Director Yamamoto Yutaka Retires 'For The Time Being'

by dtshyk
Apr 7, 2011 6:00 PM | 111 Comments

According to Otona Anime magazine, director Yamamoto Yutaka has decided to leave the anime industry for the time being. He has been at a loss what to do because the audience didn't accept Fractale and he couldn't understand other TV anime. He wondered whether he had gone insane or the world had gone crazy.

Source: Scan of Otona Anime

20 of 111 Comments Recent Comments

hikaricore said:
Fractale was really good until that bullshit ending...

May 2, 2011 9:38 AM by Lightyear8684

WTF??!! Fractale was great! I really don't see the reason for those negative comments but what the heck?! Have otakus lost appreciation already for a good job on an anime? Sure it wasn't perfect but if you look at it overall it was better than most of those breast sucking/nipple slipping animes that are quite "popular" with overly perverts nowadays. FUCK!

May 2, 2011 7:59 AM by whitewater_81

Fui said:
Yamakan mad jelly that Ano Hana is the superior A1 Pictures production in the noitamina time slot.

Wasn't a staff member jealous that Hourou Musuko was doing better?
Regardless, Ano Hana is shaping up to be the best this season. Perfect combination of loveable character interactions, adorable Menma and the anticipation of hurdles to overcome in the future.

Apr 28, 2011 11:09 PM by Omniknight

Yamakan mad jelly that Ano Hana is the superior A1 Pictures production in the noitamina time slot.

Apr 28, 2011 3:36 PM by Fui

The first 4 episodes of Lucky Star were among the best episodes in that show. After those episodes, the show quickly got bland and predictable (though still not bad). Especially the first episode when they spent forever talking about food, that was easily the most hilarious part of the entire series for me! As for Fractale, he kind of messed that one up. I'm not angry at him for retiring though, anyone would be upset after their pet project failed. If I spent, what, half a year working on something, only to have it completely fail, I'd be pissed too!

Apr 28, 2011 3:23 PM by Seabury

alexcampos said:

But then he failed with Lucky Star....he got canned after just 4 episodes.

What do you mean? what was at the first 4 eps?

I dunno but I tried watching fractale from the 1st episode but dropped it immediately. The anime was too weird. And also that explains AIR's messed up story... so it was this guy's fault, huh. I barely understood anything ._.

Apr 27, 2011 6:48 PM by hazama

Westlo said:

Leon-Gun said:
But there's no denying it had parts where it slowed to a crawl, plus halfway through the series they completely forgot there WAS a plot, only to remember at the last 2-3 episodes.

He followed the manga aside from adding his own episode (ITS A SONY) and filling out the Karoke part. Would you rather the plot episodes had been done at 6-8 and than the series ended on 4 comedy chapters in a row?

If it's a problem with the source material it can't be helped. It still doesn't change the fact the plot takes a backseat after the implied dual nature of Nagi. Plus, that episode you referred to is precisely the biggest offender in the SLOOOOOOOOW department.

That said, I did like the series so it's not like I'm putting a blackmark on him. Fractale was still a failure though, but pouting like a child won't help. Someone was comparing his resignation more to him taking the blame for the project but I beg to differ. After all, he goes on to blame others (especially the viewers) for being out of his understanding.

Apr 13, 2011 4:20 AM by Leon-Gun

Leon-Gun said:
But there's no denying it had parts where it slowed to a crawl, plus halfway through the series they completely forgot there WAS a plot, only to remember at the last 2-3 episodes.

Apr 13, 2011 3:36 AM by Westlo

FOE-tan said:

niceboar said:
One thing I noticed is that he is absolutely terrible at the pacing of his anime. Fractale had this problem. So did Kannagi. So did the first episodes of Lucky Star. And the episode Some Day in the Rain was pushing it (I don't know what other episodes of Haruhi he did). There is no flow to his works. It's a mess. Fractale could have been good but you throw in annoying characters, weak plot, bad pacing, irrelevant scenes and it's not surprise it's not received well.

He didn't direct "Someday in the rain." That episode was episode 9 in original order and episode 14 in chronological order. He directed episodes 1 ("Koi no Mikuru Denetsu", which has problems of its own, although he might have been shafted by the studio there by making it the first episode) and 12 ("Live Alive", the one where nobody actually remembers the plot of and only remember "God Knows"), along with the ED theme (a success, even if I don't like the song).

