Mitsuo Iso

Mitsuo Iso (磯 光雄, Iso Mitsuo, born 1966 in Aichi, Japan) is a Japanese animator, director, and screenwriter.^[1][2] He began his career as an animator in the mid-1980s and worked as a freelance artist through Neomedia, Studio Zaendo, and Studio Ghibli.^[1][3][4]

Mitsuo Iso
磯 光雄
Pronunciation	Iso Mitsuo
Born	1966 Aichi, Japan
Nationality	Japanese
Other names	小田川 幹雄, 贄田 秀雄 (Mikio Odagawa, Hideo Nieda)
Occupation(s)	Animator, Animation director, Filmmaker, Screenwriter, Cinematographer
Years active	1985-present
Known for	Dennō Coil
Website	IMAGO-IMAGE

Iso is known for his offbeat key animation in the prologue of Gundam 0080, large portions of Asuka's battle in The End of Evangelion and the first half of the tank battle in Ghost in the Shell.^[5][6][7]

Career

Iso has worked on Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam and Gundam ZZ since 1985 as a key animator and in-betweener.^[8] This led him to secretly work in the 1988 film Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack under the pseudonym Mikio Odagawa without telling Zaendo, where he was at the time.^[8] He was then asked by Sunrise, an animation studio, to act as an intermediary for job offers to the company, and worked under his real name as a job through the company.^[8] Sunrise also hired him as an animation director, so he worked under that pseudonym.^[8]

The battle scene at the beginning of the 1989 OVA Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket made a strong impression on the anime industry and anime fans about Iso.^[9] Until then, mobile suits (humanoid giant robots) had mostly been depicted as a whole "mass", but Iso thought that if it was a machine body, it should be separated from the skeleton (chassis), and realized an animation in which the robot's material and structure could be seen. He also carefully picked up the details of secondary effects such as air resistance to missile launches and vehicles floating in the blast to create realistic battle scenes. In particular, his drawing philosophy of accumulating what could happen on the screen had a great influence on the drawing of realistic anime in the following years.^[10] In this work, an explosion effect called "Iso Explosion" is noticeable.^[9] Director Fumihiko Takayama gave him the opportunity to do some niche design work, and he designed some of the mecha designs and military equipment.^[10]

He was with Studio Ghibli from 1990-1992.^[5] Iso drew keyframes in Only Yesterday, Porco Rosso, Ocean Waves.^[11]

Iso joined Roujin Z (1991), based on Katsuhiro Otomo's manga, as a mechanical designer at the request of director Hiroyuki Kitakubo. He was supposed to be both the mechanical designer and mechanical animation director, but ended up doing only a partial design as he was asked to join Only Yesterday.^[12]

Iso found about Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995-1997) quite early on and joined from the planning stages. He was involved in all aspects of the planning process, including not only the key frames but also the setting and plot.^[1][13][14] He originally joined the project as an animator, but he actively entered other jobs by freely coming up with various ideas and writing about them to the director, Hideaki Anno, every day. ^[15] As an animator, he drew the urban battle between Sachiel and the UN forces in episode 1 of the TV series, the scene where EVA Unit-01 preys on Zeruel in episode 19, additional scenes in the video format version of episode 21, and the battle between EVA Unit-02 and EVA Mass Production Units in the movie The End of Evangelion^[a] (episode 25 of the video version).^[13][16] He also wrote the script for episode 13 with Akio Satsukawa and Hideaki Anno.^[14] Iso's first draft was too long, so Satsukawa summarized it, and director Anno made some changes.^[16] The ending of the final draft was a little disappointing for Iso because it was forcibly connected to a plot that he had planned to use in another episode.^[14] In these episodes 13 and 15, Iso also supplemented the settings.^[14][16] As a designer, he drew Lilith, Seele marks, rough sketches of underground facilities, etc.^[14][16][17] Other than that, Iso created many other settings, including unofficial and unused ones, and although his name is not credited, his ideas are utilized throughout the work. Especially in the middle of the TV series, many of the dialogues and plots created by Iso are used.^{[14][16][17][18]}

In Ghost in the Shell (1995), he not only drew the key animations, but also designed all the firearms.^[1]

