Haruhiko Mikimoto was just your typical anime fan in high school and college. He doodled in notebooks, went to sci-fi conventions with friends, and probably spent more money on toys that his parents would have liked. There was one difference though — in college, he and a few of his high school buddies co-created this little after-hours project called The Super Dimension Fortress Macross (Which was in-part edited and turned into Robotech in the US)

What followed next were over two decades of nonstop artistic output. He has travelled everywhere from the gritty war-torn future of Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket to the whimsical and idyllic manga world of Marionette Generation. Every year — practically every other month, really — there is at least one toy or a dozen being made from his creations, from random Macross tchotchke of the songstress Lynn Minmay to dolls of the spunky robot pilots from Aim for the Top! Gunbuster and Gundam 0080. Along the way, his trademark dewy-eyed characters have graced Japanese television screens, movie theaters, game consoles, manga pages, novel covers, and even an amusement park ride at the foot of Mt. Fuji.

And the rest of world has noticed. Argurably, Mikimoto's fans in Hong Kong, France, South Korea, Great Britain, Singapore, and North America outnumber the fans in his own home country several times over. If it's any indication of his worldwide popularity, Anime Expo (and its earlier incarnation Anime Con) invited him to America five times. If it's any indication of his busy schedule, he's had to cancel twice — once for The Super Dimension Century Orguss 02 and once for Macross 7.

Fortunately, Mikimoto does take a breather between his various commitments to sit down and chat. Mikimoto whiled away an hour with this interviewer to reminisce about his high school and college years, talk about various anime topics (some more controversial than others), and discuss his recent projects.

Super 7: During high school, you belonged to a group of friends who enjoyed anime. The group included Macross and Zeta Gundam scriptwriter Hiroshi Ohnogi and future Macross director/designer and Escaflowne creator Shoji Kawamori to name a couple of you. Since then, several of you have become pro creators. Back then, did you imagine that you would all be doing your hobbies for a living?

Mikimoto: Initially, my group at school started with about ten people, and actually, about half of us — five people — became pro. Among us, there is a character designer, a director, a script writer, and also a manga artist. Also, he's not in anime anymore, but there is one car designer.

 Oh, what is the name of the person who's the car designer?

His name is Harada — Norihiko Harada. He's now in Italy as Zagato's chief designer. [Zagato is the design firm responsible for many of the most exotic cars from Maserati, Alfa Romeo, and others. After assisting on the first Macross movie, Harada went on to draft such cars as the Aston Martin Vanquish Roadster and Ferrari 575 GTZ Zagato.]

How often do you work with your old friends who are now professional artists and creators?

With those who became pros, not really often nowadays…just rarely, just once or twice in a year.

Is it true that you initially joined Studio Nue with your friend Kawamori, but you decided to join [director Noboru Ishiguro's studio] Artland later to start animating.

There was a time when I worked in Ishiguro's company. But that was—how many years ago? It was ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen — actually about fifteen years ago, and I have since left [and become a freelancer]. Although I only see Ishiguro once in a while for work, my work relationship is deeper with Kawamori. However, I don't know what will come in the future, so I might do more works with Ishiguro.

 Although most of the time you are listed as character designer, you are sometimes listed in the credits as character gen'an (Original Character Design) —such as in Aim for the Top! Gunbuster and Macross 7. What is the difference between character design and character gen'an?

 When I'm credited with overall character design, I also clean up [my rough designs] for the model sheet bibles used in the animation production. Whereas with character gen'an, I only make the rough designs myself, and the animation production director is the one who actually cleans them up.

You have listed many artists who inspire you, such as [Mobile Suit Gundam and Neo Heroic Fantasia Arion character designer] Yasuhiko Yoshikazu and [Touch and H2 manga creator] Mitsuru Adachi. Now, there are many artists who are inspired by you, including animators in Japan and even abroad. How does it feel to know that you inspired artists yourself?

I wasn't really aware myself. I've been focusing on expanding my works and talents with all my energy, so I wasn't aware that I was a source of inspiration to others. But, now, I enjoy seeing the younger generation of artists in Japan, the people I've met in America, and their artwork. They stimulate my own interest.

Macross

How did you become involved in Macross?

During college, I joined Studio Nue with Kawamori and Hoshino. At the time, I was just hanging out there. I eventually began assisting on character designs. There were two serious drama projects; I worked on one, and Hoshino worked on the other.

After about a year, Studio Nue pitched the projects to a sponsor. Nue couldn't get the serious drama projects approved, so it pitched a backup dummy project that was more tongue-in-cheek comedy. That got green-lit. <laughs> Later, Nue had to get a new sponsor, but as a result, we were able to combine our original serious drama concepts with the comedy one. I sort of slid into what became Macross.

