Yoshiyuki Tomino, the revered "Father of Gundam," holds a legendary status in the anime industry. Now 83, he has yet to announce his retirement. While he has admitted that his time and energy for creating new works may be limited, his passion for the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise remains as strong as ever.
In a recent interview on June 17 with NHK's "News Watch 9," Tomino, reflecting on the 80 years since the end of World War II, shared how his own childhood experiences with war shaped the themes of Mobile Suit Gundam and offered his perspective on the state of global conflict today.
Born in Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture, in 1941—the year the Pacific War began—Tomino lived through numerous air raids targeting nearby military factories.
"I remember one or two times, hiding in the air-raid shelter and feeling the heat from the buildings burning outside," he recalled. "What terrified me most as a child was that the shelters in our neighborhood were dug by residents taking turns. My house was the farthest away, so I had to sit right at the entrance where there were fewer people. There was a straw mat hanging there to block the wind, and the way it swayed in the breeze absolutely scared me to death."
"I remember running to the shelter clutching a few of my favorite picture books. There was also a landlord, an old man who was very kind to me, who was killed by an incendiary bomb while trying to put out a fire. I saw him being buried with my own eyes. That must have been about a month before the war ended."
Tomino was only three when the war ended. While he doesn't consider himself part of the "wartime generation," he believes that having firsthand experience with war profoundly shapes a person's values.
"I still remember the sound of B-29 bombers flying overhead. I suppose that sound was the 'presence of war' itself. But those are just the memories of a three-year-old, so I wouldn't call it a true war experience."
"Later, I became interested in Zero fighters and read many military-themed books through elementary, middle, and high school," he continued. "It was then I realized that for me, the sound of a B-29 was part of daily life, but for someone who never lived through the war, it's just fiction. It took me 20 years to fully grasp that distinction."
In 1979, Tomino directed Mobile Suit Gundam. The series broke new ground by moving beyond simple good-versus-evil narratives to depict the brutal reality of "war between people" and the "political struggles behind nation-states" through the lens of giant robots.
"In the anime industry back then, it was considered wrong to make war stories for children. Japan had been defeated, so there was an instinct to avoid the topic. A fighter jet is operated by a single pilot, so I figured a Gundam should be about the same size. That's why my Mobile Suits (MS) are only 20 meters tall. I also wanted to get away from the 'aliens are the enemy' trope. Giant robot anime had been around for nearly 20 years; it was time for a change. To operate a single MS, you need an entire military-industrial complex to support it, which naturally leads to depicting wars between nations."
Tomino hoped to convey the cruelty and absurdity of war through Mobile Suit Gundam, but the reality of modern conflict has far surpassed his imagination.
"Gundam is essentially a war story set in the near future. The MS was conceived as a weapon more powerful than contemporary fighter jets. But now we live in an age of drones, where people don't even need to pilot weapons themselves. We're even seeing weapons that are more automated than drones. This kind of warfare, frankly, seems to exist just to create an 'image of a battlefield.' I've really been thinking that more and more lately."
Tomino confessed his own internal struggle. Despite creating a franchise that has endured for over 40 years, he is keenly aware of a difficult truth: "People stop thinking very easily. For example, people build Gundam models now and just think, 'This is so cool,' without considering the meaning behind them. I'm not an educator, so I can't teach young people. I can only express my ideas vaguely. I hope that one day someone will come along who can articulate these things clearly, but honestly, I've been waiting 20 years, and it seems like that person still hasn't appeared."
He concluded by sharing his vision for a future project: "I still want to create stories with combat, but this time, the work will have no clear 'enemy.' The real enemy might be humanity itself, living on this planet. That's the kind of story I want to make. Because it's animation, I believe it's possible."
Even at 83, Yoshiyuki Tomino continues to contemplate the impact his creations can have on society, hoping that a series like Mobile Suit Gundam can offer audiences more than just entertainment. While he has no concrete plans for the future, fans can still hope to see another work from the master director.
via： NHK