I sometimes think that animation is seen as the weak sister of live action in the U.S.. There are a lot of people who seem to think that in every animated show is a live action show struggling to get out. I've heard people say that animation is made because the idea would have cost too much to do live-action and I have to say if that is the reason for animating it, they should have done something else and just waited until the technology caught up to what they wanted to do. I think most live action adaptations of animated shows are atrocities. 101 DALMATIONS, THE FLINTSTONES, HE-MAN, and so on were really anathema to me. I don't care so much that the creators (more like "refitters") could not come up with original ideas or that they wanted to commercially exploit something popular and nostalgic (very common).
I see animation as an artistic statement of its own. I don't have much interest in directing live action films and like the effect I get with animation. I have stories I want to tell and they are in my head in an animated format. Seeing animation as a poor substitute to live action is like seeing painting as a poor substitute to photography.
So if I moved back to the U.S. and got a job in an animation studio, I doubt that they would let me direct and even if I did it is likely that I would spend the rest of my career working on things that I wasn't interested in or making sequels of popular movies. If I moved to a place where artistry was held in higher regard (say like, New Zealand) then I think I could be much happier.
I looked at IRON GIANT and saw the seed of animation renaissance in it. I would have been really proud and happy to have worked on IRON GIANT and I hope that more films like that are made. The suits have decided that it must be sacrificed for their political games, which is yet another thing I am glad not to have to deal with on that level.
Media Politics: From the outside, the U.S. entertainment industry looks like a whirlwind of politics. Every episode of every show is analyzed, criticized, inspected, theorized about and closely monitored by the Watchdogs of Meaningless Vigilance. The Broadcasting Standards and Practices (BSP) rules are so strict yet confusing to me that I don't think that I could write a story that follows them. In addition, each broadcaster has its own content rules. I have no problem with rules as long as they are clear and I can get them in advance rather than have them sprung on me. If I know what they are I can either develop the content with them in mind or, if they will limit the content to the point where there is no point in making the show I can go somewhere else with it.
I am glad that I do not have to deal with the duality of American children's programming. On one hand there are very strict rules about content and on the other are companies making shows based on movies which violate all of those rules. "We want to make a show based on the Predator concept but with no violence." It is a very difficult situation.
If you say anything that might be even remotely controversial you are attacked and if you don't say anything that might be controversial you are attacked. No matter what you say there is somebody out there who will be offended and must get vocal about it. "I thought the scene where Dorothy looked at the princess across the courtyard showed that she was a lesbian so this show is evil." Huh?! Remember the Mighty Mouse sniffing-the-flower controversy? I sometimes think that it's not even worth the effort to get your show on the air if you have to deal with such things.
The idea that in the U.S. animation is purely for children has changed over the years since I moved to Japan. Fans often claim that is a reason why anime has not taken hold in the U.S. but I don't think it is. Many adults watch BATMAN, THE SIMPSONS, and SOUTH PARK and the number of shows which are targeted towards adults is increasing. There is still some resistance from the distributors and middlemen about this but anyone doing their market research will see that it is true.
I do not create programming for young children and I do not agree with some of the ways that children are treated in the U.S.. As a child, the thing I wanted most was to become an adult. When you are a second-class citizen, treated as if there was something wrong with you and that you are incapable of rational thought rather than that you are still learning, you want to become a first-class citizen. It obsesses you. Thankfully my parents did not treat me that way. Far too many shows for children are not made for developing minds, they are (or at least seem to be) made for imbeciles. Some new shows are being made more for baby boomer nostalgia fanatics than kids, more in the form of older cartoons with current sensibilities or jokes. There are many contemporary cultural references that I don't even begin to understand because I don't live in the States and I'm not totally media saturated. When I develop content, I strictly avoid such things. Some witty inside jokes are fine but if the audience needs specific recent cultural information in order to understand the jokes or story then it may be topical but it is not exportable and it will age extremely rapidly, all things I very much try to avoid. There is nothing wrong with such shows and they are often the most popular shows on the air for their time. I just have no interest in developing or producing shows like that.
(I fear doing anything at all related to children in the U.S. because if you have any contact with kids whatsoever somebody will accuse you of being a child molester, the catch-all witch hunt of the 90's. When I'm in the U.S., I go out of my way to avoid being near kids in the supermarket and other public places because with my luck the kid would drop something and I would pick it up and return it to him/her and somebody would accuse me of trying to abduct the kid and I would end up in jail. I already have to deal with stupid people claiming "Anime is kiddie porn" as it is. There are people who will twist anything into having some sort of sexual meaning. I bet that's why they don't have the Putting on Shoes Channel or the Sleeping Animals Channel: too many protesters said that they were "pornographic". That everything always gets turned into something sexual and people are obsessed with simple nudity shows that perhaps what the Europeans often say is right—America is one of the most sexually dysfunctional nations on earth. I cannot say.)

So, back to production in Japan. Instead of going through all that, we discuss the show with the producers from the TV station and submit the scripts and they go over them. Most of the time we don't have problems with content. Sometimes there are unreasonable people who want to make some point which nobody else besides themselves understands and they make shows which are over the top and screw things up for the rest of us. This usually happens at the worst possible time as well.
Japan does not have the MPAA ratings system so we don't have to fight to get into specific categories and play the games with editing and politics that U.S. movie release companies do. Japan has its own movie accrediting agency, Eirin, but they are more of a censorship board than a ratings agency. They are a lot easier to please and it's either yes or no with them.
The U.S. also is very crazy about market segments and target audiences and ratings and lots of other things which have been invented by business school graduates to make themselves look more intelligent and to ensure that they will have jobs. In Japan, we make a 13 or 26 episode series and unless it completely utterly totally sucks to the point where it is below a 0.6% rating the broadcast will run to the planned end of the series. There are times when the PR machine can be cranked up and interest can be developed in the show over time and it can end its run quite successfully. This allows shows to start off at a reasonable pace and build up. Some shows take too much advantage of this and take 6 episodes to get warmed up, by which time the audience has (rightfully) left.
In the current situation in the U.S., you have 6 episodes (which really means about half of that) to prove your popularity or die. If you survive then you go through it for another 6. Established series don't have to go through this but new series seem to have to. Reading about all the stupid games that BABYLON 5 had to go through during its run made my head hurt.
Among the main reasons why I stay in the anime industry is that I really like working with the creative people here. Every show is a new learning experience and when you get to work with a really good animator or editor or director you can learn so much. (I'm sure the same thing is true of animation companies in other countries.) After the show is done I look at the best scenes and think, "Wow, I had a part in that" and it's really a good feeling. It's very exciting and stimulating to work with people who are totally dedicated to their work and art. The money is not very good so the staff has to be very dedicated to wanting to make anime or they leave quickly. This helps to weed out the unworthy, I suppose. (We also find out who is not dedicated to the art of animation when we come by with the branding iron. Any real animator has the word ANIME in katakana scorched into the sole of his or her right foot. The only real problem with this is that it's hard to concentrate on drawing when the animation department is filled with the reek of scorched human flesh. Very distracting.)

My hope is that anime will soak deeper and deeper into markets around the world and I hope that this helps animation companies to work towards developing new and interesting content and broadcasters and distributors to fund and support such content. I'm ready to go out there and help make those shows when they are wanted. (C'mon, hurry up New Zealand!)