Tadao Nagahama (長浜 忠夫, Nagahama Tadao, September 26, 1936 – January 14, 1980 in Kagoshima) was a Japanese director of anime and puppet shows.[1]
He also wrote the lyrics for the anime's theme song under the name Akira Aoi (あおい あきら, Aoi Akira).[1]
Nagahama has produced hits in a wide variety of genres, including super robot, sports, and comedy.[2]
He is best known as the director of Sunrise and Toei's Robot Romance Trilogy, which added human drama to the Super Robot genre.[3][4]
He is also known as the director of several popular anime series that are still well known among Japanese viewers.[5]
His most famous work is the national hit,[a]Star of the Giants, which contributed to the popularity of baseball in Japan.[7][8]
Biography
Nagahama began his theatrical career in the drama club of his junior high school, and not only directed but also acted on stage himself.[7][9]
After entering the Department of Drama at Nihon UniversityCollege of Art, he studied theater at Butai Geijyutsu Gakuin, Kirin-za, Seinen Haiyū Club, and Mingei Theatre Company, while working part-time in the editorial department of theater magazine Theaterux.
In the early 1960s, while working in the production department of the puppet theater troupe Hitomi-za, he was assigned to direct puppet shows for television.[10][11]
In 1965, he joined A Production, which was contracted to produce anime for Tokyo Movie, an animation studio founded by Yutaka Fujioka, a colleague at Hitomi-za and producer of the TV puppet show Iga no Kagemaru, where he began directing TV anime.[10]
The TV series he directed, Star of Giants, which began airing in 1968, was a huge hit and raged at the time.[3][11]
However, he gave up on anime after working on Samurai Giants and left A Production to start a company, where he worked on commercial production for about a year.
In 1975, he returned to the anime industry as the director of Reideen The Brave, replacing Yoshiyuki Tomino, who was dropped midway through the show. This was his first robot anime.[10][12]
In 1976, he took on the job of director for Toei (not Toei Animation)'s robot anime, Combattler V and was involved from the planning stage with the Raiden staff.[5][13]
From this work, he began teaching acting to voice actors and handling sound effects, which led to his being credited as sound director.[7]
He went on to direct two more Toei's robot anime, Voltes V and Tōshō Daimos.[10]
These three works later became known as the Robot Romance Trilogy.[5][14]Voltes V, in particular, became so popular in the Philippines that after more than 45 years, a live-action remake of the TV series was produced by the Philippines' largest terrestrial television station in 2023.[15]
In Daimos, Toei's Sword Fight Arranger directed the action at the suggestion of Toei's producer, and Nagahama had animators draw action scenes based on a video of his movements.[5][16]
Meanwhile, the same producer brought anime elements from these works to Toei's live-action tokusatsu productions, including giant robots made of multiple mechas combined into one, beautiful enemy characters and anime-style designs.[17][b]
In 1979, he directed Future Robot Daltanious, which was produced under the same structure as the previous three works, albeit with a different broadcaster. However, he left the show midway through to direct The Rose of Versailles at his old home, Tokyo Movies. However, he dropped out of that show as well due to a conflict with a voice actor over a difference in acting policy.[5][18]
During the production of the joint anime between Japan and France, Ulysses 31, he contracted fulminant hepatitis and died suddenly from the disease at the age of 43.[7][c]
Ulysses 31 (Japan-France co-production) (1981) Chief director on the Japanese side, his last work[k]
Music
Lyrics
Voltes V Ending theme
Tōshō Daimos Ending theme
Future Robot Daltanious Ending theme
Notes
^The TV ratings consistently hovered around 20%, with the highest rating of 36.7%, and the show was popular for its long broadcast period of about three and a half years.[6]
^He recruited designer Yutaka Izubuchi, who Nagahama led into the anime industry, to design Tokusatsu's monsters and character costumes.
^His wife developed the disease a little later than him but survived.
^This was a joint project between Japan and the UK that was cancelled for various reasons. The British side then proceeded with the project without Japan, and a puppet show with the same title was broadcast in the U.K. in 1983.
^He made a cameo appearance (non-credit) in the final episode as the computer voice of the guardian Godl.
^De facto director of the first half of the series.[21]
^He dropped out midway through the series, and Katsushi Sasaki replaced him. However, from episodes 28 to 33, he is involved in the role of script supervisor.[22]
^He dropped out midway through the series, and Osamu Dezaki succeeded him as chief director.[18][23]
^ He suddenly passed away due to disease when the first episode was completed.[7]
References
^ ab"長浜忠夫のプロフィール" [Tadao Nagahama's profile]. Web The Television (in Japanese). Kadokawa Shoten. Retrieved April 21, 2024.
^ ab"『ガンダム』にも影響? 美形敵キャラを輩出した『ボルテスV』と「長浜ロマンロボ」" [Is it also an influence on "Gundam"? "Voltes V" and "Nagahama Roman Robot" that produced beautiful enemy characters.]. Magmix (in Japanese). Media Vague. January 28, 2023. Retrieved April 18, 2024.
^ abcde"「長浜ロマンロボシリーズ」永遠不滅の3作品をご覧あれっ!" ["Nagahama Roman Robo Series" Take a look at these three timeless works!]. Middle Edge (in Japanese). DOM. March 16, 2021. Retrieved April 18, 2024.
^ abcdeHikawa, Ryūsuke (November 3, 2006). "長浜忠夫がもたらしたもの" [What Tadao Nagahama brought to us]. Ryusuke Hikawa official blog (in Japanese). Retrieved April 18, 2024.
^ abcd"『未来ロボ ダルタニアス』が残した「胸にライオン」のインパクト 超合金は今も愛され…" [The impact of the “lion on his chest” left by “Future Robot Daltanius” Chogokin is still loved...]. Magmix (in Japanese). Media Vague. March 21, 2022. Retrieved April 18, 2024.
^ ab"1970年代の刀剣テレビアニメ「刀剣ロボットテレビアニメの始まり」" [1970's Sword TV Anime "The Beginning of Sword Robot TV Anime"]. Touken World (in Japanese). Token Corporation. Retrieved April 18, 2024.
^Hikawa, Ryūsuke (October 29, 2021). "【氷川教授の「アニメに歴史あり」】第36回 2人の監督が彩りをぶつけ合ったアニメ「ベルサイユのばら」" [[Professor Hikawa's "Anime has a history"] No. 36 "The Rose of Versailles", an anime in which two directors clashed colors]. Animehack (in Japanese). eiga.com. Retrieved April 18, 2024.
^"サントラ千夜一夜 第87回 ガルーダに捧ぐ 〜超電磁ロボ コン・バトラーＶ〜" [Soundtrack: One Thousand and One Nights - Vol. 87 Dedicated to Garuda - Chōdenji Robo Combattler V]. WEB Anime Style (in Japanese). Style. August 17, 2016. Retrieved April 18, 2024.
^"『超電磁マシーン ボルテスV』実写リメイク化 フィリピンで2023年放送" ["Choudenji Machine Voltes V" live-action remake to be broadcast in the Philippines in 2023]. Oricon News (in Japanese). Oricon. January 4, 2023. Retrieved April 21, 2024.
^"1970年代の刀剣テレビアニメ「皇位継承のドラマと刀剣ロボットテレビアニメ」" [1970's Sword TV Anime "Drama of Imperial Succession and Sword Robot TV Anime"]. Touken World (in Japanese). Token Corporation. Retrieved April 18, 2024.
