"Turn A no Iyashi" is a book by Yoshiyuki Tomino in which he writes about how creating and directing Turn A Gundam healed his soul.

Follow this thread for selected highlights from this book. I intend to release a full translation in the future, but it's a lengthy text so it'll take time! My goal is to write an article detailing Turn A's production history, and this is a pivotal source in accomplishing that.

The book is divided into three main sections: 1) before Turn A, 2) Tomino's depression and his misc. views on life, and 3) the age of Turn A

But it's largely an unorganized stream of thoughts, so I'll attempt to establish a sense of flow.

Victory Gundam was marred by unreasonable demands from Bandai & other sponsors. Gundam as a brand revolved around its toy merchandise, and by V Gundam this was heavily affecting the production process. Tomino was very frustrated and found ways to retaliate.

Once in a meeting with Bandai executives, they demanded that he include battleships into the show. Tomino lashed out by saying he'd make ground-based battleships with wheels on them (the Adrastea-class). To his surprise, they accepted his proposal.

Tomino continued to make irrational decisions like this and was disgusted by the "ugliness" of the show. That said, he genuinely put in effort into each episode. The TV station producers were satisfied, but he was prepared for Gundam to be ruined.

Tomino declined to direct the next Gundam series and was not involved in its planning process. He chose Yasuhiro Imagawa as his successor because he liked his high-spirited directing style and wanted him to make a show akin to a wrestling match—this resulted in G Gundam.

At a Victory Gundam afterparty, a member of the photography team approached Tomino to apologize for the camera-work in the final cut of the last episode. The original shot was meant to be much wider than it ended up being. This gutted Tomino because he viewed it as his own fault.

He had not reviewed nor revised the storyboard as well as he should have, and someone else apologizing for his own mistake (in his view) was a final blow to his confidence level. He wanted to fix the scene for home release but never had the opportunity to do so.

Victory Gundam exposed Tomino's mental state and resentment towards reality. He was fed up with everything. Shortly after it finished airing, he fell into depression. He began to socially isolate himself and suffered from uncontrollable bouts of dizziness and ringing in the ears.

During his time of depression (which lasted all the way through Turn A), Tomino relied on his wife Aako-san on a regular basis. She'd help him take walks, rush him to the hospital if/when needed, and took him to scheduled acupuncture appointments. He praises her nonstop.

Tomino played a lot of Puzzle Bobble for the Super Famicom as a stress & anxiety reliever. It was one of the few games he enjoyed because he could play it endlessly and rarely ever win. This allowed him to take his mind off things and relax.

In the mid-90s Tomino began a partnership with Marigul Management, who offered to provide him mental health & assistance and protect his rights. This was a huge step forward in his rehabilitation process. Coming from the anime industry, he was struck by their caring attitude.

In the years between Victory Gundam and Turn A, he wrote a number of novels: "Look for Avenir", "King's Heart", and "Garzey's Wing", the latter of which he also directed a 3-episode OVA. His return to TV animation was with Brain Powerd (1998).

Tomino felt neglected by Sunrise because they did not consult him for all the new Gundam projects being released, as if his long years of dedication had meant nothing. He often had evil thoughts of getting "revenge" but never acted on anything.

He refers to the "curse" of Gundam on many occasions, as an inescapable disease—not just for him but Sunrise staff & producers as well. They had no choice but to continue making Gundam, despite it clearly regressing and slowly being rejected by fans in the 90s.

It's no surprise to him that Gundam X's run was cut short. He sees it as the natural end-result of the downwards spiral caused by Victory Gundam, almost like a symbolic event.

Tomino admits that, as of this writing (2000), he has not watched other directors' Gundam works, at least to any meaningful extent.

Tomino doesn't like to make anime primarily focusing on romance because he believes those stories should be kept to novels and theater. He views it as a waste of time to use film/television as a medium for that.

Tomino's delusional "ideal woman" is based on a one-sided crush from junior & high schools. She was a smart, mature, and older girl. As a result, his sexual fantasies always involve mature women. He is not interesting in young girls.

(this tends to reverberate in his anime work)

However he has no desire in being physically intimate with any woman other than his wife. He satisfies any uncouth sexual urges by drawing out his fantasies. This is/was his way of maintaining balance and loyalty. He rejects the idea of being a disloyal spouse.

Early into his marriage, Tomino did not want daughters. He has no explanation for why other than preconceived societal norms and notions (i.e. "men want boys"). Fate however would grant him two girls.

He thinks having daughters changed his old-fashioned patriarchal mindset.

Tomino was an untraditional father to his children. He often encouraged them to find their own talents and to not be entrapped by social rules and customs—especially for women. He even openly discussed topics like sex in an educational manner.

Tomino has a lot to say about the idea of ancient matriarchal societies. He believes communities formed around women and it took 10,000+ years for the shift towards patriarchy.

(this line of thought possibly why the Moonrace in Turn A is a matriarchy?)

He respects men who can cook and do household chores like cleaning and laundry.

His go-getter approach to life stems from the fact that his family had inherited its wealth and his father always sought the easy way out in everything he did—Tomino wanted to do the opposite by working hard and proving himself in his own craft.

Tomino has a lot of respect for Osamu Tezuka, having worked under him during Astro Boy. He views him as a genius cartoonist and pioneer of animation, and he values how modern and innovative he and his family was. They were ahead of their time. Tezuka's death blew his mind.

The Takarazuka Revue, an all-female musical theater troupe, was an inspiration to Tomino in the 90s. They reminded him of Shochiku Kagekidan (SKD) performances he had seen as a kid, and he wanted to mimic the widespread appeal they had with Turn A Gundam.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takarazuka_Revue

The 1996 Takarazuka Revue production of the German-language musical "Elisabeth", in particular, played an important role—Akiman would use videos of the performances as references for clothing design.

Part of Tomino's appreciation for the Takarazuka Revue comes from his respect for Osamu Tezuka. Tezuka was heavily influenced by their performances and gender representation when creating anime & manga like Princess Knight.

The Takarazuka Revue also inspired the Sakura Wars franchise. Tomino in this book apologizes to Oji Hiroi for having not yet played any of the games nor watched the anime productions.

Tomino doesn't like most science fiction films because he thinks they're all very similar to one another, however he excludes 2001: A Space Odyssey from this generalization and doesn't tend to view it as "sci-fi" anyway.

He also thinks the original Star Wars trilogy is good but hates to admit it because he was embarrassed that he had "lost" to George Lucas.

He views The Phantom Menace as a trashy film but thinks it has good costume design.

Tomino's favorite movies at the time of this writing.

Additional context: it's implied that Tomino in the 90s (amidst depression) was heavily influenced by the women in his life. His wife who he nonstop praises, his daughters who were into dance/theater, his mental health assistant at Marigul Management, etc. https://twitter.com/feezy_feez/status/1352436548805922817

Tomino was introduced to Akira Yasuda ("Akiman") via Marigul Management, who facilitated the meeting with Capcom. When they met, Akiman sketched a Street Fighter character in appreciation. Tomino was struck by his ability and decided then and there he wanted him for Turn A.

Tomino's eldest daughter Akari is/was a director at the theater troupe Yen. She invited actors/actresses to audition for voice roles in Brain Powerd and Turn A Gundam. This included Romi Park (Kanan, Loran), Rieko Takahashi (Dianna/Kihel), Setsuji Satō (Joseph), among others.

Tomino's youngest daughter Yukio was a student at the Codarts University for the Arts in Rotterdam, Netherlands. During Turn A, he visited her mid-production to take a break and clear his mind.

Now a professional dancer, in 2014 she provided eyecatch choreography for G-Reco!