Talkin' About Kenichi Sonoda

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zimmerit
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Talkin' About Kenichi Sonoda

Post by zimmerit »

Over the last month or so I've found myself writing about Kenichi Sonoda (Bubblegum Crisis, Gall Force, Gunsmith Cats, etc) in two different places:

Gunsmith Cats’ Kenichi Sonoda Talks Explosions, Influences, and the Family Business
Sonoda was a guest at this year's SakuraCon. We weren't able to snag an interview like I'd hoped, but I wrote up an article about him for Otaku USA from a fan Q&A panel he did. I also managed to get an autograph from him which I never really bother with at conventions, but hey, it's Kenichi Sonoda.

If you're interested in a full transcript of the panel, you can find it on Anime News Network)

CHARACTER GOODS OF 1984: NEKO MIMI AND COMBAT JYOU
Diving into something Sonoda mentioned in his panel, I ended up doing some research into early garage kits he designed for ARTMIC as one of his first pro gigs. In the process, I inadvertently came across the origins of Gall Force.

I'll probably be writing up more about Sonoda in the nearish future, as I've been digging up info on his early doujin work and just picked up one of the books put out by his high school doujin circle, STOL:
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Sean // zimmerit.moe
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llj
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Re: Talkin' About Kenichi Sonoda

Post by llj »

I still haven't seen Bubblegum Crash lol. It has a reputation for being bad, but it also wasn't an easy to show to find either unless you were really looking for it, back in the day.
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DKop
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Re: Talkin' About Kenichi Sonoda

Post by DKop »

I did a review about crash a few years back with a now defunct podcast who called themselves One Pixel Jump. My first thoughts of crash after seeing ep 1 was "wait, this ain't so bad, why do I keep hearing negative things about this ova?" That all changed when someone gifted me the dvd years later and I'm like... ohhh, that's why.

https://archive.org/details/ScissorsAreAlsoSharp

https://archive.org/details/NoPolice
runesaint
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Re: Talkin' About Kenichi Sonoda

Post by runesaint »

Heh. I knew someone that knew him well enough to stay at his place when he visited Japan. Apparently as Sonoda is a gun-otaku, he had a private collection of a number of guns there were not legal for him to own over there. Sonoda made a number of Etchi dojinshi and etchi art books that he let them sell over here. I have vague memories of them still.
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Re: Talkin' About Kenichi Sonoda

Post by DKop »

Forgot about this link as well, since our posts dont have an edit button.

https://archive.org/details/ImYourFriendNuclearReactor
SteveH
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Re: Talkin' About Kenichi Sonoda

Post by SteveH »

I really like Sonoda's style, on the whole. It's a shame he's kind of stopped creating, but then again, what is there for him to do nowadays?

See, way it looks to me, he's one of the leaders in the whole 'flip the tropes' idea that has taken over Japan- take a concept (Sentai team, one example, buddy cop action/comedy, etc.) and make everyone (or more correct, all the main leads) a cute girl. Then do model sheets that show off obsessively detailed explanations of what each chara wears for underwear and how they get dressed.

Now just about everyone takes a dip in that hot spring. All the MOE harem and light novel ports are awash in it.

See also Frame Arm Girls. Gunpla meets Sonoda's tastes and ideas. They should give him a cut of the money.

I'm not saying he's a 'one note' guy, just that he hasn't done enough to really show his potential range.

I guess in many ways he's like Mikimoto. One shining moment in the '80s he's all that, then it's all "huh? Who dat?"

I mean, crap, this, right now, should be his time! Cute girls doing stuff? Totally in his wheelhouse. He should have done the chara design for that show about a girl's school airsoft gun club.

Ya know, I recall reading that he's mostly taking over the family store now. Did I miss something about what kind of store it is? That's got to feel a little soul crushing. The hot, hard, fast life of Tokyo mid-80s and now, running a store out in the boonies.
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zimmerit
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Re: Talkin' About Kenichi Sonoda

Post by zimmerit »

SteveH wrote:Ya know, I recall reading that he's mostly taking over the family store now. Did I miss something about what kind of store it is? That's got to feel a little soul crushing. The hot, hard, fast life of Tokyo mid-80s and now, running a store out in the boonies.
Yeah, I mentioned that in the first article -- he's taken over the family business (tabelog here) so he's having to juggle things.

As for more recent work, he's been working on a new short comic for the Riding Bean bluray and contributed to a Girls und Panzer doujin that was sold at the last Comiket.
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mbanu
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Re: Talkin' About Kenichi Sonoda

Post by mbanu »

SteveH wrote:I mean, crap, this, right now, should be his time! Cute girls doing stuff? Totally in his wheelhouse. He should have done the chara design for that show about a girl's school airsoft gun club.
Not sure about his reputation in Japan, but he slowly seems to be gaining a cult following of younger overseas fans through AMVs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1NAhlVRaZ4 Most haven't been as popular as this one, but people seem to be pretty steadily using clips from his shows for their songs.
mbanu: What's between Old School and New School?
runesaint: Hmmm. "Middle School", perhaps?
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Re: Talkin' About Kenichi Sonoda

Post by SteveH »

mbanu wrote:
SteveH wrote:I mean, crap, this, right now, should be his time! Cute girls doing stuff? Totally in his wheelhouse. He should have done the chara design for that show about a girl's school airsoft gun club.
Not sure about his reputation in Japan, but he slowly seems to be gaining a cult following of younger overseas fans through AMVs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1NAhlVRaZ4 Most haven't been as popular as this one, but people seem to be pretty steadily using clips from his shows for their songs.
I'm not so sure that bunches of people suddenly 'catching on' to the Streets of Fire influence in mid-80s anime and thinking it brilliant to synch the song 'Nowhere Fast' to the opening animation from BGC quite qualifies as cult appreciation for Sonoda.

It's not the artist they're celebrating. It's a factoid, often misconstrued, misunderstood and very much without context they're flocking to.

If anyone has mashed up Riding Bean with 'One Bad Stud' I'd be closer to believing it. :)
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Re: Talkin' About Kenichi Sonoda

Post by SteveH »

zimmerit wrote:
SteveH wrote:Ya know, I recall reading that he's mostly taking over the family store now. Did I miss something about what kind of store it is? That's got to feel a little soul crushing. The hot, hard, fast life of Tokyo mid-80s and now, running a store out in the boonies.
Yeah, I mentioned that in the first article -- he's taken over the family business (tabelog here) so he's having to juggle things.

As for more recent work, he's been working on a new short comic for the Riding Bean bluray and contributed to a Girls und Panzer doujin that was sold at the last Comiket.
First up, belated welcome aboard!

Second, see, Girls und Panzer is totally in his comfort zone. At least seems to me. :)
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