#norio shioyama

[balrog-slayer66]

Fang of the Sun Dougram art by Norio Shioyama

[raeseddon]

Yes, yes yes! Another great example of that 80's mecha style that people overlook as an inspiration to later artists is anything by Norio Shioyama, including Yoroiden Samurai Troopers aka Ronin Warriors, that uses all the same color palette and design choices as an 80's mecha anime while being a supernatural, sentai samurai drama.

Sadly, we lost Shioyama (and his wife) to a house fire back in 2016-- there are fewer and fewer people from that generation of artists and animators to remind us of just how much the mecha genre absolutely dominated that time period.

Sunrise in particular was rolling out a lot of mecha anime, so when the idea for YST started kicking around they knew it was a long shot, since no one was really doing anything like it (genre and [vaguely] story-wise it was the successor to Saint Seiya, which was gonzo popular, but YST was going to have that "war is hell" classic Gundam feel, hence the apprehension)-- but with Shioyama at the helm for character design they figured it was worth a shot, and it was. YST/ Ronin Warriors has an extremely devoted "cult" fandom to this day-- the whole series just got a remastered blu-ray release which is stunningly gorgeous.

Funny thing about Gundam Wing-- Shioyama was one of the character designers for it, and if you go back and watch YST/ Ronin Warriors you can point at very specific characters and see his influence in their over-all design. It's a fun thing to do if you're in the mood for a re-watch.

Anime art shifted wildly from the 70-90's, and to see people lumping over 40+ years of that together as "Tezuka clones" is really, really frustrating and not the least bit insulting to the sheer range the artists had, and how even their own personal styles changed over the course of their careers.

People always say Kaneko’s works beyond persona 2 (the start of those goth mannequin with black upper lips) are completely endemic to his works (and shiraishi’s).

Tbh, Kaneko’s work seemed to be more inspired by popular art style in the eighties, especially Kogawa’s art style and works in mecha anime at that time. It’s easier to parody Kaneko’s style if you learn to draw in 80s (mecha/moe) anime style.

Why is this …important?

well, these days, people thinks that 70s, 80s and 90s anime styles are just Tezuka clones (ain’t that more of 60s?), AESTHETIC SAILOR MOON uwu, or nothing but rumiko takahashi’s style. They kinda forgot mecha and sci fi used to dominate the era (gundam started at wing) So it’s kinda depressing to see the art style goes “extinct” in different way (Misconception and all)

*bonus : haman karn in kaneko’s style

[datadegroove]

that kind of half sketch half painted quality that like yoji shinkawa and norio shioyama have man that is so good that's the way to do it

[over-the-time-flow]

Super Robot Rollcall: The Haran Conglomerate

Banjo Haran

"For this world and its people, Daitarn 3 will crush the ambitions of the Meganoids! If you don't fear the brilliance of the sun itself, bring it on!!"

Source Material: Invincible Steel Man Daitarn 3 Age: 17/18 Voice Actor: Hirotaka Suzuoki Character Designer: Norio Shioyama

One cool customer, Banjo Haran is one of if not the richest man on Earth, and he dedicates all of his fortune and free time torwards a single goal; eradicating the Meganoids who took his family from him. Alongside his wacky team, he'll go to any lengths necessary to keep the world safe and crush their wicked ambitions with the Daitarn 3.

SRW tends to adapt his coolheaded side and his hot-blooded, hateful side that shows whenever he fights Meganoids, but one big complaint i've always had is that they never adapt his more comedic side, which is strange, as watching the actual show, he's full on Jiron Amos levels of Tomino comedic protagonist. SRW Banjo feels like an entirely different entity from anime Banjo, being written almost like he's super robot Batman, and with his riches being often used as a plot device to explain where the team is getting its funding from. I don't like it very much, but i didn't like Daitarn 3 all that much either, so it's not that big of a deal to me. For what it's worth, R's is probably my favorite Banjo i've seen in SRW so far.

Even if i'm liable to bitch about Banjo's writing in SRW, there's no way you could get me to complain about the gameplay side of things. Absolutely monstrous Melee stat, high Defense, surprisingly decent Accuracy, and while his Spirit learnset isn't too impressive just yet, take a look at that maximum SP pool. Most of everyone else who isn't a support unit is hovering around 80-90 max SP, and he's already barrelled past into 120+. Banjo is a machine that eats bosses.

Fun Fact: Terada, longtime producer of SRW games, stated in Umasugi Wave #822 that despite knowing Banjo is meant to be 17 to 18, he ends up writing him as a late-20s man. Even when he tries to write him more age-appropriately, it doesn't feel right, and he thinks it's because of the influence of how Suzuoki always played the character in SRW.

Daitarn 3

Source Material: Invincible Steel Man Daitarn 3 Height: 100 meters Energy Source: Solar power Real World Designer: Kunio Okawara

Originally a prototype Megaborg (Megaborgs being the giant forms that Meganoid commanders are capable of transforming into), Banjo stole it when his mother helped him escape Mars during the initial Meganoid insurrection. Now Banjo uses it to fight against the Meganoids, beating them at their own game.

