Michael Arias

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Michael Arias

Michael Arias discusses Tekkon Kinkreet in December of 2006 (photo by Yoshiaki Miura)
Born 1967 (age 40)
United States
Occupation Anime director and producer, computer graphics artist
Website
Michael Arias on IMDb.com

Michael Arias (born 1967) is an American director and producer of anime.[1] He is best known as the director of Tekkon Kinkreet, which made him the first non-Japanese director of a major anime film.[2]

Although Arias is a Southern California native, he has lived in Tokyo, Japan since he was 24 and speaks fluent Japanese.[3] He is married to a Japanese woman and they have two children.[2]

[edit] Career

Michael Arias began his career doing special-effects on Hollywood films including The Abyss and Fat Man and Little Boy .[4] In the early 1990s he moved into the areas of computer graphics and software development.[2] Arias developed a software shading program that gives computer graphics animation the appearance of traditional cel-shaded drawings.[3] The software was first utilized in 1997 for Hayao Miyazaki's Mononoke Hime (Princess Mononoke in English release) and has been used in Miyazaki's subsequent films.[2] Arias was a segment producer and additional sequence director on The Animatrix: Beyond, released in 2003.[4][5]

Arias began work on the project that evolved into Tekkon Kinkreet in 1999.[6] He made a pilot film with Koji Morimoto, which won praise from critics in Japan and Europe.[7] Morimoto wanted to make the film in 3D, but the project disappeared for a while when he and Arias realized the difficulty of expressing emotion in the 3D medium.[6] Originally Morimoto was supposed to direct Tekkon Kinkreet, but he lost interest in the project.[7] In 2003, while working on The Animatrix, Arias picked up Tekkon Kinkreet again. He persistently urged Studio 4°C to make the film, telling Eiko Tanaka (president of Studio 4°C) that "he actually only did his best for Studio 4°C because he wanted to make a Tekkon movie."[6]

He told Andrez Bergen at Japan's Daily Yomiuri newspaper that "The great thing about traditional animation here is its uniqueness, and the variety of individual artists' visions on display. I'd love an American-sized budget to play with, but I'd hate to see a cottage industry like this turned into a factory for cranking out products for the masses." [8]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Schilling, Mark. "Outlander gazes into Showa's soul", The Japan Times, 2006-12-21. Retrieved on 2007-04-26. 
  2. ^ a b c d Wallace, Bruce. "An American anime film?", Los Angeles Times, 2007-02-04. Retrieved on 2007-04-26. 
  3. ^ a b Bynum, Aaron H.. "Japanese Animation: A State of Mind (?)", Animation Insider, 2007-02-05. Retrieved on 2007-04-26. 
  4. ^ a b Michael Arias (I) (html). The Internet Movie Database. IMDb.com (2007). Retrieved on 2007-04-26.
  5. ^ Amid (2006-03-21). Studio 4°C’s TEKKON KINKURITO (html). Cartoon Brew. Retrieved on 2007-04-26.
  6. ^ a b c Chiemi; translated by Natsumi Yamane. "Making Taiyo Matsumoto’s “Tekkon Kinkreet” into anime", PingMag, 2006-11-22. Retrieved on 2007-04-27. (English) 
  7. ^ a b Macias, Patrick. "Anime through an American eye", The Japan Times, 2006-12-21. Retrieved on 2007-04-27. 
  8. ^ In Black & White, Andrez Bergen. Daily Yomiuri, December 2006.


v • d • e
Studio 4°C
Feature Films
Memories • Spriggan • Princess Arete • Mind Game • Tekkon Kinkreet • Genius Party • Genius Party Beyond • Sachiko
Television Series
Urarochi Diamond • Piroppo • Tweeny Witches • Kimagure Robot • Ani*Kuri15 • Transformers: Animated
Original Video Animations
Noiseman Sound Insect • Eternal Family • Kid's Story • Hijikata Toshizo: Shiru no Kiseki
Video Games
People
Koji Morimoto • Eiko Tanaka • Yoshiharu Sato • Michael Arias


Persondata
NAME Arias, Michael
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Anime director and producer
DATE OF BIRTH 1967
PLACE OF BIRTH
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH