Nobuteru Yūki

Born with the Japan the December 24th 1961, Nobuteru Yūki () is since any young person a large fan of all that touches with animation, but it is in very an other field that it directs his studies. It is in office automation that it takes its first steps and once graduate it is engaged as civil servant. He will keep this employment during two years before realizing that the way which he had borrowed was not the good.

Beginning of work in studio

At 20 years, drawings under the arm, Nobuteru Yūki is trotted in the studios as a fan. One day, whereas it was in studio ARTLAND, one of the organizers required of him to be tested with animation. This studio then needed personnel and it had just finished the series Macross , one of largest successes of the animation of the time.

Nobuteru Yūki accumulated the odd jobs in the studios. Thus it could tie relations with certain studios and that it could enter there, to leave its use of civil servant for a trade in animation was appropriate to him completely. The fact that he already worked with several studios also played in its favor. As for the place obtained in studio ARTLAND, without climbing directly level, one named it " lay-out" on project ORGUSS.

Its first large station was that of character designer on the series américano-Japanese woman, Bionic 6, series which will be diffused on the French chain TF1 under the name “ Bionics ”. Later, he was engaged in studios TMS where he worked on his greater series like Kaze No tairiku (The Weathering Continent), but especially Chronicles of the war of Lodoss (Lodoss tō senki). In the latter, it mixed a certain number of elements of medieval tales, Celtic legends, references to the video games RPG, etc What will ensure a world success to him, concerning thus various countries and various cultures.

Nobuteru Yūki launched out in the manga with the title Vaelber saga . However its world with him it is animation and at the end of some volumes (two in France, and three with the Japan) it stopped its publication, which was done in Japan via the magazine Dragon magazine 'and published in France by Kraken.

In 1994, it attacks the adaptation in OAV of a manga whose technical level is very high: “ Gunnm ” (Angel Battle Confined to bed). The design of the characters, in particular that of Gally (Confined to bed), abounds in details as with its practice and does not betray the manga. In 1996, Nobuteru Yūki is called to make the chara-design of a series of heroic fantasy “ Tenku No Escaflowne ” (Vision off Escaflowne) On this series, it realized that the chara-design and the credits of beginning and end. The drawings of the episodes were entrusted to Hiroshi Ōsaka because Nobuteru Yūki had to work on sublime film of X1999 (of Clamp) as a chara-designer and an organizer. It is that in 2000, that Nobuteru Yūki took again the " dossier" Escaflowne, to adapt of it the series in a film of named “ Tsubasa No kami ”, Contrairement to the series, this time the studio gave him freehand for the creation of the characters, at this point in time they hardened in their appearances, and that the style " shōjo" missing (as well as the noses whom one reproached a certain length). Escaflowne holds really a very significant part in the heart of Nobuteru Yūki (of which its favorite female character of all those which it could create, is Hitomi). Like he says it in the no-claims bonus of the Japanese DVD: “it really gave pleasure”. Moreover, one had entrusted to him another task of most important for this film: he was also the director of animation.

We can continue to admire the so particular graphic style film of Escaflowne, which it preserved at the time of the chara-design of Heatguy-J , series TV of 26 episodes, in the features of the characters. This time, Nobuteru returns to the futuristic series.

Collaborations in the video game

Being a very large amateur of video games, Nobuteru Yūki receives a letter coming from the company Square. He saw himself entrusting the chara-designer of the project Chrono Cross-country race . (it was to create besides more than two hundred characters.) It also created the characters of Tail concerto , Seiken Densetsu 3 , Legend off mana , Sword off mana , Radical dreamer . In 2005, it comes to finish the chara-design of a series of animation adapted of a video game very recognized to the country of the rising sun, Xenosaga (where it had to simplify its style to decrease the workload for the organizers and also for reason of budget).

Anecdotes on the author

Nobuteru Yūki created of the so detailed characters, that to animate them is a real challenge. for film or OAV like Five star stories, X1999 or the Chronic of the War of Lodoss, one had to call upon a Korean studio external of the name of DR.MOVIES to create the less scenes and thus to release the organizers and intervalists of the Japanese studios for the more important scenes. It often receives like consigns on behalf of the studios to draw characters not too complicated.

Nobuteru Yūki is strongly inspired by the style Art nouveau and more particularly by the painter Alfons Mucha. Like this last, Nobuteru likes to draw arabesques very detailed in chevelures of its characters. Clothing is not remains about it also, it there made a multitude of folds very complexes.
A very recognizable thing with the style of Nobuteru Yūki is the eyes as of its creations, it gives the impression of the mascara to them to strong amount (of long bent black lashes), to see for example the characters of Lodoss War or Five Star Story

Nobuteru Yūki is a very large player of video games, and also a very large collector of Celluloïd S (with his functions, it is easier for him to collect them).
See here an example of collection: http://natcels.rubberslug.com/gallery/home.asp (beautiful collection of a fan Frenchwoman of Nobuteru Yūki on works of this last inter alia).

Catalog of films

1985 : series TV Bionic Six (Bionics)
1987 : OAV Shinmajinden
1989 : Film Five Star Stories
1990 : OAV Cléopatra cd.
1990 : OAV Angel Cops
1990 : OAV Chronicles of the war of Lodoss
1991 : OAV Sukeban deka
1992 : Film Kaze No tairiku (unintermitting The weathering)
1993 : OAV Gunnm (Angel Battle Confined to bed)
1993 : Clip X ² (promotional clip for film)
1996 : Film X1999
1996 : series TV Escaflowne
1998 : credits Cardcaptor Sakura (2nd credits of end)
1999 : clip Clover (clover)
2000 : Film Escaflowne (Tsubasa No Kami)
2002 : series TV Captain Herlock Endeless Odissey
2002 : series TV Heatguy-J
2005 : series TV Xenosaga
2005 : series TV Paradise KIS
2007 : series TV Toward the Terra

Goodies

; Artbook:

Phantasien.
Senshibankou/Phanatsien 2. Work quality in a box paperboard, in which another box separates Phantasien 2 from Seinshibankou (the work weighs more than 2 kilos!). It became very rare today.

; Dōjinshi: Nobuteru Yūki published with its own account (and expenses) 21 dōjinshi taking again all crayonnés of its illustrations of artbook, as the dōga/genga key that it could realized for animations. One also finds there crayonnés not led for illustrations, and stages of character-design. Best is to see this bond or one can see the covers of these dōjinshi with a short description with regard to them: http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/310/listedoujinshiyuki8hg.jpg

Here a bond which shows us small a medley of what one can find there: http://img161.imageshack.us/img161/3821/medlay2gl.jpg

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