Otherwise, I agree with everything that you said. (apart from Kannagi, which I haven't watched, but Hare + Guu Final wasn't as good as the main series or Deluxe, which doesn't help his cause either)

Kannagi receives an easier pass because of the fact it does manages to be entertaining regardless of it's flaws. Plus it's comedy, those tend to be judged less harshly. But there's no denying it had parts where it slowed to a crawl, plus halfway through the series they completely forgot there WAS a plot, only to remember at the last 2-3 episodes.

Apr 11, 2011 2:12 PM by Leon-Gun

Apr 11, 2011 8:04 AM by Rosa_FOEtida

Then, he is the one who went crazy.

Apr 11, 2011 7:29 AM by MysticHrist

If memory serves me correctly, someone who workes at ANN said something in the forums about this:

Justin Sevakis, ANN Director of New Media said:
It's a very Japanese thing to take personal responsibility for the "failing" of a project, and a very show-biz thing to not blame the show's subject matter or quality, so as not to insult the people who worked so hard on it.

Don't read too much into it.

Apr 10, 2011 6:35 AM by Hypeathon

I liked Fractale, but whatever.

Apr 10, 2011 4:19 AM by holypoop

U mad, Yamakan? If you're going to complain, work harder on making a good show.

It's kind of sad how much controversy's surrounded Fractale, especially with how... average it turned out to be and how little people seem to care (the ratings for this tanked anyway).

McRib said:
He'll be back to save anime later

Godspeed to you Yamakan

I lol'ed hard at this.

Apr 9, 2011 7:54 PM by removed-user

Fractale was great. He needs to get his damn ass back in the industry.

Apr 9, 2011 7:48 PM by 5layer

BatOtaku13 said:
this makes me sad. fractale was one of the best animes to come out in some time and now the director's retiring?

don't worry man, he's just waiting for the kannagi manga to resume and he'll be back (not that they would need him for that...)

Apr 9, 2011 6:51 PM by Westlo

BatOtaku13 said:
this makes me sad. fractale was one of the best animes to come out in some time and now the director's retiring? why couldn't more people watch this show?! no offense, but how does a fantastic show like fractale do bad in the ratings and yet garbage like zombie no desuka does decent?!

Different tastes. Koreha Zombie Desuka had some great moments when it played to it's strengths and had a great opening animation/song, which is something Fractale lacked. Actually, maybe Yamamoto should have done the OP himself again. Would have turned out better than the crappy OP it had.

Again. Fractale wasn't the worst ever, but it tried to be a serious show. Those kind of shows receive harsher critics because people expect more out of them. Anime like Koreha Zombie Desuka receive easier judgement because they already present themselves as comedy/fanservice. They are not aiming to be anything BUT mindless entertainment.

Apr 9, 2011 4:12 PM by Leon-Gun

this makes me sad. fractale was one of the best animes to come out in some time and now the director's retiring? why couldn't more people watch this show?! no offense, but how does a fantastic show like fractale do bad in the ratings and yet garbage like zombie no desuka does decent?!

Apr 9, 2011 2:03 PM by BatOtaku13

dtshyk said:
He has been at a loss what to do because the audience didn't accept Fractale and he couldn't understand other TV anime. He wondered whether he had gone insane or the world had gone crazy.

If he can't even understand anime, it's probably best that he does something else. Also, I'm tired of all the stuff he keeps saying. It's like he's too arrogant and he blames other people and he's a hypocrite.

He's been reacting really strongly to this situation. Fractale could have been better, but it definitely wasn't the worst anime ever, even though its ratings were awful. It had some good parts. He just expected way too much out of it.

Apr 9, 2011 11:03 AM by losslesswings

Sealkid said:
If it wasn't for him, then Lucky Star OP and Haruhi ED wouldn't be popular.
But, Fractale was a fail.

Almost everyone has commended his skills as an animation director. Heck, even his failed Lucky Star episodes were pretty decent, just too slow-paced. Not to mention, character-driven slice of life is almost always boring at the very start while the characters are being presented. And to top it off, his openings and endings were almost always awesome. I still remember Kannagi's for example.

He has to admit he failed with Fractale too. He made unnecesary changes and sometimes it almost seemed like every episode was directed by a completely different person who had never watched the previous episodes. There were plenty of inconsistencies, unanswered questions, unused plot points and gaping huge plot holes. THAT is what killed Fractale. The show was certainly average and leagues better than bullcrap like IS, but let's not kid ourselves, it tried to do too much and ended up fumbling bad.

Apr 9, 2011 10:56 AM by Leon-Gun

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