What Lead to Domo-kun, that Enigmatic and Fascinating Creature?
Domo-kun’s Creator, Tsuneo Goda, Reveals the Secrets of His Birth
by Tomomi Shibazaki
A squat brown body with an always-open mouth, from which fang-like teeth stick out. And the only word it speaks is “domo” [thanks].A cute but somehow weird character born in Japan, Domo-kun began to be known around the world around 2001. It started with a series of internet parody videos that spread around mainly English-speaking countries. Starting in 2008 the global kids television channel Nickelodeon began broadcasting his show, which now reaches 171 countries and regions. His Facebook fan page currently (July 2015) has 6,100,000 likes, and his character merchandise is widespread.
How was Domo-kun born, and how did he become the well-loved character he is today? We spoke with his creator, Tsuneo Goda.
Domo-kun was born as the 10-year anniversary character for NHK-BS, the satellite broadcasting wing of Japan’s NHK, the national broadcaster. It was December 1998.
Goda, who at the time was working as a director at a company making television commercials, recalls being invited by his producer to participate in the competition to design the new character for NHK-BS.
“Up until then I didn’t have any experience making characters. I wracked my brain over it until just before the deadline, drawing squares, circles, and triangles without really thinking about it. From all these scribbles out popped ‘Domo-kun.’ Somehow that idea was chosen.”
In the early days, Goda says, some viewers responded by saying the character was ‘scary,’ or ‘creepy.’ It’s certainly true that his sharp teeth are more violent than cute, and compared with other animal characters he has an abnormal shape. But there was a reason this kind of character was selected.
“At the time NHK-BS was enthusiastic about doing things that the main broadcaster, NHK, would never do. So they decided they didn’t just want something cute and perfectly behaved, but a character with more mystery.”
While Domo-kun caused some negative reactions in the beginning, his popularity soon began to rise steadily. Because of this, even after the 10-year anniversary was over he continued to serve as an NHK-BS character, and in 2004 was promoted to being mascot for all of NHK. He now participates in various events as a public relations ambassador for the entire company.
Domo-kun is animated using the stop-motion technique. A still doll is photographed repeatedly after being moved a little bit each time, so it looks like it is moving when the images are played back in sequence. Domo-kun is supposed to be a child who has just been born from an egg, so his movements are extremely soft and simple. Based on this innocence, Goda developed stories that feel just a little bit outside of everyday life.
“We could make it complete fantasy, but I want to create something that also gives a sense of reality, and draws the viewers’ sympathy. To do this, I often dig down into my own childhood memories as source material for the stories.”
Before long, he started getting a lot of feedback like “I experienced something similar long ago,” and “He’s just like my kid.” Japanese fans were doting on him like they would a child.There is no mistaking that Domo-kun’s popularity has a lot to do with the warm quality of stop-motion animation and the world it can depict. However, when Goda first set up his production team, there was no plan to do stop-motion.
“The producer believed it would be better to do 2D animation. But I wanted to show Domo-kun as actually living in reality, and thought dressing someone up in a suit would be better. It probably also had something to do with my love of Star Wars. [laughs] Because of this difference in opinion, we ended up researching different options, such as CG. In the end we decided on stop-motion.”
He says an encounter with a particular animator also played a large role. That animator was Hirokazu Menigishi, who is well known for his work with stop-motion. He is one of Japan’s leading puppet animators, and had many videos and commercials to his credit before he began working with Domo-kun.
Goda’s work with Domo-kun was his first time managing the creation of a full-fledged stop-motion animation. He knew it would be a lot of work, so going in he didn’t have positive expectations. However, in taping the first complete animation his feelings about stop-motion were transformed.
“The experience of doing stop-motion for the first time was great fun. Moving the doll a little bit at a time while recording the images, then taking a moment to confirm the movement… you keep repeating this process. It’s hard work, but nothing beats the moment when you can see the doll actually start to move. [laughs] I was having so much fun my heart was racing. I almost couldn’t focus it was beating so loud.”
There was one more big discovery during that first shoot.
“After working on the animation shoot for three days straight, the animator just said ‘Ah, that was interesting’ and went home. I was surprised that he could say such a thing after such hard work. At the same time, that got me thinking about ways I could make it even more interesting for him.”
After that Goda began leaving more for the animator to decide. For the first storyboard he drew a lot of detail, but in subsequent episodes he included only the basics of what he wanted and then handed it over to the animator. “It’s boring if they make it exactly as I instruct,” Goda says.
“People often say my storyboards and instructions have a vague quality to them. [laughs] Of course I can’t leave everything to chance, but since a lot of people are going to gather to produce the work, I want to make use of everyone’s skills. If everything goes well, we can end up with a work many times better than what I had originally imagined. I think what comes across onscreen is different depending on whether it is produced based on a bunch of one-sided commands, or whether it was made while everyone involved was having fun. Whenever possible I do things in a way where everyone enjoys the process. I think this is the director’s job.”
After this first shoot, Goda’s focus shifted to creating Domo-kun images and animations and overseeing his character goods. In order to do so he set up the animation studio Dwarf.
“Even though I had never studied animation before, by chance I met Domo and understood the appeal of stop-motion animation, and ended up doing this kind of work. Usually there are not many opportunities to gain experience working on stop-motion. So if someone really wants to do it, I think they just need to create an opportunity to do so, and their efforts will be rewarded.”
He feels like the techniques used in stop-motion animation are also important.
“The interest of seeing something move that isn’t supposed to has a warmth to it if it is done in an analog way. When you use the latest visual effects, the images might already start to feel old after ten years have passed. But because stop-motion is already such a primitive technique, there is no room for it to feel any older than it already does! [laughs] I want to try and create animation like the children’s picture books that go on being read from one generation to the next over many years.”
On that note, as Domo-kun’s parent, how do you feel about how popular he has become overseas?
“In Japan people find Domo endearing for his childlike qualities, but in America I feel like people project their various personal images onto him, and love him like a friend. Like they give him a hip-hop style, or an otaku one.”
Of course, Goda also knows about all the various memes Domo-kun has spawned online totally unrelated to the creators’ original plans.
“Domo is easy to play with. All he ever says is ‘domo,’ and he doesn’t have much in the way of facial expressions. What he appears to be thinking has a lot to do with who is looking at him. I think people feel that ability for free interpretation is interesting.”
When we ask him if it is fine with him if people use the character however they like, he immediately responds “Of course!”
“I’m happy people can enjoy the character freely, and in some ways that’s what I was aiming for. I think it’s better if the characters I make — and not just Domo — have this kind of depth to them.”
Top-quality stop-motion animation with just the right amount of ambiguity. This is the reason Domo-kun continues to be such a well-loved character.
(photo: Daisuke Hayata translation: Paul R. Shimizu)
Originally published at ignition.co.