The Daitarn 3 is a perfect fit for Banjo, Tanky and hits like a truck. It has a few issues, namely that its post-movement options all come with one or another caveat (small range, high EN cost, the like), but at the very least movement issues can be solved by changing into the Daifighter.

The Daitank is completely worthless as per usual SRW fare.

[sytalice]

Armored Trooper Votoms art by Norio Shioyama (1940 - 2017)

[yodawgiheardyoulikemecha]

[animarchive]

Chirico Cuvie from Armored Trooper Votoms illustrated by Norio Shioyama (Animage, 07/1990)

[onyomugan3]

無敵鋼人ダイターン３

[gameyou]

Norio Shioyama

[pepperandlefty]

link

[valkyroid]

[animenostalgia]

Recent losses in the anime industry

Some sad news to share: several notable anime industry veterans in Japan have passed away recently.

Yushi Matsuyama, (the pen name of Shigeru Matsuyama) composer of the original 1979 Mobile Suit Gundam theme songs, passed away in a house fire. He was 79 years old & also did theme work for Heidi of the Alps, Majokko Megu-chan, and the Candy Candy movie.

Prolific Bandai anime producer Minoru Takanashi also passed away. He served on most Macross projects (including Macross II, Macross Plus, and Macross 7), and was project planner/producer for such classic titles as Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket, 0083: Stardust Memory, Gunbuster, Giant Robo, The Vision of Escaflowne, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, and more. Character Designer Nobuteru Yuki has been quoted to saying that without Takanashi’s “project-planning powers”, Escaflowne would never have been made.

And sadly a fire was also to blame for the death of Norio Shioyama & his wife. Shioyama was the character designer and chief animation director for Armored Trooper Votoms back in 1983. He was also the character designer for Yoroiden Samurai Troopers (aka Ronin Warriors). He was 77 years old.

[videogamesdensetsu]

Armored Trooper Votoms character designer Norio Shioyama / 塩山 紀生 has passed away. According to the news reports, he died with his wife in a fire accident. Source: http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20170413/k10010947041000.html

[samuraitroopersfanzine]

Happy Birthday, Norio Shioyama and Hideo Okamoto

We have these 2 amazing artists to thank for our beloved Yoroiden Samurai Troopers! Notion Shioyama worked on the character designs while Hideo Okamoto did the armor designs.

Norio Shioyama would’ve been 82.

Hideo Okamoto turns 62.

[gunlord500]

RIP Norio Shioyama

X-posted to my wordpress blogs, I figure my anime and mecha friends on Tumblr would want to read this as well. Norio Shioyama, artist for Armored Trooper VOTOMs, tragically passed away in a fire in his apartment recently (his wife died too). Here’s a commemoration post I wrote about what his work has meant for me.

https://gunlord500.wordpress.com/2017/04/14/rip-norio-shioyama/

[vgdensetsu]

