Junichi Miyashita
| Junichi Miyashita | |
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| Profile | |
| Gender: | Male |
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| Date of birth: | August 12, 1956 (66 years old) |
| Place of birth: | Nagano, Japan |
| Location: | Tokyo, Japan |
| Nicknames: | Zyuniti Miyasita (宮下 潤一) |
Junichi Miyashita (宮下 隼一 Miyashita Junichi), born August 12, 1956, is a Japanese screenplay writer from Tokyo. He has worked on tokusatsu dramas in the past but now focuses on detective dramas.
Contents
Biography
Miyashita graduated from Yokohama Broadcasting Technical School (横浜放送映画専門学院), presently known as Japan Institute of the Moving Image. He used to be classmates with Nobuaki Kishima and Yasushi Hirano, who are also screenwriters. Miyashita's first intention was to be a director, therefore, he worked as an assistant director for TV movies, but after writing scripts for Ishihara Promotion (石原プロモーション), he took this opportunity and studied under the Japanese screenwriter, Shuichi Nagahara. After that, he debuted in the 7th episode of the Japanese TV series Seibu Keisatsu (西部警察) in 1979. Not long afterwards, under the recommendation of the producer from the TV Asahi, he participated in the screenplay writing of some of the episodes of the second part of the TV series, Tokusō Saizensen (特捜最前線). Later on, the producer of Tokusō Saizensen, Seiji Abe introduced Miyashita to Nagafumi Hori, who was one of the producers of the series Kamen Rider Black (仮面ライダーBLACK), as a result, Miyashita became the screenwriter for a Tokusatsu for the first time. From 1990 onwards, he began to serve as the screenwriter for the "Metal Hero series". For example, he was the main screenwriter for Special Rescue Police Winspector (特警ウインスペクター), Special Rescue Exceedraft (特捜エクシードラフト), and B-Fighter Kabuto (ビーファイターカブト). He held this position for entirely five years, until the last work Tetsuwan Tantei Robotack (テツワン探偵ロボタック) in 1999.
In 1984, Miyashita served as the screenwriter of the second season of the anime series Cat's Eye (キャッツ・アイ). Because of this anime, he later on participated frequently in those works that were produced by TMS Entertainment. This brought him to become one of the veteran screenwriters in Detective Conan anime. Meanwhile, Miyashita also participated in the flagship company established by Noboru Sugimura and others, in which he attempted to create some game scenarios as well. Miyashita got married in 2002, and started teaching screenwriting at Tokyo Artist University (東京作家大学), which was established in 2015. He also created several webinars, such as Try to create reasoning techniques.[1]
Style analysis
As a veteran staff in Detective Conan who has joined the production ever since 1996, Miyashita's styles within his scripts do vary a lot. One can find orthodox Honkaku Detective Fiction, adventure deductions, Social Detective Fiction etc. Additionally, Miyashita loves writing abduction cases. All his works are more inclined towards the traditional style and do not contain complicated tricks, but instead mostly contain character enrichment and story devising. Another aspect of his intense personal style of writing is that he tends to mingle adventure elements into a deduction story. An example would be The Traveling Drama Troupe Murder Case in terms of the complexity of different theme elements. Due to his main focus being the plot and adventure, tricks and deductions are usually a neglection in his scripts. Incidentally, Miyashita sometimes also fancies making a certain character the centre and extending them to make character-centreed stories; he had done this with the Detective Boys, Ran Mouri, Kogoro Mouri, and Conan Edogawa already. Also, a character created by him, named Tamanosuke Ito, is very memorable and popular among the Detective Conan fandom as well.
