Yoshiyuki Tomino is famous for creating the Gundam franchise. Mobile Suit Gundam was released back in 1979, and since then, has become one of the greatest anime in the mecha genre. Unlike the modern generation mangaka, who started young, Tomino created the franchise when he was 37. The equipment was also old school, but the mangaka was comfortable.
Yoshiyuki Tomino strongly believes that the anime and manga industry will never be overtaken by artificial intelligence. According to him, humans cannot be fooled so easily, and they always want natural things. He is keeping faith in humans when it comes to AI.
AI Cannot Withstand Against Analog Drawings
The Gundam creator was pretty clear with his message when he said AI is not the future of the anime and manga industry. When Tomino created Mobile Suit Gundam, he used analog line drawings since Disney-fication was still not a thing back in the 70s and 80s. Yoshiyuki Tomino gave an exclusive interview with Toyo Keizai, where he mentioned his true feelings about artificial intelligence stepping into the anime and manga industry.
He said,
“One of the amazing abilities of humans is the ability to sense when something is different. I trust that sense. Even in the same play, there are plays and actors that suit you better. Even if anime becomes digitalized and AI is introduced, machine creation will not easily surpass the level of humans. Humans like real things, so they can tell when something is not real. I think that eventually, people will start to reevaluate their work and go back to analog line drawings.”
Not only Tomino but others also had difficulty projecting their works through digitalization. Bleach creator Tite Kubo once mentioned facing difficulty with a digital pen and reverting to analog drawings. Hayao Miyazaki still uses analog line drawings, and it is the reason why his works feel so real. He has won multiple Academy Awards using the old techniques.
Yoshiyuki Tomino Poured His Heart On To Gundam
Yoshiyuki Tomino’s Gundam franchise is more than four decades old. It has revolutionized the mecha genre and became the fourth wealthiest anime franchise with a net worth of $26 Billion. The franchise has countless anime series, video games, and movies. The mangaka truly poured out his heart when creating the series. But he did regret when the fans could not understand the true meaning behind the series. Tomino is 82 years old, and it has become hard for him to work regularly.
He does go to the studio whenever he gets a chance. Apart from not being a fan of AI drawings, the legendary manga artist dislikes huge, fully air-conditioned studios. He prefers old and small studios where people can work in peace and enjoy the spirituality of their creation. Even though the age of AI is emerging, Yoshiyuki Tomino earnestly wishes that the age of hand drawings be a part of the anime and manga industry.
Mobile Suit Gundam is currently available for streaming on Crunchyroll.
