Mitsuo Iso
Encyclopedia
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese key
Key frame
A key frame in animation and filmmaking is a drawing that defines the starting and ending points of any smooth transition. They are called "frames" because their position in time is measured in frames on a strip of film...
animator, designer, anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
and director.
His work mainly includes key animation starting in the late 1980s. Iso is known for his offbeat key animation in the prologue of Gundam 0080, large portions of Asuka's battle in The End of Evangelion
The End of Evangelion
is a 1997 Japanese animated science fiction film written and directed by Hideaki Anno along with Kazuya Tsurumaki; it ended the anime releases in the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise until the Rebuild of Evangelion tetralogy remakes were announced in 2006....
and the first half of Ghost in the Shell
Ghost in the Shell (film)
"See You Everyday" is different from the rest of the soundtrack, being a pop song sung in Cantonese by Fang Ka Wing. It can be faintly heard playing in the marketplace scene, when Batou is hunting the ghost-hacked puppet....
s tank battle. He also did some design work and worked on visual effects for Blood: The Last Vampire
Blood: The Last Vampire
Blood: The Last Vampire is a 2000 anime film produced by Production I.G and SPE Visual Works and directed by Hiroyuki Kitakubo. The film premiered in theaters in Japan on November 18, 2000...
and RahXephon
RahXephon
is a Japanese anime series about 17-year-old Ayato Kamina, his ability to control a godlike mecha known as the RahXephon, and his inner journey to find a place in the world...
. Iso has co-written an episode of Neon Genesis Evangelion ("Liliputian Hitcher") and wrote, directed, and largely animated the RahXephon episode "The Children's Night". He wrote and directed the 2007 TV series Dennō Coil
Denno Coil
, Coil — A Circle of Children, is a Japanese science fiction anime television series depicting a near future where semi-immersive augmented reality technology has just begun to enter the mainstream. The series takes place in the fictional city of Daikoku, a hotbed of AR development with an...
.
Mitsuo Iso is known for his jerky yet detailed animation, full of dense sophisticated motion. He refers to his own style as "full limited" or "full 3-frame". In traditional animation
Traditional animation
Traditional animation, is an animation technique where each frame is drawn by hand...
, animation with a drawing count below one drawing every two frames (or "on twos") is considered limited animation
Limited animation
Limited animation is a process of making animated cartoons that does not redraw entire frames but variably reuses common parts between frames. One of its major trademarks is the stylized design in all forms and shapes, which in the early days was referred to as modern design...
. Working on threes and fours, Iso draws every keyframe without passing his work to an in-betweener
Tweening
Inbetweening or tweening is the process of generating intermediate frames between two images to give the appearance that the first image evolves smoothly into the second image. Inbetweens are the drawings between the key frames which help to create the illusion of motion...
, allowing him full control to create the most detailed motion possible with the fewest number of drawings, hence the term "full limited".
Filmography
- Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's CounterattackMobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattackis a 1988 anime film set in Gundam's Universal Century timeline of Gundam, specifically U.C. 0093.Making its theatrical debut on March 12, 1988, Char's Counterattack is the culmination of the original saga begun in Mobile Suit Gundam and continued through Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam and Mobile Suit...
(1988)
- Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the PocketMobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocketis a 1989 Japanese science fiction original video animation series, the first such series in the Gundam franchise. Directed by Fumihiko Takayama, it was also the first time anyone other than creator Yoshiyuki Tomino was given a chance to direct a Gundam story. Released in 1989, it serves to...
(1989) (key animator)
- Only Yesterday (1991) (key animator)
- Roujin ZRoujin Zis a 1991 Japanese anime film directed by Hiroyuki Kitakubo and written by Katsuhiro Otomo.-Plot:Roujin Z is set in Japan during the early 21st century. A group of scientists and hospital administrators, under the direction of the Ministry of Public Welfare, have developed the Z-001, a...
(1991) (mechanical designer)
- Porco RossoPorco RossoPorco Rosso, known in Japan as is the sixth anime film directed by Hayao Miyazaki, produced by Studio Ghibli and released in 1992, of an Italian World War I fighter ace, now living as a freelance bounty hunter chasing "air pirates" in the Adriatic Sea. The man has been cursed and transformed into...
(1992) (key animator)
- Ghost in the ShellGhost in the Shell (film)"See You Everyday" is different from the rest of the soundtrack, being a pop song sung in Cantonese by Fang Ka Wing. It can be faintly heard playing in the marketplace scene, when Batou is hunting the ghost-hacked puppet....
(1995) (key animator, weapons designer)
- Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995) (key animator, episode writer)
- The End of EvangelionThe End of Evangelionis a 1997 Japanese animated science fiction film written and directed by Hideaki Anno along with Kazuya Tsurumaki; it ended the anime releases in the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise until the Rebuild of Evangelion tetralogy remakes were announced in 2006....
(1997) (key animator)
- Perfect BluePerfect Blueis a 1997 Japanese animated psychological thriller film directed by Satoshi Kon and written by Kon and Sadayuki Murai based on the novel of the same name by Yoshikazu Takeuchi. Junko Iwao plays Mima Kirigoe, a member of a Japanese pop-idol group called "CHAM!", who decides to pursue her career as...
(1998) (key animator)
- Blood: The Last VampireBlood: The Last VampireBlood: The Last Vampire is a 2000 anime film produced by Production I.G and SPE Visual Works and directed by Hiroyuki Kitakubo. The film premiered in theaters in Japan on November 18, 2000...
(2000) (key animator, digital effects)
- FLCLFLCLis an original video animation series written by Yōji Enokido, directed by Kazuya Tsurumaki and produced by the FLCL Production Committee, which included Gainax, Production I.G, and Starchild Records....
(2000) (key animator)
- RahXephonRahXephonis a Japanese anime series about 17-year-old Ayato Kamina, his ability to control a godlike mecha known as the RahXephon, and his inner journey to find a place in the world...
(2002) (key animator, digital effects, writer and episode director)
- Dennō CoilDenno Coil, Coil — A Circle of Children, is a Japanese science fiction anime television series depicting a near future where semi-immersive augmented reality technology has just begun to enter the mainstream. The series takes place in the fictional city of Daikoku, a hotbed of AR development with an...
(2007) (creator, series director, screenplay)