Institute / Research Cases / QS-RC-130
Yoshiyuki Tomino
Mobile Suit Gundam, Umi no Triton, Zambot 3, Space Runaway Ideon, Zeta Gundam, Char's Counterattack, Turn A Gundam. Drawing the giant robot as a weapon, in a war where both sides hold their own justice, with a boy who fights, hesitates and tries to understand others — Yoshiyuki Tomino turned the robot anime into a story of war and humanity and founded the lineage known as the real robot. He was born in 1941 in Odawara, Kanagawa. After studying film at Nihon University College of Art, he joined Osamu Tezuka's Mushi Production in 1964 and began as a director on Astro Boy. As a freelancer he storyboarded and directed a great many works, and made his debut as a director with Umi no Triton in 1972. On 7 April 1979 the television anime Mobile Suit Gundam began. The series was cut short at forty-three episodes, yet through reruns and the films it became a social phenomenon and the starting point of a series that has continued for nearly half a century. He received the Honorary Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival in 2009 and was named a Person of Cultural Merit in 2021. Why does a story once cut short continue across the ages? We read the vessel he was born with against his destiny and the phases of time.
At a Glance
The case
- Subject
- Yoshiyuki Tomino (富野由悠季) — Anime director
- Period analysed
- 1941–2026
- Three pillars
- Day 丁巳 / Month 戊戌 / Year 辛巳
- Void branches
- 子丑 (Rat–Ox)
- Destiny area
- 1.24 The area of the triangle formed by the three pillars on the sixty-cycle circle (maximum 1.30)
- Format
- PDF, 14 pages — written in Japanese
- Price
- ¥50,000 including tax
Research Brief
What the case shows
- At the centre of his destiny sits a star of high intelligence and sharp sensibility. The same star appears twice, a space-time structure that passes beyond common sense within feeling and turns toward philosophy and thought.
- His is a destiny born with the strongest of vessels. How hard he was forged in his early years decides the fortune that follows. The more he cuts his own way without leaning on parents or elders, the more strength comes out.
- He holds a vessel in which fortune divides on whether he can burn his passion to the end in his work. The starting points of his major works gather in the twenty years in which protective forces turned.
- 7 April 1979 was a day on which protective forces and his own central star alternated, layer by layer, through the layers of fortune. Gundam began in a space-time in which his centre shook hard.
- He holds a star whose endings are never fixed and which fulfils its role in flux. The story once cut short revived in a protected year and, sequel by sequel, became a story that continues.
Questions
The questions the report answers
- How could he turn the giant robot into a story of war and humanity?
- What overlapped on 7 April 1979, the day Mobile Suit Gundam began?
- Why did a story once cut short revive as a social phenomenon?
- What did the years of groundwork in his youth leave on his later fortune?
Public Record
The record, year by year
Selected events from the public record. Analysis and judgement are given in the report itself.
| 1941 | 辛巳 | 5 November: born in Odawara, Kanagawa |
| 1964 | 甲辰 | Joins Mushi Production; debuts as a director on Astro Boy |
| 1968 | 戊申 | Goes freelance, storyboarding and directing |
| 1972 | 壬子 (天) | Debuts as a director with Umi no Triton |
| 1977 | 丁巳 | Zambot 3 |
| 1979 | 己未 | 7 April: the television anime Mobile Suit Gundam begins |
| 1980 | 庚申 | Space Runaway Ideon |
| 1981 | 辛酉 | 14 March: the film Mobile Suit Gundam opens |
| 1985 | 乙丑 (天) | Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam |
| 1988 | 戊辰 | Char's Counterattack |
| 1999 | 己卯 | Turn A Gundam |
| 2009 | 己丑 (天) | Honorary Leopard, Locarno Film Festival |
| 2014 | 甲午 | Gundam Reconguista in G |
| 2021 | 辛丑 (天) | Person of Cultural Merit |
Year pillars change at Risshun, in early February. (天) = void year or void decade. (天天) = void year within a void decade.
Contents
14 pages
- Destiny profile and chart
- Yin and yang charts
- Axis and type of destiny
- Ten-year phases
- Composite numerical table
- The strongest vessel
- The chart of burning through
- High intelligence: 丁巳 and the expression star
- From cut short to phenomenon
- The story that continues
- The four layers of 7 April 1979
- Timeline chart
- Public record
- Conclusion
Purchase
Order this Research Case
¥50,000incl. tax · PDF · Japanese
Email the case number QS-RC-130. We reply with an invoice; the PDF follows once payment is confirmed.
Analysis supervised by FAITH (Makoto Tokunaga) — MSc Economics, University of Warwick · CICP · Shugakuin Saii