Noboru
Ishiguro - Director/Original Story
Noboru
Ishiguro has directed many of anime fandom's favourite anime
titles since the late 1960's including "Space Cruiser Yamato
II", the second film in the Yamato franchise, "Farewell to
Space Battleship Yamato", "Super Dimensional Fortress
Macross", "Macross: Do You Remember Love?", "Super
Dimensional Century Orguss", "Legend of the Galactic Heroes"
and one of my personal favourites, the 1980 TV series of
"Astroboy". Ishiguro owned his own animation studio called
Artland which was still making animation as recently as
2017. "Megazone 23" was the Artland's first original
production not based off a manga or novel. Noburo Ishiguro
passed away at the age of 73 on 21 March 2012 due to a lung
infection. One of his last projects was was the TV series
"Tytania".
Haruhiko
Mikimoto - "Eve" Character Designer
Also
known by his distinctive "HAL" trademark signature, Haruhiko
Mikamito first came to prominence with his beloved and
distinctive character designs for the original 1982
"Macross" TV series. He would late go on to provide the
character designs for the follow up "Macross" series and
films "Macross: Do You Remember Love?", "Macross II", and
"Macross 7". Since "Macross", Mikamito has been a very in
demand character designer, and has provided designs for
"Gunbuster (Aim for the Top!)", "Mobile Suit Gundam 0080:
War in the Pocket", "Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway's Flash",
"Tytania", "Super Dimensional Century Orguss" and the 1990's
sequel OVA "Orguss 02". Mikamoto also written several manga
series including "Marionette Generation" and "Macross 7:
Trash".
Toshihiro
Hirano - Character Designer/Storyboard/Animation Director
Most
recently going by the name Toshiki Hirano, Toshihiro Hirano
came to prominence in the mid 1980's by directing and
providing the character designs for the OVA hits "Dangaioh"
and "Vampire Princess Miyu", as well as creating the "Iczer"
franchise; "Iczer-One", "Iczer 3" and "Iczelion". He also
proved the storyline for "Shaolin Sisters" and "Vampire
Princess Miyu" manga series which were illustrated by his
wife Narumi Kakinouchi. Hirano also directed "Magic Knight
Rayearth" and provided character designs for "Ninja Warrior
Tobikage", better known in English speaking countries as
"Ninja Robots". His work appears to be as director for the
anime adaptation of "Angel Heart", the follow up series to
"City Hunter".
Shinji
Aramaki - Mechanical Designer
Originally
an employee of the design and planning company Artmic,
Shinji Aramaki soon became a well regarded and highly in
demand mechanical designer. His work is prominently featured
in "Genesis Climber Mospeada", the 1980's "Transformers" TV
series, "M.A.S.K.", "Bubblegum Crisis", "Genesis Survivor
Gaiarth" and "Gasaraki". He began directing anime in the
1980's with the OVA "Metal Skin Panic Madox-01" and would
later go on to direct the third "Megazone 23" OVA, "Genesis
Survivor Gaiarth" and starting in 2004 a string of CG
animated films including the "Appleseed" and "Starship
Troopers" films and "Space Pirate Captain Harlock". He also
directed the "Evangelion: Another Impact" short for the
Japan Animator Expo project. Recent projects include the TV
series "The Ultraman" and the forthcoming "Blade Runner -
Black Lotus", both co-directed with Kenji Kamiyama.
Ichiro
Itano - Animation Director/Storyboard/Action Sequence
Director
Best
known for his incredibly detailed action sequences in the
"Macross" series, including the original TV series, "Macross
Do You Remember Love?" and "Macross Plus", Ichiro Itano
sequnces are known to fans as the "Itano Circus". This
because of his trademark highly detailed aerial action
sequences which include scenes of masses of missiles
launched by Zentradi and Valkayre craft. Apart from
specialising in action sequences in anime, Itano has
directed "Angel Cop", "Violence Jack", "Gantz" and
"Blassreiter". He also was the director on the sequel to
"Megazone 23", "Megazone 23 Part II".
Artland
- Planning/Animation Production
Formed
in September 1978 by director Noboru Ishiguro, Artland
produced or co-produced a number of anime TV series, films
and OVAs over the years including "Macross", "Orguss",
"Mushishi" and it's sequel TV series and OVAs, "Gunslinger
Girl -Il Teatrino-", "Tantei Opera Milky Holmes", "Legend of
the Galactic Heroes", "Gall Force: The Revolution",
"Appleseed" and of course the first two "Megazone 23" OVAs.
