After working for Toei Doga, he joined Tatsunoko Productions, where he drew background art and designed mecha, supporting the first Tatsunoko golden age.[2][3]
After leaving Tatsunoko, he founded Design Office Mecaman and served as its representative director.[3]
Style
Nakamura worked as art director on a number of anime works and has likewise worked as a mechanical designer.[4]
He is one of the pioneering mecha designers in the Japanese anime industry and was the first to have his name included in the end credits.[3][5][a]
His best-known works as a mecha designer include Mach Five from Speed Racer, God Phoenix from Science Ninja Team Gatchaman and Time Mechabuton from Time Bokan.[3][6]
Mach Five, in particular, is regarded as a masterpiece of the first Tatsunoko golden age for its outstanding design sense, and its design was so perfect that it was used almost unchanged in the 2008 live-action filmSpeed Racer by The Wachowskis, 40 years later.[3][7]
However, his speciality was not mecha design, but anime background art.[6]
Background art plays a very important role in Japanese-style animation expression techniques. This has become increasingly the case in recent years, and Nakamura's art was one of the factors to move in this direction.[7]
His representative works as an art director include Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, Mobile Suit Gundam, and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.[8][9][10]
Career
After graduating from junior high school, Nakamura joined Toei Doga through the help of his school teacher.
He gained experience in various jobs as an assistant and then as a member of the colouring staff, where he developed his knowledge of paints and colours.[3]
Nakamura, who wanted to paint background art, moved to the newly established Tatsunoko Productions in 1964 through an introduction from Toei.[11]
After working on the studio's first TV series Space Ace, his love of cars led him to design cars for the studio's second work, the car racing anime series Speed Racer.[12][13]
He became head of the art section, where he instructs Yoshitaka Amano and Kunio Okawara.[6][14][15]
At that time, Tatsunoko's art section was not only responsible for art, but also for the design of backgrounds, props, robots and cars, all of which were entrusted to Nakamura, who was trusted by the president, Tatsuo Yoshida.[16][17]
The staff included many aspiring painters who had left art college, some working for a living and some with personalities of their own, and he had to lead them as section head. With the number of animations even increasing, it was impossible for him to do everything on his own.
He therefore decided to entrust some of the mechanical design work to Okawara, who had just joined Tatsunoko.
Nakamura and Okawara were credited as mechanical designers for the first time in Japanese animation history in Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, which began airing in 1972.[17][18]
At the end of 1976, he left Tatsunoko Productions and founded Design Office Mecaman with Kunio Okawara.
Initially, Mecaman was planned to be a mecha design company, as Okawara was also a member of the company. However, he soon became independent and the company specialised in background art.[17][18]
Nakamura died of oral cancer on May 16, 2011, at the age of 67.[1][4]
Time Bokan series 2nd. He only designed two main mechas, Yatter One and Yatter Pelican. The other main mecha, which appeared mid-season, and sub mecha were designed by Kunio Okawara.[c]
^Prior to this, there were still no designers specialising in mecha in the anime industry, and the character designers or art directors doubled as designers for the mecha that appeared in animation. Robot-like objects were often assigned to character designers, while building facilities and vehicles were often assigned to art directors.
^He himself redrew the key frames for the OP as the animators of the time could not grasp the three-dimensional shape of the car and could not draw Mach Five.[19]
^After this work, Okawara took over the mecha design of the Time Bokan series.
^ abcdefg"『マッハGoGoGo』放送開始40周年記念企画 - メカニックデザインを担当した中村光毅氏に直撃 (1/8)" [Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the broadcast of Speed Racer - a direct interview with Mitsuki Nakamura, who was in charge of the mechanical design (1/8)]. Mynavi News (in Japanese). Mynavi. August 24, 2007. Retrieved April 9, 2024.
^ ab"ガンダム、ナウシカの美術監督 中村光毅氏死去" [Mitsuki Nakamura, art director of Gundam and Nausicaa, passes away]. Sports Nippon (in Japanese). Tokyo. May 17, 2011. Retrieved April 9, 2024.
