Yoshiyuki Tomino

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Yoshiyuki Tomino (富野由悠季, Tomino Yoshiyuki^?) (born November 5, 1941) is a Japanese anime creator, director and novelist. He began his career in 1963 working for Osamu Tezuka's company, Mushi Productions. He later became one of the most important members of the anime studio Sunrise and went on to direct much of their anime through the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Tomino is perhaps best known for his transformation of the super robot genre into the real robot genre with 1979's Mobile Suit Gundam.

Tomino often writes lyrics for the various songs featured in his series under the pseudonym Rin Iogi (井荻麟, Iogi Rin^?). Tomino (as Iogi) has collaborated with artists such as Yoko Kanno, Asei Kobayashi, MIO and Neil Sedaka.

Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack and the Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam compilation movies are the only works by Tomino which do not have songs featuring his lyrics.

1 Kill 'Em All Tomino
2 Filmography
3 Discography (as Rin Iogi)
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Kill 'Em All Tomino

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

One of the things Yoshiyuki Tomino is most well-known for is the depressing and downbeat nature of many of his early works, particularly those made in the late 1970s through the early 1980s.

The downbeat nature of Tomino's work started with 1973's Umi no Triton, a show about a boy named Triton who was the last survivor from Atlantis, fighting the evil Poseidons. In the final episode Triton learns that the Poseidons were the good ones after all and that the people from Atlantis were so evil that they had to be wiped out. <ref> (2002) Animerica Volume 10, Number 12 Article by Toma Machiyama (in English). Seiji Horibuchi, 40-41.</ref>

A few years later in 1977 Tomino directed Zambot 3, the first in a long line of mecha animes from Sunrise. Zambot 3 also had a rather dark nature to it even though the stars were children. The villains, the Gaizock, planted bombs in hostages and then freed them, only for the hostages to blow up when they returned to their loved ones. In the final episode our heroes run out of ammunition and one by one fly into the enemy ship, killing themselves, so the enemy can be defeated once and for all, only the main character Kappei survived at the end along with the other enhabitants of Earth. <ref> (2002) Animerica Volume 10, Number 12 Article by Toma Machiyama (in English). Seiji Horibuchi, 40-41.</ref> As a result of this show, Tomino was given the nickname "Kill Em All Tomino". <ref> (2001) The Anime Encyclopedia by Jonathan Clements & Helen McCarthy (in English). Stone Bridge Press, 159.</ref>

Tomino's next true kill em all show was 1980's Space Runaway Ideon. This is Tomino's only show where he literally 'kills them all'. In the Ideon ending movie, Be Invoked, every single character is brutally killed, the Earth is destroyed by a meteor shower, and eventually the entire universe is destroyed. Tomino's kill 'em all nature is believed to have returned in 1983's Aura Battler Dunbine where the entire cast except for one character were assumed to have been killed in the last 2 episodes. (It has been speculated that instead of being killed, the entire battle entourage was sent back to Byston Well to prevent further destruction on Earth.)

Tomino brought his kill 'em all nature to the Gundam franchise starting with 1985's Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. Unlike the original Gundam, where practically every hero made it out alive, a large portion of the heroes ended up getting killed throughout the show, particularly in the last few episodes. <ref> (2002) Gundam The Official Guide by Mark Simmons (in English). Seiji Horibuchi, 41.</ref>The show ends with the main character going insane. 1988's Char's Counterattack even went so far as to kill off the franchise's two main characters, Amuro Ray and Char Aznable.

Tomino's kill 'em all streak ended with 1993's Victory Gundam, where yet again a large portion of the cast was killed and others were rendered scarred for life. <ref> (2002) Gundam The Official Guide by Mark Simmons (in English). Seiji Horibuchi, 61.</ref> From this point onward Tomino's shows have for the most part been much more upbeat in nature, and the bloodbath endings for the most part are gone. It should be noted however that Tomino made many upbeat shows throughout his kill 'em all heyday. In fact throughout the 1980s, each time he made a kill 'em all show, he followed it with a much more lighthearted one. Ideon was followed up with by Xabungle in 1982, Dunbine was followed up by Heavy Metal L-Gaim in 1984, and Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam was followed up with by Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ in 1986. All three times the latter shows were a lot more upbeat and lacked bloodbath endings.