In FLCL (2000), he drew the key animations, but he worked with director Kazuya Tsurumaki for about six months on a preliminary project, and some of his ideas were adopted. However, the project itself was not realized because Iso put out too many ideas and made it like his own.^[14]

In Blood: The Last Vampire (2000), he was in charge of keyframes and visual effects, and also did some design work.^[1][13] Iso appealed to director Hiroyuki Kitakubo and was entrusted with cinematography and special effects for his own key animations parts.^[3][4]Production I.G's introduction of computers in their studios made it possible for the key animators to add special effects to their key animations, which had previously been assigned to the cinematographer.^[9]

In Rahxephon (2002), he began working in the Digital Works and cinematographer positions throughout this television series, using special effects and CG to modify drawings and art.^[13][19] In episode 15 (The Children's Night), he wrote the script, storyboarded, and directed, and was also in charge of some of the drawing and cinematography, overseeing a cross-section of jobs that were originally divided.^[b][1] This was the first time he had worked on storyboarding and directing.^[1] Iso decided to join the work on the condition that he would work on an entire episode by himself.^[11]

In the animation part of the live-action film Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003), he drew the key animation.^[1][20]

In 2007, he directed his first animated television series, Dennō Coil. He also wrote the original and the script for all episodes. With this work, he won the Nihon SF Taisho Award and the Seiun Award as a science fiction writer.^[4][5][21]

In 2016, he gave a presentation introducing his original animation projects Les pirates de la Réunion et les dodos (レユニオンの海賊とドードー鳥, Re-Yunion no Kaizoku to DōDō-dori, lit. The Pirates of the Reunion and the Dodos) and The Orbital Children (地球外少年少女, Chikyūgai Shōnen Shōjo, lit. Extraterrestrial Boys and Girls) in a series in an anime magazine. In the same year, Iso and French animation studio yapiko animation announced at Japan Expo 2016 that they would jointly produce Les Pirates de la Reunion Le Reveil des dodos.^[22] However, there has been no further news about it since then.

Iso announced the production of The Orbital Children in 2018, and began full-scale production of the film in 2020.^[23]

Style

Mitsuo Iso is known for his jerky yet detailed animation, full of dense sophisticated motion. He refers to his own style as "full limited". In traditional animation, animation with a drawing count below one drawing every two frames (or "on twos") is considered limited animation. Mixing twos, threes and fours in a balanced form of timing, Iso draws every keyframe without passing his work to an in-betweener, allowing him full control to create the most detailed motion possible with a balanced and efficient number of drawings, hence the term "full limited".^[2][24] Iso's idea of "full limited" is a method for controlling the image from the animator's standpoint, and he has the calculation that if he draws everything in key animation, the timesheets will not be modified by the director.^[25]

Iso's thoroughgoing drawing style is highly supported not only by anime fans but also by animators in the same industry.^[26][27][28] He was one of the animators who played a central role in the movement from the late 1980s to the 1990s, when "realistic" oriented expressions matured in Japanese animation drawing, by creating animation drawings that were described as "realistic", such as depictions of characters and mechanics that made us feel weight and mass, and effects such as explosions and smoke flames.^[9][29] His drawings are very realistic and photorealistic, and the reality of his movements comes from his thorough, scientific observation. On the other hand, he has never abandoned the appeal of animation, such as entertainment and showiness.^[30]

Iso has covered a wide variety of genres and professions, and has demonstrated his talent in each of them. ^[11] What distinguishes him as an animator is his willingness to go beyond the confines of his section, which has allowed him to pioneer a new expression of animation.^[31] Since the production site of commercial animation is a race against time, the division of labor is common, with each process divided into smaller sections and job categories defined so as not to encroach on each other's job areas. However, Iso goes beyond this framework with the belief that the overall quality of the work will definitely be higher if he is aware of the process before and after.^[14]

Every time Iso makes a new work, he takes on a new role other than animator, such as screenplay for Evangelion, cinematographer for Blood: The Last Vampire, and direction for Rahxephon, new techniques such as digital animation, computer graphics, and special effects, new drawing tools and software.^[13] The reason why he finally worked on cinematography is because animators can only leave the rest to the post-process once they have finished drawing with black and white lines, but if they work on cinematography, they can complete the scene by themselves.^[25]

Iso has a consistent orientation of wanting to dig deep and touch something that lies at the root of a work, even if it is someone else's work. This is in line with his orientation as an animator to deconstruct the principles of movement.^[15] The visual image that integrates the world view, setting, design, drawing, and cinematography of the work was already in his mind when he was working on other directors' works.^[11]

When he participates in anime works as an animator, he often uses aliases or does not give his name.

