Japanese anime television series, Tetsuwan Atomu.

He later became one of the most important members of the anime studio

Sunrise, going on to direct numerous anime through the 1970s, 1980s and

1990s. Tomino is perhaps best known for his transformation of the "Super Robot"

mecha anime genre into the "Real Robot" genre with 1979's Mobile Suit Gundam,

the first in the Gundam franchise. He has also won numerous awards, including

the "Best Director" award at the recent 2006 Tokyo International Anime Fair. Two

anime series directed by Tomino won the Animage Anime Grand Prix award.

Tomino is known for using numerous pseudonyms for miscellaneous staffing

roles that he performs in his works, including Minami Asa and Minoru

Yokitani, which are used to credit himself for screenplays and storyboards

he creates, Rin Iogi, which he uses to credit himself for theme song lyrics he

writes. Tomino has collaborated with artists such as Yoko Kanno, Asei

Kobayashi, MIO and Neil Sedaka. Tomino is noted for directing several

well-known anime series throughout his career, such as his most notable work,

the Mobile Suit Gundam series, beginning in 1979, and which was later followed

onto numerous sequels, spinoffs and merchandising franchises, Aura Battler

Dunbine, Brave Raideen, and numerous others. His newer work includes Brain

Powerd, Turn A Gundam, Overman King Gainer and most recently, Gundam

Reconguista in G. = 1970s=

Tomino made his directorial debut with 1973's Triton of the Sea. This show,

loosely based on Osamu Tezuka's manga Blue Triton, showed a different

perspective than the traditional "good vs. evil" show. The star, Triton, a

10-year-old boy, is the last survivor of the Tritons, a tribe from Atlantis that

was wiped out by the "evil" Poseidons. However the viewers learn later on that

the story was not so black and white after all.

In 1975, Tomino worked on Brave Raideen, his first mecha work, in which he

directed the first 26 episodes. Raideen was renowned and influential in its

innovative portrayal of a giant machine of mysterious and mystical origins, and

has gone on to inspire numerous other directors and series, including Yutaka

Izubuchi's 2002 series, RahXephon. Tomino also later worked on 1977's

Voltes V. While many of the series Tomino has

directed throughout his career contained an upbeat and positive tone, in which

the majority of the protagonists survive, a number of his shows during

the early years of his career contained endings in which a significant number of

characters and protagonists died. In 1977, Tomino directed Zambot 3; in its

final episode, a large number of the protagonists kill themselves to defeat

the main antagonists. By doing so, the main protagonist survives and the Earth

is saved. Certain sources cite this series as the origin of a nickname used

by some anime fans, "Kill 'Em All Tomino", although it should be noted

that Tomino had directed and worked in a number of series in which the vast

majority of the protagonists survive. In 1979, Tomino directed and wrote

Mobile Suit Gundam, which was highly influential in transforming the Super

Robot mecha genre into the Real Robot genre. Mark Simmons discusses the impact

of Gundam in his book, "Gundam Official Guide":

In an interview published in Animerica magazine, Tomino discusses what he was

trying to accomplish with Mobile Suit Gundam:

Although the last quarter of the show's original script was canceled and it had

to be completed in 43 episodes, its popularity grew after three compilation

movies were released in 1981 and 1982. Mobile Suit Gundam was followed by

numerous sequels, spin-offs and merchandising franchises, becoming one

of the longest-running and most influential, popular anime series in

history, being chosen as No. 1 on TV Asahi's "Top 100 Anime" listing in 2005.

= 1980s= In 1980, Tomino directed Space Runaway

Ideon, a series which like Mobile Suit Gundam was cancelled on its initial run,

but featured movie versions later on. The final Ideon movie, 1982's Be Invoked

ends with all of the characters dying and the home planets of both the heroes

and villains being destroyed. However, the series he immediately directed

afterwards, Xabungle, contained a much more lighthearted and upbeat theme, with

the vast majority of the characters surviving, in stark contrast to Ideon.

Tomino followed Xabungle with 1983's Aura Battler Dunbine which featured an

ending where a large number of characters were killed. Tomino's next

show, 1984's Heavy Metal L-Gaim was again a stark contrast to this theme,

with all of the heroes surviving. In 1985, Tomino directed the first

sequel to 1979's Mobile Suit Gundam, Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. This show once

again featured Tomino's "Kill'em All" bent, particularly in the last few

episodes. Tomino's involvement in the following Gundam series, 1986's Mobile

Suit Gundam ZZ created an upbeat, comedic theme whereas the earlier

Gundam's are of a darker theme. In 1988, Tomino concluded the saga begun in

Mobile Suit Gundam with the Gundam motion picture Char's Counterattack.

This was another Tomino feature in which most of the heroes were killed.