 You have said that most of the story was created by Studio Nue, specifically Kawamori. What would you say is your contribution to the story?

During the first TV series, I did contribute ideas to the story. However, it's best that I don't try to say which ones, because it's very difficult to remember now. The reason why is that even though my concepts were used in the TV series, those concepts were combined and refined with ideas from everyone else.

Do you have an amusing story to tell about the production of Macross that you would like to tell?

<Laughs> It was such a long time ago that I really can't remember right now. But I can say that we were extremely busy. We would sleep two or three hours a day on the floor in the studio instead of going home. We were just hard at work the rest of the time.

That calls to mind this old cartoon that you had drawn of the various staffers sleeping at the animation studios once.

I don't remember it myself <laugh>, but I probably did draw it.

As you may be aware, the rights for Macross in America are currently a very complicated situation. How do you feel about this situation?

I'm not directly involved myself. The dispute is between two sides: Tatsunoko Production and Big West — Big West didn't create the story, but it represents Studio Nue, the original creators of the Macross story. And the dispute is who has the proper rights: the staffers who created Macross or Tatsunoko who produced it.

As people know from seeing the works and hearing from the various staffers, the original idea was from Studio Nue, and I introduced the character designs. That's because Kawamori created the original idea. Tatsunoko didn't have anything to do with the original idea of Macross.

But it's more of a monetary issue between the companies, and for me, the conflict is not a deep one. I think, because of the dispute, some Macross toys, Macross games and Macross 7 haven't been formally released in America, right?

That’s right, they haven't been released yet.

Because of this dispute, I think that some Macross works can't be released in America yet, and it's very unfortunate. It's not a dispute between Tatsunoko and Nue, but Tatsunoko and Big West.

Sorry for asking this difficult question.

 Oh no, it's all right. I was just worried that the right facts are out. <laughs> Because if the wrong ideas were published, that would cause problems with Tatsunoko and Big West. So I wish they will find a perfect solution for the problem quickly so that works can be released in America.

Beyond Macross

You worked on a project named Tottoi with Noboru Ishiguro. This story based on an Italian novel about a boy who discovers a mystical sea creature is very different from your other works. How do you feel about this project and your work on it?

It was released by the company Nippon Animation [creators of World Masterpiece Theater series such as Heidi of the Alps and Anne of Green Gables and one of the first studios of director Hayao Miyazaki]. I enjoyed the chance to work on something completely different from my other works.

There is another work that is  divergent for you. I heard that you and Kawamori had worked on a project about a girl named Maimu who rides through the countryside on a bicycle. However, only a pilot was made, with an artbook named Mai Taimu/My Time eventually released afterwards. What happened to the project, and how do you feel about it?

It was never completed <laughs>, so I doubt there will be a release of it.

If you had the opportunity, would you like to restart the project?

If Kawamori would want to do it, I would be happy to participate. <Laughs> Otherwise, I wouldn't. I doubt he has the interest now.

You were a fan of Mobile Suit Gundam in college, particularly of the character designs. Were you honored to have worked on Gundam 0080 and followed in the footsteps of [first Gundam character designer] Yasuhiko Yoshikazu?

Among those of us honored to work on Gundam 0080, there was the director [Fumihiko] Takayama who I knew from a long time ago on Macross. He is an extremely talented director. Also, in designs, it was to great to work together with Macross: Do You Remember Love? and Gundam Char's Counterattack mechanical designer Yutaka Izubuchi, whom I've known from way back. There was also future Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory and Cowboy Bebop character designer Toshihiro Kawamoto who helped us out. There were others, and I was very proud to work with these gifted staffers.

The Turn of the Century

More recently,you announced Rayca, a 3D animation short designed to look like hand-drawn watercolors. I was wondering about comparisons with My Neighbors the Yamadas and its use of CG technology to create the look of hand-drawn sketches.

The production studio and techniques involved was completely different between the two projects. By comparison, my project wasn't as big a project. It was a much more intimate work that used Alias|Wavefront tools. I enjoyed working again with "motion director" Ichiroh Itano [famous for the missile-swirling battle sequences in Gundam, Macross, Megazone 23, and Ultraman], whom you know. He has a wonderful sense of fluidity in animation, even in CG.

What are your current and upcoming projects?

I'm about to mark my fifth year on the Mobile Suit Gundam: École du Ciel manga, which is in its third story arc in the year U.C. 0087 [eight years after the first war in Gundam]. Otherwise, I'm still busy with various illustration projects to be announced.

 Do you have any final words for your fans in North America?

Please keep watching and reading Japanese animation, manga, and other works, and thank you for supporting us.

This is a special extended interview reprinted from Issue 14 of Super7 magazine, in which we also serve up an in-depth guide to vintage Macross toys!