There are a lot of things that he wants to do, so he cannot fit into just one staff. As a result, he tends to make other director's work his own.^[14]

Works

Title	Year	Format	Role
			Direction	Animation	Script	Setting	Other
Ninja Senshi Tobikage	1985	TV		Key animation (eps 35, 40)
Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam	1985	TV		inbetweening
Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ	1986	TV		inbetweening Key animation
Machine Robo: Revenge of Cronos	1986	TV		Key animation (eps 18, 38)
Metal Armor Dragonar	1987	TV		Key animation (eps 29, 32, 36)
GeGeGe no Kitarō	1987	TV		Key animation (eps 97, 99^[c], 102^[d], 104) Inbetween animation (ep 88)
Mashin Hero Wataru	1987	TV		Key animation (ep 279^[e])
Transformers: Super-God Masterforce	1988	TV		Key animation (eps 6, 12^[f], 18, 24)
Peter and Wendy	1989	TV		Key animation (ep 20^[g])
Ocean Waves^[h]	1993	TV		Key animation
Neon Genesis Evangelion	1995	TV		Key animation (eps 1, 19, 21 (video version)^[i])	Script (ep 13)	Setting assistance (eps 13, 15) Settings for the entire series^[j]^[g]^[16]^[17]
Rurouni Kenshin	1996	TV		Key animation (OP1)
RahXephon	2002	TV	Episode director (ep 15) Storyboards (ep 15)	Key animation (eps 2, 15) In-between animation (ep 15)	Script (ep 15)		Digital work and CGI (eps 2, 3) After effects (eps 4-10, 12, 14-26)
Dennō Coil	2007	TV	Director Storyboards (OP, ED, eps 1, 12, 17, 19, 26)	Key Animation (eps 1, 4, 12, 26)	Original Story Script	Character rough design Settings for the entire series Art setting (ep 2)	Digital Effects Cinematography (ep 26)
Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket	1989	OVA		Key animation (eps 1, 4, 5)
Explorer Woman Ray	1989	OVA		Key animation (ep 1)
Gosenzo-sama Banbanzai!	1989	OVA		Key animation (eps 4, 6)
The Hakkenden	1990	OVA		Key animation (ep 1)
Like the Clouds, Like the Wind	1990	OVA		Key animation
Teito Monogatari	1991	OVA		Key animation (ep 2)
Yumemakura Baku Twilight Gekijō	1991	OVA		Key animation
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure	1993	OVA		Key animation (ep 13^[k])
Super Dimension Century Orguss	1993	OVA		Key animation (ep 5)
Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals	1994	OVA		Key animation (ep 2^[l])			Effects animation supervisor^[l]
Giant Robo (OVA)	1994	OVA		Key animation (ep 5)
Mighty Space Miners	1994	OVA		Key animation (ep 2)
Golden Boy	1995	OVA		Key animation (ep 4)
Voogie's Angel	1997	OVA		Key animation (ep 3^[m])
Blue Submarine No. 6	1998	OVA		Key animation (ep 1)
FLCL	2000	OVA		Key animation (ep 6)
Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack	1988	Film		Animation director^[m] Key animation^[n]
Only Yesterday	1991	Film		Key animation^[o]
Roujin Z	1991	Film				Mechanical design^[p]
Porco Rosso	1992	Film		Key animation
Hashire Melos!	1992	Film		Key animation
Kattobase! Dreamers	1994	Film	Layout assistance	Key animation^[g]^[m]
Junkers Come Here	1995	Film		Key animation^[m]^[q]
Ghost in the Shell	1995	Film		Key animation		Firearm design
Magnetic Rose (Memories)	1995	Film		Key animation		Imageboards Firearm design
The End of Evangelion	1997	Film		Key animation			Effects^[r]^[g] Cinematography^[r]^[g]
Perfect Blue	1998	Film		Key animation
Digimon Adventure	1999	Film		Key animation^[m]
Blood: The Last Vampire	2000	Film		Key animation			Visual effects^[s]^[r]
Cowboy Bebop: The Movie	2001	Film		Key animation^[t]			Digital work^[m]
RahXephon: Pluralitas Concentio	2003	Film					Digital work
Steamboy	2004	Film					Pre-production conceptual development
Welcome to the Space Show	2010	Film		Key animation^[m]
Giovanni's Island	2014	Film		Key animation^[g]
The Case of Hana & Alice	2015	Film		Cooperation in animation drawing
Kill Bill	2003	Film		Key animation^[u]
Les Pirates de la Réunion	suspended	Film	Director		Original Story Script
Napping Princess	2017	Film		Key animation
The Orbital Children	2022	Film	Director Storyboards	Key animation	Original Story Script	Character rough design Settings for the entire series Art setting	Digital Effects Cinematography
Children of Ether	2017	Webcast		Key animation
Blade Runner Black Out 2022	2017	Webcast		Key animation			Cooperation in cinematography
Popolocrois	1996	Game		Key animation
Ghost in the Shell	1997	Game	Layout system	Key animation

