Q: This is your first time at an American convention. What is your impression of the event and the people?

MY: Well, the last time I went overseas was for a vacation to Disneyland. That was obviously just a trip for relaxation. This is more intense. I haven't gone to something like this since the release of the first PROJECT A-KO movie. It's been quite a while. And I get tense when I have to talk to such a large crowd.

Q: What is your impression of American fans?

MY: They're very outgoing. Fans in Japan are more withdrawn than those here—they're very lively.

Q: Let's talk a little about your work. Would you rather make people laugh or cry?

MY: Ideally, I'd like to make them cry and then laugh. Contrast is one aspect at play; I like to coax the audience through a full range of emotions and get them to enjoy themselves. If my material can be a cathartic experience, then people can wail out loud.
I have been alternating between the serious and comedic genres lately.

Q: Many of your titles have been released in the USA, including NUKU NUKU (OVA), 801 TTS AIRBATS, and KOTETSU. Is there something about these titles that you think makes them especially suited to American audiences?

MY: I've come so far with the philosophy that if I can't personally enjoy it, I don't know how others could find it entertaining.

Q: Do you think your works have a universal appeal then?

MY: I really haven't thought about who will like it. I just come up with material I enjoy. I don't give much thought to which part of the market would be interested in this project.

Q: GEOBREEDERS is your most recent work. Can you tell us how you came to work on it?

MY: I was given a selection of proposals, and I chose the one that I thought had the most potential as an anime. I don't choose by thinking about commercial success, but by what I would like to see myself. So I adopted this project.

Q: Did you know GEOBREEDERS prior to getting the proposal?

MY: I was actually reading it while it was being serialized, which was well before the prospect of it being animated. I've actually been following the artist, Ito Akihiro, quite closely.

Q: When you did the character designs, was it a big challenge adapting the manga to anime form?

MY: Actually, the character designs were done by a different artist. I will be doing the character designs for the second series.
To answer your question, though, whenever I work on someone else's characters, I try to preserve the personality and uniqueness of the original, but also try to add my own touches as well.

Q: PROJECT A-KO was your first directorial work. Did you have any particular worries about the project?

MY: Well, originally it was intended for the OVA market as a half-hour adult story, but it was bumped up to a full theatrical release. There was no original script, so there was a lot of interaction among the staff to see how we could make the project better and fill out the extra time.
When it was decided I would direct this, that was when it was still only a thirty-minute OVA. Suddenly, it was changed into a movie. I was rather taken aback, so I constantly tried to add more grandeur to the project.

Q: Can you give us some specific examples of this?

MY: One example is the idea that C-ko is actually a space alien and is retrieved by her original people. That was something incorporated after it was decided to make the project a feature-length film.

Q: How long did you expect it to run? Did you expect it to result in several sequels?

MY: I never saw it continuing at all. I thought it was a one-shot project. Then I got a phone call one morning around dawn and was asked to do a sequel. I distinctly remember saying, "What?"

Image copyright © Takada Yuzo/Futabasha