Yoshinobu Nishizaki

Yoshinobu Nishizaki 西﨑義展
Birth Name Hirofumi Nishizaki (西崎弘文) Birthplace Koishikawa, Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan Died November 7, 2010 (aged 75) in Chichi-jima, Ogasawara, Japan Field character design, illustration
Statistics

Yoshinobu Nishizaki (西﨑義展, born December 18, 1934-November 7, 2010) is best known as the co-creator of Space Battleship Yamato. He was born in 1934 and graduated from Nihon University Art Department.

In 1994, he designed Yamato 2520. But in the end, Nishizaki was sued by the other Yamato co-creator, Leiji Matsumoto, for breach of copyright. Nishizaki won the case in 2002 and became the registered copyright holder.

Life and Work

Nishizaki graduated in 1957 from Nippon University. His first love was music; he owned a jazz club and was also a jazz radio personality. He formed Office Academy in 1963 as a music production company. Nishizaki's entry into the anime world came in 1970 when he joined Osamu Tezuka's animation studio, Mushi Production, as a sales manager; his first job was to sell the studio's anime Marvelous Melmo to a TV broadcaster in Osaka. Nishizaki produced his first anime, Triton of the Sea, in 1972, and followed it up with the ambitious musical comedy Wansa-kun in 1973; both were based on Tezuka manga, but due to an apparent copyright mixup on Nishizaki's part, Tezuka lost the rights to the anime versions of both series, and Mushi Production made both shows without Tezuka's involvement. Both shows were also ratings disappointments.

Nishizaki produced the classic Space Battleship Yamato in 1974 with its initial television run. At first its ratings were as disappointing as those of Nishizaki's previous ventures; however, the franchise exploded in popularity in 1977 with the release of a hugely successful movie-length edit of the TV series, and "Yamato Fever" continued unabated in Japan for the next six years.

Nishizaki's other works produced during and after Yamato's peak of popularity did not come close to matching the explosive popularity of Yamato, and during the 1990s, he began to fall into rough straits financially. His company, New Japan Visual Network, founded in 1984, declared bankruptcy in 1991, and Nishizaki himself declared bankruptcy in 1997 amidst his wrangling with Yamato co-creator Leiji Matsumoto over the copyrights to Yamato. In 1994, Nishizaki designed the short-lived follow-up series called Yamato 2520, and was later sued by Matsumoto for breach of copyright. The case over Yamato led to halting the production of the video series after only three episodes. The dispute was finally settled in 2003, with Nishizaki winning the use of the name Yamato and the original plot and characters but losing the use of the original conceptual art, ship and character designs to Matsumoto.

Nishizaki's anime film Space Battleship Yamato: Rebirth was released on December 12, 2009. He also produced a live action film adaptation of the first TV series which premiered in Japan during December 2010

Arrests

• December 2, 1997 - Police stopped his car on the Tōmei Expressway in Shizuoka after he was driving suspiciously. He was arrested when police found inside his attache case 50g of methamphetamine, 7g of morphine, 9g of marijuana. While on bail he went to the Philippines on his English-registered cruiser the Ocean Nine; he returned to smuggle in an M16 with M203 grenade launcher, a Glock 17, and a large amount of ammunition. January 21, 1999, Nishizaki was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison for the narcotics possession charge.
• February 1, 1999 - Arrested after a handgun, 131 bullets and 20 grams of methamphetamine were seized from his house in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo. Nishizaki voluntarily submitted two automatic rifles, 1,800 bullets, and 30 howitzer shells kept in a station wagon in his garage, police said. Police said that Nishizaki had hidden an Austrian handgun loaded with three bullets under a zaisu chair in a study. Nishizaki told police that he had bought the handgun in Hong Kong 10 years earlier to defend himself against Philippine pirates. On February 20, 2003, he was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison for the possessing of firearms charge. He was released from prison on December 9, 2007.

Death

On November 7, 2010 at 00:35, he fell off of the steamship Yamato and drowned at Chichi-jima, Ogasawara.

Filmography

• Little Wansa (1973)
• Space Battleship Yamato (1974)
• Space Carrier Blue Noah (1979)
• Urotsukidōji (1987)
• Odin: Photon Sailer Starlight (1985)
• Yamato 2520 (1994)
• Yamato Rebirth (2009)

External links

• Yoshinobu Nishizaki at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• Yoshinobu Nishizaki at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• Yoshinobu Nishizaki at the Internet Movie Database

TV series
Original Series: Space Battleship Yamato (Episodes) • Space Battleship Yamato 2 (Episodes) • Space Battleship Yamato III (Episodes) Remakes: Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato 2199 (Episodes) • Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato 2202 (Episodes) Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato 2205 (Episodes) • Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato 3199 (Episodes)
Films
Original Series: Space Battleship Yamato • Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato • Space Battleship Yamato 2: Compilation Yamato: The New Voyage • Be Forever Yamato • Space Battleship Yamato III: Catastrophe of the Solar System Final Yamato • Yamato Rebirth Remakes: Space Battleship Yamato 2199: A Voyage to Remember Star Blazers 2199: Odyssey of the Celestial Ark • Star Blazers Chronicle 2202
Live action films
Space Battleship Yamato • Star Blazers
OVAs
Yamato 2520 • Great Yamato #0
Manga
Space Battleship Yamato by Leiji Matsumoto • Space Battleship Yamato by Yuki Hijiri • Space Battleship Yamato by Akira Hio Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato • Space Battleship Yamato: The New Voyage • Be Forever Yamato Space Battleship Yamato III by Takayuki Masuo • Space Battleship Yamato III by Hiroshi Aizawa • Final Yamato • Space Battleship Great Yamato Star Blazers 2199 • Ace with the Scarlet Eyes • Space Battleship Yamato Next: Star Blazers Lambda
Comics
Star Blazers • Star Blazers : The Magazine of Space Battleship Yamato
Novels
Space Battleship Yamato novelizations • Space Battleship Yamato Dawn: Aquarius Algorithm • Space Battleship Yamato Dawn: The Malignant Memory Space Battleship Yamato 2202: Warriors of Love Side Stories • My Heart is Like This
Video games
The Distant Planet Iscandar • Warriors of Love • Reminiscences of Iscandar • Revenge of the Dark Nebula Empire • Collapse of the Double Galaxy Super Robot Wars V • Space Battleship Yamato arcade game • Space Battleship Yamato for PC • Space Battleship Yamato for Game Boy Space Battleship Yamato for WanderSwan Color • Final Yamato • Space Battleship Yamato 2199 BFI Chapter 2: The Romance of the Endless Sea Space Battleship Yamato 2199: Iscandar • Space Battleship Yamato 2199 Cosmo Guardian • Space Battleship Yamato 2199: The Last Hope 365 Space Battleship Yamato 2202: Hero's Record • Space Battleship Yamato 2202: A Long Journey • Space Battleship Yamato: Voyagers of Tomorrow
Radio
Stereo Gekiga Space Battleship Yamato • All Night Nippon Space Battleship Yamato Special • YRA Radio Yamato