Hiroki Mafuyu, and Ayumi Again

Today we were invited to the school where Hiroki Mafuyu teaches, Tokyo Communication Arts seemed like a clone of SCAD, but in Japan, of course.

On the subject of Mafuyu, I didn’t recognize his name, but some of his work I had recognized. The cover to “Calling” was the image that struck the chord of familiarity with me.

He himself seemed a very poetic person. I felt most of what he said was lost in translation, and it was a pity, but nevertheless it was still a very good motivational speech. He left us with “Draw until your heart reaches the boiling point.”

After some Q/A over his prints and originals, he invited us to one of his classes. We were all pretty stunned, and rushed to the nearest convenience store to get some lunch beforehand.

Not that it’s very interesting, but I had Takoyaki for the first time, alongside a Final fantasy Dissidia potion, which apparently debuted on this very day. I bought many more later to sell on eBay to other unfortunate Americans. I have to reimburse myself for this trip somehow.

But they tasted really bad. The black ones at least.

The workshop was prety interesting, it was mostly on cross-hatching, but what I was more interested in was seeing the Manga students.

But, I had to leave early as I had plans to see Ayumi one more time.

It was pretty fun to show off who I’d just been with. I showed them photos of the originals for Calling and her mother muttered some awe in Japanese.

We just went around Ginza a bit, specifically to a paper store in he middle. Her mom knew quite a but about calligraphy so I learned a lot about sumi-e brushes and their specific uses.

Learning About Animation in Tokyo, Losing Scavenger Hunts, and Samurai Again

Next day started with knots in our stomachs. Jason, the animation professor, was taking an unusually long time to get downstairs (we met every morning in front of the hotel), and Dove and Goto gathered us all up in a huddle in the middle of the street as small cars honked their way past us. Ray Goto informed up that he ‘made Jason angry last night’ which we didn’t really react to. “He punched me,” he said in order to instigate a response. To which we all fell back a bit and inspected his face for any evidence. His explanation is that he and Mark Shultz, while we were at the zoo went to meet Geoff Darrow.

This was interrupted by some gasps, mostly from the sequential group, and everyone else (myself included) who paused and pretended to look informed.

The professors insisted that we “know about this stuff we just don’t put his name to it”. Turns out he’s the artist behind things like Hardboiled and the Sentinels from the Matrix.

Anyway, he goes on to tell us about Darrow’s invitation to his ‘office’ which turns out to be Madhouse Studio (Movies such as Paprika). There was a slight uproar but Dove (who before had been as disappointed in them as we were) quieted us down, assuring us we got the better end of the deal. Apparently the studio was actually quite depressing. Cubicles were only big enough to hold a light table and half a person. If someone wasn’t drawing in their cubicle, they were sleeping on the floor of it! The legs in sleeping bags sticking out of the doorframes. Apparently animators, though admired and skilled, are paidd less than American’s minimum wage, and the average animator is working 16 hour days on two scenes. “They’re fanboys,” Ray said appropriately. “They’re guys that just love it so much, they don’t care how much they’re being paid for it, even if it kills them. Which it is!”

But it came later. First we were off to the scavenger hunt, which despite being somewhat excited for, turned out to be a disaster. We were doing pretty well until we got lost in… some station or other. It may have been the Omote-Sando, but I feel like that’s on the other side of the map!

So my group took an absurd amount of time looking for the Kusunagi Masashige statue- the one which we wouldn’t have known what on earth it was if it weren’t for the fact Charles and I had stuck around after the Imperial Palace to draw it. (That samurai equestrian statue!)

Whilst sketching a gesture of it again, we noticed there was a group of what we assumed to be Chinese businessmen. Two of them came up to me and started asking me questions in Chinese. They seemed disappointed when I informed them “Er, English.”

Another spot that took us a while to find was Zojo-ji Temple (I think that’s how it’s spelled) to fine some Jizo statues. It was really pretty, and I took some time to take photos since we’d clearly lost.

The meeting point was the Ueno National Museum, and it turned out all he groups failed to meet on time except one.

The National Museum had too much cool stuff to talk about at once. In the end, all that I actually paid attention to was the samurai armor hiding in the back. Probably took about 75-100 refs per armor.

And of course after this was listening to Geoff Darrow. I’m tired and can’t type much more (so I’ll go over it later) but I’ll say one of my favorite parts of the night, on the subject of when he was working with Hannah Barbara- “You have a plane. People on the plane, everyone’s tired, not too funny. Now, you put a bear on that plane… that’s funny.”

Of the Ghibli Museum and Frames for Sale

Shorter one.

Because.

I’m speechless. Pictures weren’t allowed inside, (only outside, with the Laputa robot) and there’s no way to describe the actual experience. I doubt pictures would have done well anyway. I cried for probably the first half hour, it was that amazing. But man, I hate being emotional. I was shaky at first, and when I saw the 3D zoetrope of the Totoro scene, that’s where I lost it.

The short film I got to see was pretty much a sequel to My Neightbor Totoro, regarding the cat busses. I don’t know what was better, getting to see a film that would never be published and sold, or that fact my ticket is three frames of authentic filmstrip from Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.

Spent about $100 on books and two kodama. (Layouts of general Ghibli films [probably all the SCAD students bought one] and the entirety of the storyboards for Totoro and Mononoke.) I realize now I should have bought an animation book for my mentor back at ACCAD, and I’m plotting on how to get back to Nakano Broadway to find another one.

Nakano Broadway is where we went afterwards. I was far too tired to enjoy it completely, not to mention I was probably carrying 50 pounds worth of Miyazaki merchandise. Went to conveyer belt sushi. Wanted the squid but decided against it since I was still queasy from the sheer joy of being at Ghibli.

Later I followed Jason up to I think the third floor of the mall- action figures, animation frames, and cels. SO shocked. Animation is so popular and prolific here that malls will sell frames for as little as 500 yen to adoring fans. I found quite a few animes I recognized. Cels from Tenchi Muyo and Cowboy Bebop were my favored jewels of the day (not to mention the Ghibli ones scattered around in prize cabinets). The latter were far too expensive (price goes up with popularity) but I’m interested in a layout frame of Wasshu from Tenchi that I might snatch if I come back. Also found a stack of the character designs for DNAngel, but I like the comic better so I managed to pry myself away.

Ah, a note regarding Xuco and Andy. Yes, I found Knights of the Zodiac cels and frames. They were like 60,000 yen. Actually everything I’ve found from that series is mint condition collectors quality stuff that I can’t possibly afford. I wanted to get something for them, but they’d have to split the action figures.

I missed out on the bookstore that everyone got such amazing stuff. I have to come back!

Despite the missed opportunities, coming back to Ginza (where the hotel is) was a wash of relief. Had a snack at McDonalds for the first time here, and wow. Different. Of course it was expected. Main observations about it were that while McDonalds in the US has a ‘poster child’ staff member, with immaculate uniform and always smiling, it’s really never seen. Japanese McDonalds gives you that dream world only found in the ads. Clean restaurant, perfectly uniformed, and broadly smiling people. It was a little unnerving, actually. I felt like I was in some color version of Pleasantville in an oriental setting.

Wasn’t all perfect though, as I noticed they were poking fun at myself and the guy I was with when we turned to leave. I’m not insulted at all, really. Being an American here… it’s just asking for it. I’d like to laugh along if I knew what faults they were pointing out. I’d like to see what the Japanese find funny about me. I’d probably find it amusing too.