Production Materials - Sokihei M.D. Geist: Complete Collection Record - "Image Making" - Pages 50~73

Image Making

Rough design of Geist from the character concept stage. The expression “hot head” (lit. hair on fire) is exactly what this hairstyle is. More so than in the final design he appears slightly older, to the extent of which his facial expression appears mellow. 

The facial expressions on the left page bear resemblance to Toshiyuki Hosokawa or Alain Delon (You could say that the name “Most Dangerous Man” could be followed by “For Ladies”). 

However hard-boiled Mr. Geist is, there is a desire to give him a more refined nature. Furthermore, the combat fatigues are commonplace and lack intensity. A point of concern is Geist’s thin lines. With that in mind, the final draft was produced.

Image Design of Other Characters

Altogether, these were to be of adult age from the outset. In particular, Paia’s appearance took on the most striking change. The hairstyle, costume, face et cetera, each aspect initially appear more feminine. She has the sultriness of an older woman. Nevertheless, how can that mood be transferred to simplified cel lines? The character became lighter and sharper.

Tsuneo Nimoniya

Character Design

Notable works include “Hurricane Polymer”, “Space Knight Tekkaman” etc. Highly popular and well-regarded artist. 

"There is pragmatism and humanity to the characters. I want to do more intense, loud dramas".

"The character I am most fond of, it really has to be Geist. When I read the scenario in the beginning, the general image came together. Since the story embodied hardness, violence and action, the character design was finalised in order to withstand that. The worldview of “Mad Max” and “The Terminator” were the basis. At first the eyes and hair had more of an expression of “insanity”, gradually I added a sense of reality as I did revisions. Paia in particular as well I think has a unique charm that breaks the established norm of female character concepts. She is a mother-in-law type who has strength, sultriness and softness all at once. There was a love scene during the story, in which I think it’s only natural for the character to behave so adultly. Err, is that a reflection of my own desires?! That I wonder about (laughs). Crutes gives off the impression of a professional soldier with a pinpoint straightened back. Looking back now, I think there was a little more room for innovation, but I think the tone of the overall work was matched. 

The leader of the biker gang, Golem, he’s another one of my favourite characters. The sheer strength which was communicated through that huge body and its power, the sub-leader Mash is the polar opposite. Mash by comparison has intelligence and a suspicious homosexual charm. His German Army-style cap, which is a little ornamental to him, I had been aware of from the world of “The Night Porter”. Personally, I think Mash could have been a little slimmer. I think a sense of “humanity” is an essential component when creating a drama. The characters of “Geist” were finalised in order to give a sense of that “humanity”. While the main story has action scenes at its core and runs at a good tempo, I would like to have seen a little more of what you might call “a bad play” (exaggerated, overacting etc.). At any rate, with Mr. Ohata in charge, the young staff worked very hard to accomplish this work, because every corner of the screen exudes with energy. Without a doubt, I wish for as many people as possible to see it.”

Here are Crutes and Paia as they appeared from the initial concept stage. Paia’s sex appeal was present even at this point. She looks 10 years older than she does in her current design. There are visible traces of hard work with the appearance of Colonel Crutes too. It’s fun to see the monkey-like face and the face resembling a Japanese Yakuza. The Queue hairstyle of the Chinese version is particularly funny. 

In the upper left, the preliminary Final Striker design. The fundamentals are the same in terms of line detail and how it wields a lance, but the face is eerie. The jaw portion is tentacle-like (or rather, cable-like) and appears more biological than in the final version. The Geist on the lower left was drawn by Mr. Ohata around the same time as the initial concept. Originally, the plan was for him to equip this FITEX suit and to board a Powered Machine. However, this would have involved too much mecha, so it became just the FITEX. On the upper right, once the costume and facial expression were decided, the drawn pose was settled upon. In order for the face to match the pose as well as the costume, the best of various patterns and ideas were selected. Finally, it was decided that the pose would be on the prestigious illustrated poster, wielding in each hand a spear and a gun. On the lower right, the facial expression is almost finalised and the hairstyle is altered. There is an appearance of youthfulness to him.  

Various patterns of faces were drawn by Mr. Ninomiya once the design and costume of Paia was decided from the original concept. There are several variations from long to short cut hair to an Indian style. Paia plays an important part in the story, so it was a long time until her character design was settled upon. 

 

Seeing it this way, all iterations of Paia are incredibly charming, above all though the final design of Paia is the best one. As is shown in the story, there is a sophisticated and exotic air to her, which was the result of many, many studious efforts. The talents of Mr. Ninomiya are evident.  

Kenichi Onuki

Animation Director

Member of the freelance animator group “Minami Machi Bugyousho”. Notable works include “Super Robo Galatt” and others.