Despite the numerous peculiar styles he wrote within his works, his compositions can still be divided into three parts:
- The first part is from 1996 to 2001, when he was still trying out different styles. His first TV original script, written in Detective Conan, Hijacked Department Store Case, was already featuring elements pertaining to "abduction" and "blackmailing". Moreover, Alibi Testimony Murder Case was an attempt at traditional alibi-breaking. Furthermore, General Hospital Murder Case and Scoop Picture Murder Case contained some science tricks. In addition, he even paid tribute to the novel And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie in his work The Disappearing Detective Boys Case. Besides, he also wrote a case with Social Detective Fiction (社会派推理), being The Tenth Passenger. This already indicates the variety of styles Miyashita wrote during this early period.
- The second part is from 2002 to 2013, when he had been responsible for several mystery tour cases, such as Momotarou Mystery Solving Tour, Stork Mystery Tour, The Seven Wonders of the Hiroshima Miyajima Tour, and Nagasaki Mystery Theatre. Most of them were of cyphers and abductions. In 2005 and 2006, he decided to continue the "Travelling Drama Troupe" series and wrote two sequels to it: The Simultaneous Stage Advance and Kidnapping and The Phantom of the Konpira (1 Hour Special).
- The third part is from 2014 to present, when he ceased holding responsibility for the writing of mystery tours. But he still proceeded with his "passion" for abducting characters like Ran Mouri and Conan Edogawa. Conan Cornered in the Darkness, Conan Disappeared on the Cliff, and Conan Kidnapped were the three attempts at Conan kidnapping. He also wrote a series of episodes related to Kogoro Mouri only, enriching Kogoro's image, for example The Framed Great Detective, The Manipulated Great Detective, Bodyguard Kogoro Mouri, The Great Detective's Weakness, and Kogoro Mouri's Grand Lecture (the second filler with the length of three episodes). At a certain point, it may get quite repetitive, as most of the styles in these works are only related to kidnapping, adventure, and criminal pursuit; deduction was reduced to merely a tool for progressing the plot.
Scenarios written
Number of case scenarios written: 56 (76 episodes)
Scenarios adapted from the manga
Number of cases adapted from the manga: 6 (7 episodes)
- An Idol's Locked Room Murder Case (Episode 3)
- The Shinkansen's Bomb Case heavily altered from the Manga (Episode 5)
- Once-A-Month Present Threat Case (Episode 7)
- Ayumi-chan Kidnapping Case (Episode 12)
- Scuba Diving Murder Case (Episodes 114-115)
- The Black Organization: One Billion Yen Robbery Case heavily altered from the Manga (Episode 128)
Magic Kaito: Kid the Phantom Thief TV Specials adapted
Number of cases adapted: 7 (7 episodes)
- The Revived Phantom Thief (Special 1)
- Kaitou Kid's Busy Date (Special 2)
- A Witch Sheds No Tears (Special 4)
- The Fated Blue Birthday (Special 5)
- The Splendid Rivals (Special 7)
- The Reminiscent Golden Eye (Special 10)
- Tears of Love for the Dark Knight (Special 12)
Note: Also credited as series organizer
Games and Specials
Number of Game scripts written: 1
Number of Specials written: 4
- The Internet - The Mysterious E-mail Case (Shogakukan Illustrated Encyclopedia Series 4)
- City Exploration! Get the Animal Mark! (Shogakukan Illustrated Encyclopedia Series 9)
- Happy New Year, Kogoro Mouri: Screenplay (New Year Greeting)
- Love Story at Police Headquarters ~Wedding Eve~: Screenplay and Organizer
Detective Conan movies
- The Scarlet Alibi (Compilation Movie): Screenplay and Organizer
- The Story of Ai Haibara ~Black Iron Mystery Train~ (Compilation Movie): Screenplay and Organizer
Other notable works
Anime
- Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto: Screenplay
- Kinkyuu Hasshin Saver Kids: Screenplay
- Mankatsu: Screenplay
- Project ARMS: Concept Supervisor
- Puppet Princess: Screenplay
- Reporter Blues: Screenplay
- Soreike! Anpanman: Screenplay
References
- 宮下隼一 - Wikipedia (Japanese)
- Anime News Network
