Toshio Okada
| Born | Okada Toshio 岡田 斗司夫 July 1, 1958 Osaka, Osaka, Japan |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Writer industrialist Essayist Visiting scholar Producer Scriptwriter |
| Language | Japanese |
| Nationality |  Japan |
| Genres | Biography Essay Assessment |
| Subjects | Science Fiction Anime Manga |
| Notable work(s) | Introduction to Otakuology Japan Otaku Award Don't Think You Have To Be Fat Forever |
| Spouse(s) | Kazumi Okada (1989-1999) |
| Children | Shizuka Okada |
|
otaking-ex.jp |
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Toshio Okada (岡田 斗司夫 Okada Toshio, born July 1, 1958) is an anime producer, author, and lecturer. He is a co-founder and former president of the production company Gainax.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
[edit] Childhood
Okada was born on July 1, 1958 in Osaka, Japan and attended Osaka University of Arts.
He has written several Japanese-language books on otaku culture, and lectured on the topic as an adjunct instructor at University of Tokyo from 1992 to 1997.[1] He is considered the foremost authority on otaku and in addition, in a tribute to his own otaku-ness[2] has been crowned "OtaKing" amongst his colleagues and fellow otaku.
[edit] University, Daicon Film and General Products
Okada was admitted to Osaka Electro-Communication University to learn computer in 1978, but he could not obtain any credits in the first year because he had forgotten to hand in his course registration form. For this reason, he stopped completing all the courses necessary for a university degree, and he joined a group of SF fans and went into its activity. He lived on a monthly allowance from his parents who did not know his dropping out. In the same year, he went seeing Star Wars with dressing in costume of Darth Vader.
In 1981, his group promoted 20th Japanese SF convention (aka Daicon III), and he put "DAICON III Opening Animation" on the screen. Okada and Yasuhiro Takeda and their group established "Daicon Film" as an anime producing team and commissioned undergraduates of Osaka University of Arts to produce DAICON III and IV Opening Animations for SF convention. Hideaki Anno and Takai Akami and Hiroyuki Yamaga who were undergraduates of that university worked for those animations.
Okada realized that selling products of SF can be business because Garage kits and videos of opening animations he sold at this convention made a big profit.
In 1981, he was formally expelled from his university.
On February 14, 1982, he opened "General Products" as a part of his parents company to sell SF Goods in Osaka. Before opening his shop, he borrowed money from his parents and got permission to use term of general products from Larry Niven. In this year, he got married.
[edit] Gainax
In 1986, he established Gainax as an Anime studio and isolated Genaral Products from his parents company. Okada assumed office as CEO of Gainax and Yasuhiro Takeda assumed office as CEO of General Products.
In 1989, Okada's first child was born as a daughter.
In 1992, Okada retired from Gainax.
[edit] After Gainax
[edit] Works
[edit] Anime
| Title | Year | Post |
|---|---|---|
| Daicon III Opening Film | 1981 | Planner |
| Daicon IV Opening Film | 1983 | Planner |
| Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise | 1987 | Planner |
| Gunbuster | 1988 | Scriptwriter |
| Otaku no Video | 1991 | Scriptwriter Planner |
[edit] Books
[edit] Video games
| Title | Year | Post |
|---|---|---|
| Cybernetic Hi-School | 1989 | Planner |
| Cybernetic Hi-School Scenario I Ver2.0 | 1989 | Planner |
| Cybernetic Hi-School II | 1989 | Planner |
| Cybernetic Hi-School III | 1990 | Planner |
| Cybernetic Hi-School IV | 1991 | Planner |
[edit] Movie
| Title | Year | Post |
|---|---|---|
| Aikoku Sentai Dai Nippon | 1982 | Scriptwriter |
| Kaiketsu Noutenki | 1982 | Actor (as Goro Asuka ) |
| The Return of Ultraman | 1983 | Scriptwriter |
| Noutenki in USA | 1984 | Director |
[edit] Career
| Post | Period | Organization |
|---|---|---|
| Shop manager | 1982–1984 | General Products |
| President | 1984–1992 | Gainax Company, Limited |
| Visiting scholar | 2005-current | Character Creative Arts Depertment, Osaka University of Arts |
| Lecturer | 2003 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| President | 1997-current | Otaking Co,.Ltd |
| Part‐time teacher | 1994–1995 | College of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo |
| President | 2011-current | Cloud City Co,.Ltd |
[edit] External links
- (Japanese) Otaking Space Port: Toshio Okada On The Web
- Toshio Okada at the Internet Movie Database
- A Review of "You Otaku Are Already Dead"
- Return of the Otaking: Toshio Okada at Anime America '96 -(introduction)
- "Conscience of the Otaking" -(4-part 1995/1996 Animerica interview)
[edit] References
- ^ Takeda 2002.
- '^ "In those days, we didn't have the word "otaku" yet, but my first impression of Okada was, Here's a geek if I've ever seen one. With his girly long hair and his freakishly excited way of speaking, all I could think was, This guy is exactly like me? pg 31, Takeda 2005
- Takeda, Yasuhiro; Yu Sugitani, Yasuhiro Kamimura, Takayoshi Miwa; translated by Javier Lopez, Jack Wiedrick, Brendan Frayne, Kay Bertrand, Gina Koerner, Hiroaki Fukuda, and Sheridan Jacobs (2002, 2005). The Notenki memoirs: studio Gainax and the men who created Evangelion. ADV Manga. p. 190. ISBN 1-4139-0234-0. http://www.gwern.net/docs/2002-notenki-memoirs.