"The key animators put in their best to draw so many complex characters and mecha."

“I met Mr. Ohata about three years ago. I first met him during work at Nippon Sunrise on the TV series “Super Robot Galatt”. After becoming acquainted, the plan for “Geist” came together, when he said ‘do you want to do it together?’, I immediately accepted the job on the spot. In “Geist”, I think the key animators were overwhelmed because not only did the characters have so many lines of detail but so did the mecha. I had an assistant, Mr. Sano, so it in itself wasn’t terribly difficult, however I was tired of my duties on line corrections. I think the overall workload the key animators were responsible for was considerable. No one had any complaints though, them being on board saved me, that was an unbelievable ride (laughs). 

The hardest character was Geist. At first, he was hard to get right, I redrew him several times. I had a really hard time with his features and I didn’t know where to draw his points of detail well. It took me a long while to get a grasp of those details, you see. Paia is my favourite character, I think she’s pretty cute. Originally I entered this world because I liked drawing. I didn’t know anything about this industry when I first entered, so I imitated what I saw. Now, I belong as a member of the freelance animator group “Minami Machi Bugyousho”. Previously, it was formed together by three members who did assignment work on “Dirty Pair”. Currently we’re six people. Everyone is free to work without contract. The naming of “Minami Machi Bugyousho” was picked as such because everyone was a fan of “Ouka-echizen” and there was to be no less than a name with impact. Just as well, it’s memorable once people hear it it seems. From this point on, I think there will be more and more work on video. Within this, I think “Geist” is a production that has cleared the way for a new genre of action, so I would like for many people to see it and to receive their thoughts and opinions.”

Let’s look at the differences between the concept and final versions of Geist and Paia. First of all, Geist’s medieval knight-like appearance has changed lightly to a futuristic image. His spiky hair was put into shape with Dip gel, and his physicality became shown off with lighter clothing. Furthermore, the line detail was simplified for the animators to make movement easier (whether or not this is unknown), giving an overall clearer effect. On the other hand with Paia, she changed from a sensual lifelike appearance to a fantasy anime-style. She became cuter with lighter make-up. Though sensuous, her body had seriousness which became smart. Both characters altogether became young and light.  

Geist

He was feared and called “Most Dangerous Geist”. He was the former Regular Army Special Forces Commander. However, his fighting style was so extraordinarily ferocious that he was imprisoned on a satellite. But, thanks to the effects of nuclear war, he returns to Jerra once again. He has burning blonde hair and dazzling blue eyes. Height 185cm, weight 75kg. 

Paia

Golem’s mistress and an intellectual criminal. Her bronze-coloured skin and black hair show an intense difference in her temperament. She attempts to allure Geist with her stunning proportions of 89, 61 and 90 from the top down. Height 173cm, weight 54kg.

Hiromitsu Kishida

Storyboards

The reality is, this is a pen name for Hiroshi Negishi and Koichi Ohata. Here, Mr. Ohata is primarily in charge of storyboards.

"We did exactly what we had wanted to do. We want as many people as possible to see it".

Ohata: “Like with the script, I cut down the storyboard without worrying too much about the 45-minute runtime. Since it was decided from the beginning that action would always be at the heart of “Geist”, I wanted to put in more and more as I would think how we could give the action scenes impact using the storyboard.   In the storyboard, the storyline is completely illustrated, and parts of the overall plot that are a little difficult to understand can also be seen within the storyboard. To be frank, if it was a little longer, the story would have been clearer. Regardless, I produced what I wanted to, it was evaluated in its own way, and I’m not dissatisfied with the production itself. At this time I’m confident about “Geist” and I think from here I would like to continue working on interesting productions. I would like to give my thanks to all the staff who worked hard. If I had an opportunity, I would certainly love to work together again”.

Negishi: “The name Hiromitsu Kishida was created by combining the names of Mr. Ohata and myself. It was actually Mr. Ohata who cut the storyboard, and I lent half of my name. In the storyboard, the story is well-illustrated, but if we were to have a period of about 10 minutes or more, the less clear parts could be fully understood. For example, you will see the character Mash disappear from the midway point of the film. There is a good reason for that too. If I get the opportunity, I would like to make a ‘Perfect Edition M.D. Geist’ that presents those parts. I think the voice actors Mr. Wakamoto, Ms. Hirano and Mr. Kageyama, who did the theme song, all enjoyed it and for that I’m very happy. ‘Geist’ might be what you could call a “maniac” work, but it’s a work I want as many people as possible to see. It’s a little different from video anime thus far, so please see it by all means”.