Awards

• The Excellence Award in the Animation Division of the 2007 Japan Media Arts Festival
• The 29th Nihon SF Taisho Award (2008)
• The Best Dramatic Presentation of the 39th Seiun Award (2008)
• The Best TV Animation Award of the 7th Tokyo Anime Award (2008)
• Individual Award at the 13th Animation Kobe (2008)

Notes

1. He drew the scene with thorough attention to the basis of the movement, such as the hardness of the scaffolding and the weight of the handheld weapons, and also added various innovations, such as shooting handheld camera style with blurring and shaking to move the viewpoint.^[10]
2. Episode 15, known as "The Iso Episode". This production style is rare in TV animation, and is similar to Hayao Miyazaki's Future Boy Conan in terms of consistency from script and storyboard to layout and drawing, and to Makoto Shinkai's personal work Voices of a Distant Star from his indie days in terms of comprehensiveness with the addition of cinematography.^[10]
3. Ballet scene in the beginning.
4. Classroom scene after the title.
5. Workers panicking.
6. From cancer raging from the bed to computer exploding.
7. Uncredited.
8. It was later released in theaters.
9. Pre-title sequence.
10. Iso set up the names and details of the facilities and so on.
11. original 6.
12. Under the pseudonym Hideo Nieda.
13. Under the pseudonym Mikio Odagawa.
14. Credited as both Mitsuo Iso and Mikio Odagawa.
15. Taeko's childhood, including the dodgeball scene.
16. Various designs including hospital equipment.
17. Monologue scene in the end.
18. Only his own key animation part.
19. Effects and cinematography.
20. Uncredited (presumed).
21. Animated scene in the live-action film.