List of every artist featured on VGDensetsu, Part 2

Part 1: A-M Naohisa Yamaguchi / 山口 直久, AKA NaoQ Naoyuki Katoh / 加藤 直之 Naoyuki Onda / 恩田 尚之 Nobuteru Yuuki / 結城信輝 Nobuyuki Kuroki / 黒木信幸 Nona / ノナ Norio Shioyama / 塩山 紀生 Noriyoshi Ohrai / 生頼 範義 Noriyuki Moto / もとのりゆき Noriyuki Yokoki & Kenji Okamoto Oliver Barrett Osamu Muto / 武藤 修 Peter Chan Philip Howe Philippe Dessoly Rampty / ランプテイ Range Murata / 村田 蓮爾 Rieko Kodama / 小玉 理恵子, AKA Phoenix Rie Roger Loveless Roger Motzkus Ron Villani Ryō Hirata / ヒラタリョウ Ryo Kudou / 工藤 稜 Ryō Nakamura / 中村 亮 Ryouji Minagawa / 皆川亮二 Ryota-H Ryuichi Makino / 牧野 竜一 Ryūichirō Kutsuzawa / 沓澤 龍一郎 Ryūji Higurashi / 日暮竜二 Sachiko Kamimura / 神村 幸子 Sachiko Wada / ワダサチコ Satoru Yamashita / 山下智 Satoshi Nakai / 仲井さとし (formerly 中井 覺 / 中井 覚) Satoshi Urushihara / うるし原 智志 Satoshi Yoshioka / ヨシオカサトシ Seijin Tomobe Senno Aki / せんのあき, AKA Tonko Senri Kita / 北千里 Shigenori Soejima / 副島 成記 Shigeo Koike / 小池繁雄 Shigeru Komatsuzaki / 小松崎 茂 Shigeru Miyamoto / 宮本 茂 Shinichi Morioka / 森岡 慎一 / もりおかしんいち Shinichi Ōnishi / 大西伸一 Shinnosuke Hino / 日野 慎之助 Shintarō Majima / 眞島 真太郎 Shinya Edaki / 枝木真也, AKA Edayan / えだやん Shōji Kawamori / 河森 正治 Shuhei Matsumoto / 松本州平 Shujiro Hamakawa / 濱川 修二郎, AKA Shuzilow HA Shunichi Taniguchi / 谷口 俊一 Shusei Nagaoka / 長岡秀星 Sohhei Oshiba / 大柴 宗平 Steve Peringer Susumu Matsushita / 松下進 Syd Mead / シド・ミード Taisuke Kanasaki / 金崎 泰輔 Takamasa Shimaura / 島浦孝全 Takami Akai / 赤井 孝美 Takao Kōzai / 香西 隆男 Takashi Akaishizawa / 赤石沢 貴士 Takashi Amasaka / 天坂隆志, AKA Daikichi Takashi Kinoshita / 木下崇 Takashi Yuda / 湯田 高志 Takayuki Takeya / 竹谷隆之 Takehiko Itō / 伊東岳彦, AKA Hiroyuki Hataike / 幡池裕行 Taku Engawa / エンガワ卓 Taku Makino / 牧野卓 Takuhito Kusanagi / 草彅 琢仁 / 草なぎ 琢仁 Takuro Fuse / 布施拓郎 Tamio / たみお Tatsuji Kajita / 梶田 達二 Tatsuya Ishikawa / 石川達也 Tatsuya Yoshikawa / 吉川達哉 Tatsuyuki Tanaka / 田中達之 Tetsuhiko Kikuchi / 菊地徹彦, AKA HAN / はん Tetsuya Nomura / 野村哲也 Tim & Greg Hildebrandt Tōichirō Yanagida / 柳田東一郎 Tom Chantrell Tom duBois Tomō Yamane / 山根ともお Tomoharu Saitō / 斎藤智晴 Tomomi Kobayashi / 小林 智美 Tomomi Sasaki / 佐々木知美, AKA Sasatomo Tomoyoshi Yamane / 山根知美 Tony DeZuniga Tony Taka Toru Yoshida / 吉田 徹, AKA Yoshibon Toshiaki Mori / 森気楼, AKA Shinkiro Toshihiro Kawamoto / 川元 利浩 Toshimi Sato / 佐藤敏巳 Toshinobu Kondo / 近藤敏信 Toshio Yamamoto / 山本 利雄 Toshiyuki Kubooka / 窪岡俊之 Toyo Ozaki / 尾崎豊中 Tsukasa Jun / 司淳 Tsukasa Kotobuki / ことぶき つかさ Tsuyoshi Nagano / 長野剛 Victor Gadino Viktor Antonov Yasumitsu Okuda / 奥田泰光 Yasuo Fujita / 藤田 泰男 Yasushi Ishizu / 石津泰志 Yasushi Nirasawa / 韮沢靖 Yasushi Nozaki / 野崎泰 Yasushi Torisawa / 酉澤安施 Yasushi Suzuki / 鈴木康士 Yasushi Yamaguchi / 山口恭史, AKA Judy Totoya Yoh Yoshinari / 吉成 曜 Yōichi Amano / 天野洋一 Yoichi Kotabe / 小田部 羊一 Yoshiaki Yoneshima / 米島義明 Yoshihiko Umakoshi / 馬越嘉彦 Yoshihiro Takaiwa / 高岩 ヨシヒロ Yoshihisa Aran / 亜蘭 善久 Yoshikazu Yasuhiko / 安彦 良和 Yoshimiru / よしみる Yoshitaka Amano / 天野 喜孝 Yoshitaka Tamaki / 玉木美孝 Yoshiteru Tsujino / 辻野 芳輝, AKA Torajiro Tsujino / 辻野寅次郎 Yoshitoh Asari / 浅利 義遠 /  あさりよしとお Yoshitoshi Abe / 安倍 吉俊 Yoshitsugu Satō / 佐藤 由紹 Yoshiyuki Takani / 高荷 義之 Youshi Kanoe / カノエユウシ Yū Kinutani / 衣谷 遊 Yūichi Nakatani / 中谷祐一, AKA Violetche Nakamoto Yūichirō Shinozaki / 篠崎雄一郎 Yūji Ishihara / 石原雄二 Yuji Kaida / 開田裕治 Yukihisa Fujita / 藤田幸久 / ふじたゆきひさ Yukiko Hirai / 平井 有紀子 Yukio Kitta / 橘田幸雄 Yukito Kishiro / 木城ゆきと Yuri Kataiwa / 片岩ゆり Yusuke Murata / 村田 雄介 Yusuke Nakamura / 中村佑介 Yusuke Naora / 直良有祐 Yutaka Izubuchi / 出渕裕 Zavier Leslie Cabarga Zennosuke / 禅之助