Colonel Crutes

Captain of the Earth Army land battleship ‘Noah Guards’. He is thought of as an outstanding colonel in the Regular Army by his subordinates, and he is actually the man himself who sealed Geist away inside the satellite. Now he is risking his life to stop Program D, whilst also utilising the power of Geist. Secretly however, this time he also has a plot to eliminate Geist.

Yoshinori Takao

Art Director

Moved to Production Wave after working as a manga artist and illustrator. Also responsible for the art direction on “Roots Search”.

"I aimed for art that is impossible within reality and yet pertains to reality". 

“When it comes to art, ‘M.D. Geist’ started with the idea of putting out something more close to reality, and more realistic than ever before. I used a lot of subtle colours to create an atmosphere with weight. The hardest parts were the final battle between Geist and the Final Striker inside the dome of the Brain Palace, and the clouds on Jerra. We wanted to portray a “battle in the dark” in the Brain Palace, but if it’s too dark, then you won’t be able to see anything, and if it’s too bright, the tension of the battle is diminished. It was difficult to get the light right in that section. At any rate, the movements of Geist and the Final Striker are fast, especially Geist, who hangs from the ceiling, falls from it, and moves wildly. So, to clearly define where the present position is, I put a structure in the centre of the room. Thanks to that central structure, I think it’s easier to understand the positional relationship. As for the clouds, since they are part of the setting on the planet Jerra, they were designed in mind as not being possible on Earth or in real life. I went through great troubles with the best of my ability to make colours and shapes I had not seen before. As well as the ruined city in the Golem fight, and the wasteland where the Noah Guards is rescued, I tried to make things as realistic as possible by viewing real photos and personally arranging them in my own way, and fully mixing in my own imagination. As the production is aimed at a slightly older age group, I didn’t want the art to be uninteresting. “M.D. Geist” is a work of many artistic highlights, so I would like the smaller details to be seen and considered, as it’s on video it can be paused (laughs). At the moment, “Roots Search” is underway, but after that I would like to continue building my own world of art and unique colours. Eventually, I would like to try making art using computer graphics.” 

Biker Gang Members

From the right, Golem, Mash, Beast and Gista. They are a gang that attack and plunder people. The leader is Golem, he was the lord of a ruined city because of his super-strong strength, but he was killed by Geist. His significance is minimal as his role is little. Gista and Beast are also bit players. They’re soon dead without giving their names. By comparison, the standout individual is Mash. While there is no particular place to show this, he is No.1 for being the most beautiful character in “Geist”, and there are many up for the role. There may be more female fans of him than Geist himself. 

Riku Sanjō

Screenplay

In charge of his first script on “M.D. Geist”. Expected to play an active role in many fields beyond screenwriting.

"I think the staff’s good teamwork led to a high-quality finish".

"When I first read Mr. Ohata’s original treatment, my impression was “this is truly the world of Ohata”. At that stage, the title was not yet “M.D. Geist”, but the provisional title “Death Force”, and Geist was portrayed as completely insane. The whole story was harder than it is now, and the overall violence was to Ohata’s liking. Based on the original treatment, I created the scenario whilst consulting Mr. Ohata. Since the runtime of 45 minutes was in place from the beginning, we focused on each cut one-by-one rather than the development of the whole story. At Mr. Ohata’s boarding house, we talked until midnight about how “I want to put in this scene” and “I want to put in that scene”. Mr. Ohata was enthusiastic, he gestured over and over, “and that’s why this scene is like this”, he spoke impressively. With Mr. Ohata’s enthusiasm working on me, our meetings lasted until dawn with us acting out together (laughs). In the beginning I thought about the runtime and wrote the script so that it would finish in the 45 minutes. But when director Ikeda saw it, he said “you can ignore the runtime, so write more and more as you like”, “okay, that’s it!”, so I did the rewrite, in the end it blew up to 200 pages of manuscript paper. Nevertheless, a lot of parts were cut to fit within the runtime, and some parts were lacking in clarity, but I think the overall work became extremely dense in its entirety. I think that the scenario writer is a designer who brings the work together. It involves  putting together into a tangible form what all the staff want. On “Geist”, I think that it was a very well-done job where each staff member was able to recognise their own role and had built together cohesive teamwork. Further on, there were shortages on time and budget restrictions during the process, but I think everyone was able to push their limits within those restrictions. I think that the voice actors also joined in that pool of extremely talented individuals and took the work to a very high-end finish".

Members of the Noah Guards

From the right, Jacques, Hans, Sakamoto and Lester of the Regular Army. Other members include John and Luis but they have no dialogue. The highlight character is Hans, who also has good looks. Sakamoto is of Nikkei descent.