How does Haruhiko Mikimoto rate as a Character Designer?

[UN Spacy]

I did a similar thread a couple of months ago:

How Does Shoji Kawamori rate As A Mecha Designer?

He's had quite a history.

[s001]

He's the best of the best and that's all .

[Mr March]

The near-messianic praise for Haruhiko Mikimoto's character designs is one aspect of Macross fandom I've never understood. I guess for me, it's like the fans who don't understand why I love Macross Plus so much or why I adore DYRL? as such a great film or why I think the VF-1 is one of the best mecha designs of all time. I suppose each of us must suffer some misunderstanding for one REALLY popular element of our favorite franchise.

This is definitely mine.

I sure don't dislike Mikimoto's work. His designs are definitely unique and vibrant. However, they sure aren't the be-all, end-all of anime characters and I find a lot of his character designs to be dated. I find some of his interpretations to be inconsistent and I don't care for his representation of certain character features, particularly hands and ears. Given his role in numerous 80's anime, I suspect that's a big reason why his designs find such popularity among older fans.

Personally, I prefer the character designs of Toshihiro Kawamoto, Masamune Shirow and especially the subtle, understated designs of Akemi Takada. I'm not sure if I'd list Mikimoto among them.

[Sumdumgai]

Mikimoto is among my favorite character designers. I like the style he's developed from the 80s into what he has now. He can draw a wide range of characters and do it well. For the most part I've enjoyed most of his character designs, even for the series I haven't watched but just seen the characters in commercials or on covers.

To be honest, although I love the women that Masamune Shirow draws, they're all the same. They all have more or less the same faces, with different hair styles. The man colors really well too!

Nobuteru Yuki is another favorite of mine, although his designs are hit and miss for me. Loved Lodoss War, was alright with X the movie, hated Escaflowne TV, loved Escaflowne the Movie, hated Heat Guy J (didn't even bother to watch it). I wouldn't mind seeing a new Macross series with character designs by him, as long as he leaves out the deadly pointy noses and sheepy-curly hair. He's already worked with Kawamori to boot.

[sketchley]

Hmmm... he is one of my favourites, simply because he can create some truly beautiful and unique artwork, that can be very simple (ie: very few lines.) I think his eyes, especially in the Macross 7 designs, are the most powerful aspect of his characters.

That said, my most favourite character designers are:

Hiroyuki Okiura (Ghost in the Shell (1995)) and the Masami Yuuki and Akemi Takada team that resulted in the highly realistic, yet still simply (in terms of the number of lines in them) character designs for Patlabor 2 (1993)

[Mowe]

His old stuff are my all thime fav, but I don't like his recent stuff, they looked too refined and hated those little noses.

[Warmaker]

I rate him as great simply due to his older work. His characters, predominantly from Macross, are what made his name for me.

I'm not too familiar with his newer stuff in the timeframe of Macross 7's production and after it.

[halfan]

I'm very biased in favor of Mikimoto as I spend a good deal of time collecting his work and researching his career. His popularity now certainly isn't what is was in the late 80s to early 90s. With that said, I've enjoyed watching his style change over time. I prefer his watercolor and marker pieces over his more recent computer colored work. I think he has both good and bad pieces spanning his career. I don't care for most of his monsters/villians. Below are a few examples of his work:

These are examples of his more realistic pieces.

Eve Tokimatsuri over 20 years.

An early 90s novel pen & ink illustration.

A character Mikimoto designed modeled and animated in 3D.

A very recent pencil illustration for the Record of Lodoss War novels.

Villian from Khamrai.

Edited April 9, 2007 by halfan

[Valkyrie addict]

poo man! I love to draw, but why can't I draw like that...

[Warmaker]

Heheh, talent and practice. For those of us like myself without the former, alot of the latter. Inspiration is another key ingredient. Some people are naturally talented in these ways. The rest of us need to practice.

I felt I drew decently. I love doing lots of details. I used to draw alot when I was in school, even in High School. Machinery was my expertise and people I had to devote alot of effort in making look right.

There were 2 things that drove me to keep working back then:

- Seeing professional work. I looked at some of the Comic Book artists of the early 90's (Jim Lee, T.McFarlane, etc). But I was a bigger fan of Japanese Animation. We really didn't get manga released here in the USA at the time. Getting an imported issue of Newtype was a quest in itself back in the early 90's here in the US. The point for me on seeing the pros' work was inspiration.

- Fellow drawers at school... I personally treated it as friendly competition. We had some really great artists in different "styles" like American Comics and Japanese Anime-inspired. We show the stuff in class or to each other. I see a great piece of work from one of my buddies, it got me inspired to try to outdo it. It didn't matter if I actually finally topped it, but it gave me initiative to keep working.