= 1990s and 2000s= Tomino would direct an additional Gundam

motion picture, Mobile Suit Gundam F91 in 1991. This movie, which took place 30

years after Char's Counterattack, re-launched the Gundam saga in a new

direction by featuring a completely new cast.

In 1993, Tomino directed his next Gundam series, Victory Gundam, which attempted

to relaunch the Gundam saga with a completely new cast. Like Zeta Gundam

before it, this series featured the deaths of a large number of the

protagonists. However, this was to be the very last Tomino series in which

this was to happen. Each of the series he directed and created afterwards

contain much more upbeat and lighthearted themes in which the vast

majority of the protagonists survive. In 1996, Tomino wrote and directed

Garzey's Wing, and in 1998 wrote and directed Brain Powerd. In 1999, he

returned to Gundam with Turn A Gundam and in 2002, directed two compilations

movies for it entitled Turn A Gundam I: Earth Light and Turn A Gundam II:

Moonlight Butterfly. Also in 2002, he directed Overman King Gainer, and in

2005, Tomino directed 3 compilation movies summarizing the events of 1985's

Zeta Gundam. His last major original work in the 2000s was the 6-episode OVA

The Wings of Rean, which first premiered on the Internet across Bandai Channel,

the broadcast beginning from December 12, 2005 with the final episode starting

on August 18, 2006. Also in 2006, Tomino made a special cameo appearance in

Shinji Higuchi's tokusatsu film Japan Sinks.

At the 2009 CESA Developers Conference, Yoshiyuki used his keynote speech to

criticize the gaming industry, citing that video games "bringing no

productivity at all" and that "consoles are just consuming electricity", while

stressing that game developers need to focus more on quality content rather

than advanced technology, comparing it to the modern animation industry. His

surprising remarks have sparked mass discussions online.

After working on the CGI short Ring of Gundam for Gundam's 30th anniversary in

2009, Tomino returned to the franchise again for its 35th anniversary in 2014

in a new work in which he wrote and directed, Gundam Reconguista in G.

Filmography Astro Boy

Wandering Sun Triton of the Sea

Neo-Human Casshern La Seine no Hoshi

The Adventures of Pepero Brave Raideen)

Super Electromagnetic Machine Voltes V Invincible Super Man Zambot 3

Invincible Steel Man Daitarn 3 Mobile Suit Gundam

Space Runaway Ideon Mobile Suit Gundam: The Movie

Mobile Suit Gundam II: Soldiers of Sorrow

Mobile Suit Gundam III: Encounters in Space

The Ideon: A Contact The Ideon: Be Invoked

Combat Mecha Xabungle Aura Battler Dunbine

Xabungle Graffiti Round Vernian Vifam

Heavy Metal L-Gaim Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam

Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack

Mobile Suit Gundam F91 Mobile Suit Victory Gundam

Garzey's Wing Brain Powerd

Turn A Gundam Turn A Gundam I: Earth Light

Turn A Gundam II: Moonlight Butterfly Overman King Gainer

The Wings of Rean Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: A New

Translation I - Heirs To The Stars Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: A New

Translation II - Lovers Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: A New

Translation III - Love is the Pulse of the Stars

Japan Sinks Ring of Gundam

Gundam Reconguista in G Discography

Mobile Suit Gundam "Tobe! Gandamu" by Koh Ikeda

"Eien ni Amuro" by Koh Ikeda "Char ga Kuru" by Koichiro Hori

"Kirameki no Lalah" by Keiko Toda "Ima wa O-Yasumi" by Keiko Toda

"Kaze ni Hitori de" by Inoue Daisuke "Ai Senshi" by Inoue Daisuke

"Beginning" by Inoue Daisuke "Meguriai" by Inoue Daisuke

Aura Battler Dunbine "Dunbine Tobu" by MIO

Heavy Metal L-Gaim "Time for L-Gaim" by MIO

Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam "Zeta - Toki wo Koete" by Maya Arukawa,

composed by Neil Sedaka as Better Days Are Coming

Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ "Issenman-Nen Ginga" by Jun Hiroe

Mobile Suit Gundam F91 "Eternal Wind" by Hiroko Moriguchi

Mobile Suit Victory Gundam "Stand up to Victory"

Brain Powerd, composed by Yoko Kanno "Ai no Field" by Kokia

Turn A Gundam, composed by Yoko Kanno "Turn A Turn" by Hideki Saijou, composed

by Asei Kobayashi "Century Color" by RAYS-GUNS

"Ojousan Naishobanashi desu" by Hideki Saijou

"Tsuki no Tama" by RRET Team "Tsuki no Mayu" by Aki Okui

Overman King Gainer "King Gainer Over!" by Yoshiki Fukuyama

References External links

Nippon Battling Society, in which Tomino is in charge

Animefood Magazine Yoshiyuki Tomino Interview

Entry in the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction