Itagaki Shin Fired From Basquash Director

by dtshyk
Jun 10, 2009 4:40 AM | 43 Comments

According to the official BBS of Hirata Katsuzo (the chief animator of "Basquash!"), Itagaki Shin was fired from the director of "Basquash!". The official website of the anime indicates that the new director is Sato Eiichi (the director of "Kiss Dum: Engage Planet"). Hirata said the production staff of Basquash were largely reorganized from the episode 9 and Hirata himself also had to leave the team by the end of May.

Sources:
Hirata's official BBS
Basquash official website

The Amazon pre-order ranking chart of Basquash Blu-ray vol.1 shows unsuccessful sales of the anime.

Amaran chart of Basquash

Hashimoto Hiroyuki, one of the episode directors of Basquash, is looking for jobs because he quit the team.

Hashimoto's blog

Last March, Itagaki Shin wrote in his web column that there was an extremely discouraging event happened to him on March 24th.

Source: Itagaki's web column

20 of 43 Comments Recent Comments

oh fucking hell, i was having high hopes for the series since the very beginning, but now it seems that this series would not be that popular anymore, especially that pathetic episode 12

Jul 4, 2009 8:42 PM by flusswest

PeanutSteak said:
Effed, the show hasn't been as exhilarating since the first episode but it's still pretty good, it's not like Lucky Star where the first episodes were completely unbearable to watch.

That is so true. I plan to resume Lucky Star soon.

Jul 4, 2009 5:12 PM by wakka9ca

yeah i agree.
I hope that Basquash can recover though, cos it really is good.

Jul 4, 2009 4:42 PM by Pyrrhus

low sales of DVD killed him. But sometimes DVD sales have NOTHING to do with the quality of the series......

KissDum was......um......yeah.....

Let's really hope the new director discovers new talents....

Jul 4, 2009 2:29 PM by wakka9ca

This is very lolling, as it is from episode 8 onwards that the series evolved from just a "fine" to an "excellent" for me.

Jul 4, 2009 12:18 PM by Sesshomaruto

hope this doesnt change for the worse

Jun 21, 2009 10:23 PM by greenmush

I hope this doesn't spell the end of Basquash. I really love the anime's refreshing outlook in every aspect.

Jun 15, 2009 4:28 AM by blewin

So, what was this discouraging event?

It is extremely rare to see an anime director getting fired halfway into the series. Since I had no plans to watch Basquash, I will never find out what's wrong with it..

Jun 12, 2009 8:44 PM by Kira01

windy said:
The official website of the anime indicates that the new director is Sato Eiichi (the director of "Kiss Dum: Engage Planet").

yeah, never touching this anime now...

My thoughts exactly....and I was thinking of giving it a shot eventually, since I'm not watching much at the moment anyway, but now....gah (Remembers being excited about Kissdum, only to quit after the horrible first two episodes)

Jun 12, 2009 8:37 PM by rah-rah

windy said:

CrystalFalls said:

dtshyk said:

修三　Syuzo or Shuzou

Syuzo, Shuzo, Syuuzou, or Shuuzou, but not Shuzou.

I see, so this site does not use a consistent system. It is sometimes o, sometimes ou, and sometimes both in the same name.

it's hard to be consistent when everybody has a different preference and no spelling is more "correct" than the other.

We should just switch the people DB to the Japanese, kanji, hiragana, etc.

Romaji is for suckers.

Jun 12, 2009 3:23 PM by kuroshiroi

CrystalFalls said:

dtshyk said:

修三　Syuzo or Shuzou

Syuzo, Shuzo, Syuuzou, or Shuuzou, but not Shuzou.

I see, so this site does not use a consistent system. It is sometimes o, sometimes ou, and sometimes both in the same name.

it's hard to be consistent when everybody has a different preference and no spelling is more "correct" than the other.

Jun 12, 2009 1:00 PM by windy

Static said:
One letter, serious business (couldnt resist it sorry)

Japanese 101
^^

Jun 12, 2009 12:31 PM by CreamyVelvet

One letter, serious business (couldnt resist it sorry)

Jun 12, 2009 5:42 AM by Static

@CrystalFalls
well, there is no strict rule in writing Japanese names in alphabet unless one chooses a specific spelling, like
加藤　Kato or Katou
修三　Syuzo or Shuzou
東海林 Syouji or Shoji
In this case, Katsuzo and Katsuzou are essentially the same.

Jun 12, 2009 5:22 AM by dtshyk

CrystalFalls said:

dtshyk said:
According to the official BBS of Hirata Yuzo (the chief animator of "Basquash!")]

You made a mistake. The chief animator is Hirata Katsuzou.

Oh, thanks. reading 雄三 as Katsuzo is really rare.

Jun 12, 2009 5:09 AM by dtshyk

wtf... seriously... I actually enjoyed watching this serious... now they suddenly fired the main director... what bs...

Jun 12, 2009 12:18 AM by Quickfox

At least Kawamori's still in this...

Jun 10, 2009 4:50 PM by llxwarbirdxll

cyruz said:

seishi-sama said:
That's not surprising. It's an original show, not based on manga, game or novel so it doesn't have an established fanbase; the story is written by a westerner, the character designs are out of anime standard, etc, etc. It'll make better sales in US and Europe.

If it gets that far. But anyway, that explains a few things. I'm enjoying it, it's refreshingly different.

Same opinion here. Its not good nor exactly imaginative but it delivers it purpouse for me, that is entertainment

Jun 10, 2009 4:03 PM by Static

If it gets that far. But anyway, that explains a few things. I'm enjoying it, it's refreshingly different.

Jun 10, 2009 2:18 PM by cyruz

wait... how far had they gotten in production when the director was fired? For all we know they could've completed all but 5 episodes.

Jun 10, 2009 2:14 PM by Tekky99

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