Like I said, I used to draw alot. Sheets of paper, book covers, even my desks at Junior High and High School. Book covers I used to decorate alot. School book covers I usually put inside out, with the all white portion on the outside. Great surface to draw on and ink. It's just too bad I threw away the cover at the end of semester / school year. Desks? I used to draw on desks all the time in pencil. I'll day dream about something and I'll start scribbling on the desk. I just had to hide the work whenever the teacher walks around. The best test for how well the work I did on the desk was how long it stays on the desktop. When a subsequent student from other periods uses the desk, if they think it's stupid, they'll take their hand or sleeve and rub it away. If not, it stays there for days, sometimes weeks

I had one friend in Junior High and into High School who was d**n good. He could draw people very well and drew machinery with perfection. He could do draw like an American Comic artist or switch and do Anime style. Looking at his work, there was no drop in quality when he switched back and forth. Angles, proportions, etc. He could do it all. Back in 7th grade, he was doing a short series of comic strips following an F-14 Tomcat crew. I was looking at his WIP's throughout and I couldn't help but feel jealous of the guy's ability. Not only that, he was striving for accuracy in his drawings. He checked out books on the F-14 and researched the same way older modellers would before building a truly accurate kit. I still wonder what the guy did after High School. I felt he could be a professional artist, because not only was his stuff good, but he could do it fast. He was the kid in school that always had stacks of paper all with drawings in a disorganized manner in his backpack. I recall being pained to see a fabulous carrier deck scene drawing he made but was wrinkled up on the side of his backpack

--------------

Regarding pro's, there's several Japanese artists that I've followed and admired their works.

* Kosuke Fujishima - Ah! My Goddess, Sakura Taisen, You're Under Arrest top my list of his works. What's awesome is that you really see his quality pick up over time. Case in point? His AMG manga which still is going. If you pick up his early stuff, i.e. Volume I's, and look at his Volumes as time progresses, he really improves... alot!

* Haruhiko Mikimoto - Well, we have this thread, don't we?

* Hiroaki Samura - The only set of works that I know of him are from Blade of the Immortal. I saw the US domestic release versions when I was stationed in Okinawa... go figure, buying a US version of a Japanese Manga at a US military base in Okinawa in 1996 or 1997. Anyways, I bought his Volume I of Blade of the Immortal and was immediately impressed with his style. Characters, scenes, and of course the flow of action. The series still continues and is still religously released here domestically in the US.

* Masamune Shirow - Predominantly his older works. I absolutely loved his character style, scenery, and meticulous attention to detail. Everyone knows of his works with Ghost in the Shell. But what drew me in was his work on Appleseed. Everything was absolutely impressive! In the very early 90's, Appleseed was one of the very few Japanese Manga that were translated over here into the US. What's interesting to see (and I'm still witholding judgement) is the computerizing of his work. His follow ups to Ghost in the Shell are the prime example. Yes, I know he's also done some work in the *ahem* more descrete side of the house

* Kia Asamiya - I unfortunately have not caught as much of his work as much as I wanted to. But the series that he did that I was able to get most of was Silent Möbius, which was introduced to me in the really early 90's by a friend of mine. What's kind of funny with him was he does get official work with some Western franchises. I bought his manga adaptation of Star Wars Episode I. I also bought his Batman: Child of Dreams. There's probably more that I didn't know about.

[Maxtype]

Mikimoto is one of MY all-time favorites,old-stuff,new-stuff,whatever. These things are very subjective,and no one is 'right' or 'wrong',we just have different opinions....and one definition of art is a creation which causes an emotional reaction...............

[shoopdawhoop]

love it

His designs are unique and could be easily recognized,not your typical so-moe-i-gonna-die fapfapfapfap character designs as seen in a lot of animes,particularly modern ones .

Edited April 9, 2007 by shoopdawhoop

[crasis]

Call me nostalgic, but I think he is quite possibly THE best character designer in anime/manga. Mikimoto-san is a true legend in the scene, with an immense portfolio of incredibly memorable characters crafted under his care. Macross, Gunbuster, Megazone 23, Orguss and Gundam 0080 (some of the highest regarded series of all time) benefited greatly by his artistry. I just recently discovered the Ecole du Ciel manga series, and have become instantly hooked. He definitely still has "it", and I sincerely hope that Kawamori and Co. have considered bringing him back for the new Macross series, mostly to show all these cookie cutter current anime designers how a master works.

