

He may have created one of anime’s most successful franchises, but Yoshiyuki Tomino, father of Gundam, hasn’t let his years of success mellow him out any. If anything, just the opposite seems to be happening, as he’s recently dished out harsh condemnations of both mega-hit Attack on Titan and listless Japanese youths.

As the debut of his newest series, Gundam Reconguista in G, draws near, Tomino seems to be staying the acerbic course, with a wide-ranging complaint about the current state of anime voice acting, plus some regrets about his prior collaboration with famed sci-fi designer Sid Mead.

Tomino’s remarks appear in the September issue of Bandai Visual’s Beat Magazine. In speaking to the publication’s reporters, the anime legend looked back on the last Gundam series he personally directed, 1999’s Turn A Gundam.

“I’ve come to realize that asking Sid Mead [to do mechanical designs for the series] was a mistake,” Tomino admits. “I was already a fan of his preexisting works, so I gave him free rein to do as he wanted. Actually, somewhere along the line I felt like there was something a little off with the designs he’d submitted, but by that time things were too far along to change their trajectory.”

▼ This is a picture of Mead’s Turn A Gundam, and not, in fact, Mecha Snidely Whiplash.

As a result, Tomino says that he’s being more outspoken with his opinions on the mecha designs being proposed by Ippei Gyobu for Gundam Reconguista in G (also known as G-Reco).

▼ G-Reco’s clean-shaven G Self mobile suit

But while Tomino still seems to hold Mead, overall, in high regard, he’s less pleased with the current crop of anime voice actors, recalling the struggle the staff went through in casting the new Gundam TV series. “All of the young voice actors had been contaminated by currently trendy anime,” the director grumbled. “All of their voices sounded the same to me, so the first order of business was to break them of those habits.”

The director explained that he was looking for voices that came naturally from the actors’ bodies, without the sort of added theatrics that he feels permeate anime and film-dubbing voice work. “But those are habits they pick up in the normal course of their careers, so it’s something that often they just can’t do.”

That said, Tomino seems confident in the final result, and says he’s proud of the changes in voice actress Yu Shimagura’s performance as character Aida which begin in the series’ second episode.

G-Reco’s TV debut is slated for October on broadcaster MBS. Somehow, we doubt Tomino will be spending the remaining month marathoning episodes of high school idol anime Love Live!

Sources: Jin, Hatena

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