EX: Let's talk about the ESCAFLOWNE movie. I noticed that the characters had a very Japanese feel to them this time around.

MM: That's what the director likes and prefers, so that's what he chose. Usually, for a heroic fantasy, it's normally done in a Western style, but since we're not Western and we know more about Japanese armor and our own culture, it's easier to make changes and adaptations. The armor holds the essence of its people and their culture, so we chose Japanese armor. And this way, we felt our Japanese audience would identify with it more, so we decided to use it.
Of course, with ESCAFLOWNE's previous success, we were aware of the foreign markets, so we wanted to make it interesting for Western viewers as well. We wanted to do something new for them. We had the overseas market in mind from the beginning.
One of the interesting problems we had was that we knew about one-sided swords, like katanas, but we didn't know much about two-sided swords and how to fight with them. So we bought some swords without edges and used them for reference.

EX: Does the ESCAFLOWNE movie use a lot of CG?

MM: A little. Just enough, I think. There are lots of CG used in the effects, but not for 3D polygons or things like that. But we also make use of it in camerawork, things of that nature.

EX: Were you worried about re-doing an already popular show?

MM: My main concerns were the money and the scheduling, which is only natural (laughs).
I wasn't really worried about the story and the content, but maybe the director was (laughs again). But I didn't have any worries about making the movie. The ESCA plan had movie potential—a different way of seeing the story. That made it perfect for a movie.