[Hoptimus]

He is one of my favorites. I think the 80's style looks better to me but his current style is still gorgeous.

[Awacs]

Like most character designers I like some of Mikimoto's work, and dislike some of it. I can't think of a single character designer, or designer of any kind, where I like everything that they have done. I like a lot of his designs certainly - Misa, Roy Fokker, and Sylvie Gina spring to mind. But on the other hand I'm not particularly fond of some of his other designs - Ishtar, Mylene Jenius (I like the character, just not the character design) just to pick some off the top of my head.

In technical terms he is extremely talented at what he does and I'd have to say that he is one of the top tier in terms of character design. Even the stuff he does that isn't to my taste I can see the technical competence in.

Karl

[Lightning]

he should've gave Mylene bigger boobs.

[s001]

he should've gave Mylene bigger boobs.

She's a very thiny girl she doesn't need bigger boobs.

[shoopdawhoop]

Mylene is a jailbait

[VF5SS]

Fun fact, Millia was only 15 during Macross.

[Zinjo]

Fun fact, Millia was only 15 during Macross.

True but a fully grown clone at her birth, so technically she'd be older than Max in terms of experience.

As for Mikimoto, I love his more recent work. His earlier works were great, but his style has really matured as a painter and it really works for me now...

[VF5SS]

That's a damn dirty lie and you know it, Zinjo. Macross is a show where all the lead characters are under 20. I highly doubt she is very far from Max's given age of 16.

[Zinjo]

That's a damn dirty lie and you know it, Zinjo. Macross is a show where all the lead characters are under 20. I highly doubt she is very far from Max's given age of 16.

I'm not saying she's older in years.... Experience is another matter....

[VF5SS]

So she's jailbait just like Mylene.

[Zinjo]

So she's jailbait just like Mylene.

Huh?

She was 15 years old with 15 years worth of memories and experiences as an mature clone (granted the variety of experiences would be limited considering she was Zentreadi). Where as Max had to grow from baby, to todler, to kid, to teenager.

[VF5SS]

I'm just trying to point out the hypocrisy of saying Mylene is jailbait when her mother was a person with the body of a fifteen year old (no way she's mature) and very poor social skills during the Macross series.

[Ryoma]

Hi guys, this is my first post here...not quite sure there is a section for introducing new members...anyway I like very much Mikimoto but my favourite CD of all time is Shingo Araki...Unfortunately his works in the US are not very famous but please check out Versailles no Bara and Saint Seiya...during the 80s he was simply great.

[Sundown]

I'm just trying to point out the hypocrisy of saying Mylene is jailbait when her mother was a person with the body of a fifteen year old (no way she's mature) and very poor social skills during the Macross series.

I dunno... Milia looked and sounded mature, had been a fully developed adult at least physically for 15 years, and been a functional member of the Zentradi military in what we can consider an adult capacity for some time. She was socially akward not because she was young, but because she was an uncultured alien. Our ideas of what constitutes statutory rape doesn't seem very applicable when it comes to alien humanoids who differ vastly from us in physiological, psychological, and social development.

But regardless of whether Milia can be considered "jailbait" or not, Mylene still certainly is, as far as most modern, developed civilizations are concerned.

[UN Spacy]

Hi guys, this is my first post here...not quite sure there is a section for introducing new members...anyway I like very much Mikimoto but my favourite CD of all time is Shingo Araki...Unfortunately his works in the US are not very famous but please check out Versailles no Bara and Saint Seiya...during the 80s he was simply great.

Welcome to the Macrossworld Forums Ryoma.

What else has Shingo Araki worked on?

[Ryoma]

Oh a looooot of stuff...Grendeizer, Ashita No Joe, Cat`s eye, Jungle Taitei (Yes, the anime ripped off by the disney)...and basically ALL the major productions during 70s and 80s...

Edited April 11, 2007 by Ryoma

[VF5SS]

I dunno... Milia looked and sounded mature,

So did Misa and she was the 19 year old Oba-san. One of the caveats of anime is that people tend to look and sound older than they are.

...had been a fully developed adult at least physically for 15 years, and been a functional member of the Zentradi military in what we can consider an adult capacity for some time.

The Compendium does not agree.

"A giant humanoid race created by Protoculture for proxy warfare. The average Zentradi are five times the size of Earth Humans. Before the Zentradi and modern Humans made contact, the average Zentradi had the equivalent intelligence of Human primary school children. Since their exposure to Human society and knowledge, their potential intelligence has been shown to be higher."

The Zentradi are a race of children who run around as soldiers. That does not seem mature to me. Millia behavior towards Max is highly juvenile. "You're better than me so I'm gonna kill you for being better than me!"