Citations

1. Den-noh Coil Proposal 2008, p. 80.
2. . AniPages Diary. Archived from the original on September 21, 2021. Retrieved October 17, 2021.
3. Animage 2008, p. 88.
4. "C93で「磯光雄 ANIMATION WORKS vol.2」が発売! 大ボリュームの384ページ!!". WEBアニメスタイル (in Japanese). 株式会社スタイル. December 19, 2017. Retrieved December 29, 2021.
5. "『電脳コイル』の監督、磯光雄氏がXRコンテンツアワード「NEWVIEW AWARDS 2021」の審査員に決定". Real Sound (in Japanese). blueprint. October 9, 2021. Retrieved October 12, 2021.
6. "【連載】タニグチリウイチの「今のアニメを知るために」第2回：どこまでも虚構でどこまでも現実、押井守監督編". IGN Japan (in Japanese). Sankei Shimbun. July 26, 2020. Retrieved July 22, 2021.
7. "『ポケ戦』の"神作画"にインスパイアされ、うねる波間を進撃するハイゴッグを立体化". ORICON NEWS (in Japanese). オリコン. March 20, 2020. Retrieved October 17, 2021.
8. "封入特典「逆襲のシャア ドキュメントコレクション」収録インタビュー冒頭公開". 『機動戦士ガンダム 逆襲のシャア』公式サイト (in Japanese). Sunrise. September 11, 2015. Retrieved October 17, 2021.
9. 安原まひろ (June 29, 2018). "アニメーションにおける｢リアル｣とはなにか『磯光雄ANIMATION WORKS』". メディア芸術カレントコンテンツ (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Retrieved October 12, 2021.
10. Animage 2008, p. 87.
11. Animage 2008, p. 90.
12. Animage 2008, p. 88-89.
13. "連載「理想のアニメ原画集を求めて」第57回『磯光雄 ANIMATION WORKS vol.2』". ニコニコチャンネル (in Japanese). Dwango. January 16, 2018. Retrieved October 17, 2021.
14. Animage 2008, p. 89.
15. Animage 2008, p. 89-90.
16. "アニメ様の七転八倒 第46回 エヴァ雑記「第拾参話 使徒、侵入」". WEBアニメスタイル (in Japanese). 株式会社スタイル. June 5, 2006. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
17. 磯光雄 [@IsoMitsuo] (January 24, 2017). "古い資料を整理してたら出てきたので供養シリーズ第6弾" (Tweet) (in Japanese). Retrieved July 30, 2021 – via Twitter.
18. 磯光雄 [@IsoMitsuo] (April 11, 2017). "ちょっとあいまいな日本語だったので誤解を招かないため補足" (Tweet) (in Japanese). Retrieved August 19, 2021 – via Twitter.
19. Animage 2008, p. 88-90.
20. Animage 2008, p. 84.
21. "科学とフィクション、その果てしなき「イタチごっこ」の行方". Wired (in Japanese). Condé Nast. June 20, 2020. Retrieved October 17, 2021.
22. . Crunchyroll. July 8, 2016. Archived from the original on July 10, 2016. Retrieved October 12, 2021.
23. "『電脳コイル』の磯光雄氏による新作オリジナルアニメ『地球外少年少女』2022年初春公開決定。吉田健一氏がキャラクターデザインを担当". Famitsu (in Japanese). KADOKAWA. October 27, 2020. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
24. . Anipress Daily. November 18, 2005. Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved October 17, 2021.
25. 美術手帖 2020, p. 52-53.
26. "animator interview 井上俊之 (3)". WEBアニメスタイル (in Japanese). 株式会社スタイル. December 5, 2000. Retrieved October 17, 2021.
27. "animator interview 橋本敬史 (4)『エヴァンゲリオン』と磯光雄ショック". WEBアニメスタイル (in Japanese). 株式会社スタイル. January 8, 2009. Retrieved October 17, 2021.
28. "もう一度作ってみたい―「シン・エヴァンゲリオン劇場版」メカ作画監督・金世俊インタビュー". WebNewtype. KADOKAWA. May 17, 2021. Retrieved October 17, 2021.
29. "神アニメーター・井上俊之が考える"本当にすごいアニメーター"とは?". アニメ!アニメ! (in Japanese). IID, Inc. August 9, 2018. Retrieved October 17, 2021.
30. Animage February issue 2008, p. 87. sfn error: no target: CITEREFAnimage_February_issue2008 (help)
31. Art Techo February 2020 2020, p. 52-53. sfn error: no target: CITEREFArt_Techo_February_20202020 (help)

References

• Iso, Mitsuo (October 31, 2008). 電脳コイル 企画書 [Den-noh Coil Proposal] (in Japanese) (1st ed.). Tokyo, Japan: Tokuma Shoten. ISBN 978-4-19-862613-6.
• "『電脳コイル』 磯光雄の世界" [The World of Mitsuo Iso in "Den-noh"]. The 2008 February issue of Animage (in Japanese). Vol. 31, no. 2. Tokyo, Japan: Tokuma Shoten. January 10, 2008.
• "特集 アニメーションの創造力PART2" [Special Feature: The Creative Power of Animation Part 2]. 美術手帖 2020年2月号 (in Japanese). Tokyo, Japan: 美術出版社. January 7, 2020.

External links

• Iso Mitsuo at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Mitsuo Iso interview concerning RahXephon #15
• Anipages Mitsuo Iso overview
• http://www18.atwiki.jp/sakuga/pages/52.html
• http://www.lares.dti.ne.jp/~iso-000/index.html