How “Evangelion” creator Hideaki Anno created “Giant God Warrior” in Hayao Miyazaki’s “Nausicaa”
Hideaki Anno’s early life
Hideaki Anno is one of Japan’s most influential animators who created the 90’s sensation “Neon Genesis Evangelion.” He then moved on to non-animation films and produced “Shin Godzilla” in 2016, which a huge success in Japan.
He was born in Yamaguchi, Japan in 1960 and grew up during Japan’s 特撮 (tokusatsu – special effect) heyday. The original “Godzilla” movie was released in 1954, and the original Ultra-man TV series started in 1966. The Kamen Rider series, also known as the Power Ranger series, which is still produced to this day, started in 1971. Anno loved watching tokusatsu TV shows and reading manga comics, and was obsessed with drawing scenes that involved explosions of large building/industrial complex and/or machines destroyed by kaiju (assault monsters) ever since he was a child.
He started his career as an animator when he was a college student. The industry took notice of his talent immediately, so he decided to quit school and set to work in the bourgeoning anime industry in the early 80’s.
A 8mm animation film Anno and his fellow college students created
to open the Japan SF Convention in Osaka (DAICON 3) in 1981.
Although the students had no prior experiences to produce an animation,
the industry took notice of the quality.
Many of the group members became professional animators including Anno.
Hideaki Anno meets Hayao Miyazaki
He decided to apply for an opening at Studio Ghibli when it was looking for additional animators to make “Nausicaa of the valley of the wind (1984).”
Both Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki vividly remembered Anno’s first visit, who showed up at their office with no appointment. Suzuki met him first and let Miyazaki know that a college student was at the door with his portofolio. Miyazaki was intrigued and decided to interview him. Anno was wearing a suite he borrowed from one of his friends, but wore a pair of flip-flops with no socks to go with it. “He looked as if he came from another planet,” chucks Miyazaki. “Plus, he looked like a terrorist.” (Note: Miyazaki was not saying that Anno looked like a politically motivated assailant. He meant that looked tense and intense as if he was ready to die for his mission.”
As Anno was a talented animator, the drawings he brought with him impressed Miyazaki. But it was also Anno’s impression – fiery, intense and determined to work hard – that intrigued him the most.
Suzuki knows that Miyazaki is not afraid of making quick decisions relying only on his first impression. Miyazaki immediately assigned Anno to draw the Great God Warrior of the Nausicaa, but it must have been a risk as Anno was still an unknown college drop-out.
The Great God Warrior was supposed to be one of the most important characters in the movie, but Miyazaki was struggling to produce it. Suzuki later remembered: “Miyazaki knew that he needed to bring in different intensity and some gruesomeness to produce the Great God Warrior, but he also knew that it wasn’t what he or his team were good at.” That was the reason why Miyazaki betted on the potential of an unknown young man, and hindsight is 20/20. Anno was the best animator to produce the Great God Warrior. With his intensity and obsessions to details, he created an iconic character that had people talk about it for years. The character also ended up haunting Anno for the next couple of decades, which resulted in the creation of Evangelion.
Studio Ghibli Toshio Suzuki talks about
Hayao Miyazaki and his first encounter with Hideaki Anno.
(Japanese only)
According to Suzuki, Anno doesn’t care about working efficiently. He needs to spend as much time as he needs to draw all the details he wants. He devoted so much time and passion to produce the Great God Warrior, which became a special experience for him. After Evangelion, Anno produced an exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MOMA Tokyo) in 2012 titled TOKUSATSU – Special Effects Exhibition. As mentioned above, Anno grew up obsessed by tokusatsu TV series and movies. He produced a short film for the exhibition featuring the Great God Warrior titled “The Great God Warrior destroys Tokyo.”
After “Nausicaa,” Anno never worked for Miyazaki. They don’t see each other very often. But still, they are closely connected and respect each other. Suzuki says: “Miyazaki understands where Anno is coming from and what he wants to accomplish. So he wants to help him when he needs support or advice. Anno knows it, so he fully trusts Miyazaki. It’s a special relationship that will probably never change for their entire life.”
Hayao Miyazaki and Hideaki Anno on a Japanese TV show