^Marumoto, Daisuke (December 18, 2012). "今だから話せる「ガンダム」「ダンバイン」「パトレイバー」生みの親たちのメカデザイナーズサミットレポ （1/5）" [Now's the time to talk about it. Report from the Mecha Designers Summit, featuring the creators of Gundam, Dunbine and Patlabor (1/5)]. Excite Review (in Japanese). Excite. Retrieved April 9, 2024.
^ abcMishina, Takashi (August 23, 2015). "大河原邦男展（中） 「ガッチャマン」のメカは実にリアルだった…タツノコプロで発揮された大河原邦男の異彩" [Kunio Okawara exhibition (Part 2) The mecha in Gatchaman were truly realistic... Kunio Okawara's unique style demonstrated at Tatsunoko Production]. Sankei News (in Japanese). Sankei Shimbun. Retrieved April 9, 2024.
^"「中村光毅」初の回顧展 デンマークでオリジナル美術・イラスト中心の約70点" [Mitsuki Nakamura's first retrospective exhibition in Denmark with around 70 works, mainly original art and illustrations.] (in Japanese). Animation Business Journal. October 1, 2017. Retrieved April 9, 2024.
^"ジブリ美術館・高橋望氏、「『ガンダム』がなければ『ナウシカ』は生まれなかった」" [Nozomu Takahashi, Director of the Ghibli Museum, "Without 'Gundam', 'Nausicaä' would not have been created"]. Oricon News (in Japanese). Oricon. December 9, 2021. Retrieved April 9, 2024.
^"『マッハGoGoGo』放送開始40周年記念企画 - メカニックデザインを担当した中村光毅氏に直撃 (2/8)" [Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the broadcast of Speed Racer - a direct interview with Mitsuki Nakamura, who was in charge of the mechanical design (2/8)]. Mynavi News (in Japanese). Mynavi. August 24, 2007. Retrieved April 9, 2024.
^"『マッハGoGoGo』放送開始40周年記念企画 - メカニックデザインを担当した中村光毅氏に直撃 (3/8)" [Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the broadcast of Speed Racer - a direct interview with Mitsuki Nakamura, who was in charge of the mechanical design (3/8)]. Mynavi News (in Japanese). Mynavi. August 24, 2007. Retrieved April 9, 2024.
^"『マッハGoGoGo』放送開始40周年記念企画 - メカニックデザインを担当した中村光毅氏に直撃 (4/8)" [Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the broadcast of Speed Racer - a direct interview with Mitsuki Nakamura, who was in charge of the mechanical design (4/8)]. Mynavi News (in Japanese). Mynavi. August 24, 2007. Retrieved April 9, 2024.
^Mishina, Takashi (August 16, 2015). "大河原邦男展（上） 「ヤッターマンぽく」作ったＧガンダム メカデザインの大河原邦男さん 後輩は「大河原ロボを一番うまく動かせるのは自分」（1）" [Kunio Okawara Exhibition (Part 1) Kunio Okawara, a mecha designer, says, "I made the G Gundam like Yatterman." His junior colleague says, "I am the one who can move the Okawara robot the best." (1)]. Sankei News (in Japanese). Sankei Shimbun. Retrieved April 9, 2024.
^ abTakahashi, Ryosuke (February 19, 2018). "アトムの遺伝子【第11回】リバイバル連載：サンライズ創業30周年企画「アトムの遺伝子 ガンダムの夢」" [Genes of the Atom [Vol. 11] Revival Serialisation: 30th Anniversary of Sunrise 'Genes of the Atom: Gundam's Dream']. Yatate Bunko (in Japanese). Sunrise. Retrieved April 9, 2024.
^ ab"大河原邦男：笹川ひろしとタツノコプロの"歴史"語る メカデザインの秘けつも" [Kunio Okawara & Hiroshi Sasagawa talk about the "history" of Tatsunoko Productions and the secrets of mechanical design.]. mantan-web (in Japanese). Mantan. July 16, 2017. Retrieved April 9, 2024.
^"『マッハGoGoGo』放送開始40周年記念企画 - メカニックデザインを担当した中村光毅氏に直撃 (5/8)" [Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the broadcast of Speed Racer - a direct interview with Mitsuki Nakamura, who was in charge of the mechanical design (5/8)]. Mynavi News (in Japanese). Mynavi. August 24, 2007. Retrieved April 9, 2024.