During the 1980's and 1990's, Haruhiko Mikimoto was a staff
member of the company. In 2010 the company was split up
between the production business, Artland Inc, and the
animation studio, Animation Studio Artland Inc. Artland Inc
was shut down in 2017 after financial difficulties.
Artmic
- Design/Animation Production
Short
for Art and Modern Ideology
for Creation,
Artmic was a production company formed in 1978 by producer
Toshimitsu Suzuki after leaving Tatsunoko Productions. The
company produced or co-produced many of the best anime OVAs
during the 1980's and 1990's including "Bubblegum Crisis",
"Bubblegum Crash", "Genesis Climber Mospeada: Love, Live,
Alive", "Casshan: Robot Hunter", "Gatchaman" OVA,
"Wanna-Be's", "Gall Force", "Dangaioh", "Metal Skin Panic
MADOX-01", "Hades Project Zeorymer", "Riding Bean", "A.D.
Police", "Detonator Orgun", "Genesis Survivor Gaiarth",
"Scramble Wars", "Techno Police 21C" and of course all three
"Megazone 23" OVAs. The studio also provided mechanical,
logo and title designs for other anime. Members of the
studio included Kenichi Sonoda, Shinji Aramaki, Kimitoshi
Yamane, Hideki Kakinuma and Rey Lumeno. Artmic filed for
bankruptcy in 1997 with the majority of the titles it owned
being transferred to anime studio AIC.
AIC
- Animation Production
Founded
in July 1982, much like Artmic, Animation International
Company (AIC) was responsible for some of fandom's most
loved OVA and TV series of the 1980's and 1990's. Most of
their early titles were mecha based OVAs, but they soon
ventured into other genres such as harem and ero anime. Some
of their more successful franchises and titles include "Gall
Force", "Tenchi Muyo", "Bubblegum Crisis", "Vampire Princess
Miyu", "Sol Bianca", "Oh My Goddess!", "Armitage III", "El
Hazard", "Heaven's Lost Property", "Space Battleship Yamato
2199" and of course all three "Megazone 23" OVAs. Though the
studio hasn't produced or co-produced many anime of late,
they have tested the waters with crowd funded pilot films of
reboots their properties including "Tenchi Muyo", it's spin
off "Pretty Sammy", "El Hazard" and of course "Megazone 23
XI" and "Megazone 23 Sin".
Yasuomi
Umetsu - Storyboard/Sub-Character Designer
Character
designer Yasuomi Umetsu is now best known in anime fandom
for his ero anime OVA series "Kite" and "Mezzo Forte" which
he wrote, provided the character designs and directed for
ero anime producer Green Bunny. Both franchises are
essentially violent action films intercut with some explicit
sex scenes. However "Kite" found more success in English
speaking countries in an edited format which removed all sex
scenes and "Mezzo Forte" was remade as the TV series "Mezzo
DSA". Umetsu's character designer credits include "Lily
C.A.T.", most of the 1990's Tatsunoko series OVA remakes
including "Casshan: Robot Hunter", "Gatchaman" and
"Hurricane Polymar", "Kimera", "Kokkoku: Moment by Moment"
and of course "Megazone 23 Part II". Apart from the "Kite"
and "Mezzo" franchises, his directing credits include the
"Presence" segment of "Robot Carnival", "Galilei Donna" and
"Wizard Barristers".
Shiro
Sagisu - Music Production
Best
known to anime fans for his music for the "Evangelion"
franchise, Shiro Sagisu works mainly as a music producer and
composer and has produced records for British musician Mike
Wyzgowski as well as Japanese artists Misia, Satoshi Tomiie,
and Ken Hirai. His anime soundtracks include "Leda: The
Fantastic Adventure of Yohko", "Ai City", "Kimagure Orange
Road", "Nadia of the Mysterious Seas", "Macross II", "His
and Her Circumstances", "Bleach", "Magi: The Labyrinth of
Magic", "SSSS.Gridman" and of course all three parts of
"Megazone 23". He has also composed the scores of the live
action films "Attack on Titan" and "Shin Godzilla". In 2010
he won the Tokyo Anime Award for Best Music for "Evangelion:
2.0 You Can (Not) Advance".
Other
Notable Staff
Hideaki
Anno (director of "Evangelion", "Nadia of the Mysterious
Seas"), Nobuteru Yuki (character designer for "Record of
Lodoss Wars") and Narumi Kakinouchi (manga artist for
"Princess Vampire Miyu") worked on the film as assistant
directors and also did key animation. Though not credited in
the film at all, Masami Obari (mecha designer extraordinaire
and director of "Battle Arena Toshinden", "Voltage Fighter
Gowcaizer", "Gravion") also did some key animation.