She was socially akward not because she was young, but because she was an uncultured alien.

Zentradi are human beings. Gigantic human beings, but still human. Especially if they can breed with humans.

Our ideas of what constitutes statutory rape doesn't seem very applicable when it comes to alien humanoids who differ vastly from us in physiological, psychological, and social development.

Why not? Part of the tragedy of the Zentradi is that they are humans who have been denied the things we take for granted. We're supposed to think there is something wrong with the way they behave.

[Sundown]

So did Misa and she was the 19 year old Oba-san. One of the caveats of anime is that people tend to look and sound older than they are.

Just because young characters look older doesn't mean that older appearing characters are necessarily young. Since you agree that Misa looked older as well would suggest that Milia does appear physically mature despite her actual numerical age.

The Compendium does not agree.

"A giant humanoid race created by Protoculture for proxy warfare. The average Zentradi are five times the size of Earth Humans. Before the Zentradi and modern Humans made contact, the average Zentradi had the equivalent intelligence of Human primary school children. Since their exposure to Human society and knowledge, their potential intelligence has been shown to be higher."

The compendium, as great as it is, isn't the end all and be all of Macross. Unless this is a direct translation of canon material in Japanese, it can't be taken as gospel. And if Milia had the equivalent intelligence of a primary school child, she would mentally be 6-9, while living most of her life physically as a 17-25 year old. So which is it, is she a 15 year old, or a 6-9 year old, or a 17-25 year old? Whichever she is, it's obvious that her development has no analog in Earth society, making our statutary rape laws somewhat inapplicable, at least without major adjustment. I suppose one could paint Max as having taken advantage of a girl/woman while she's at a fragile, juvenile mental stage, however.

Futhermore, the fact that Zentradi have the potential for higher intelligence simply from human contact (if we take the compendium to be true) would suggest that they are not actually children, even if some of their thought processes are child-like, but rather developmentally stunted and developmentally resilient adults, whose mental conditions can easily improve.

Millia behavior towards Max is highly juvenile. "You're better than me so I'm gonna kill you for being better than me!"

Highly "juvenile" if she had grown up in human society, but perhaps appropriate in a war-like culture, in which case her behavior might have little to do with her actual or mental age.

Zentradi are human beings. Gigantic human beings, but still human. Especially if they can breed with humans.

Why not? Part of the tragedy of the Zentradi is that they are humans who have been denied the things we take for granted. We're supposed to think there is something wrong with the way they behave.

I can buy that. But Milia's akwardness still has very little to do with being physiolgically young. The compendium suggests that it is the result of cultural isolation and the Zentradi way of life, and that it's something that can be corrected with exposure to (Earth) human culture. We see her acting much more mature and together after being with Max for a short while than other young characters like Minmei.

While Milia's mental age is arguable, it does say something when the leadership of the SDF-1 consider her at an appropriate stage for marriage and service as an officer, but regardless, I took issue with this in case this was some sort of back-door argument to arguing that Mylene wasn't jailbait. =P

[Warmaker]

Millia was bad as f**k. TV or DYRL? version. End of story!

[s001]

Millia was bad as f**k. TV or DYRL? version. End of story!

The best girl for the best guy .

[chrono]

Back on topic.

Haruhiko Mikimoto's designs started out as sloppy 70's style, but quickly developing into the then 'normal' 80's style. Which in my mind does not set him apart from others of the era (Orange Road anyone). The best thing about his work is that he did attempt to stay true to the theme of 'realistic' anime characters. Sadly the realistic anime style was thrown to the way-side when the Sharp & Big Eyed style became trendy.

*damn you Masamune Shirow!*

Mikimoto's in the top 5 of all time. But I've gonna say that Satoshi Urushihara just does it for me, and frankly he's the father of the high detailed 'pretty girl' eyes.

[sketchley]

Some fun facts:

1) the characters in Macross are designed with their target audience in mind. SDF:M characters are slightly older, because that's what the target demographic was. M7 characters are younger because the times have changed.

2) Japan has different laws than your country. What constitutes a crime in one country, doesn't necessarily translate into a similar crime (sometimes isn't even considered a crime!) in another country.

The law: http://www.ageofconsent.com/japan.htm

3) Haruhiko Mikimoto, especially when it comes to Macross, should be considered a freelancer, doing a contract job. Therefore, the people ultimately responsible for the results being discussed herein are the creators and producers of Macross. Its their perogative to want characters whom are a child in a woman's body, and a teenaged rock-star wannabe so as to discuss the issue of prearranged marrage.