Starting Point: 1979-1996

In terms of our projects, one guideline is that we purposely do not make sequels of films that become hits. Usually people try to go along the same line. But we consciously avoid that. For better or worse, we don’t take that easy route. This seems to have been beneficial for us.

When Sikorsky flew his four-engine plane over Russia, he is known for having dined on board, and then, when an engine failed, for grabbing on to one of the struts supporting the wings and standing up, out of the cockpit. With the full blast of the wind in his face, he personally and anxiously checked the condition of his engines. I personally think

Rick (Richard) Corben is currently one of the leading comic book artists in America. Rowlf, which he created and self-published in 1971, was one of his first works, but it is also, without a doubt, one of his most famous. With Rowlf, Corben has created a true modern fairy tale.

Animation work isn’t something that is over when a certain amount is done. One has to pursue it until one is satisfied.

Economic constraints in production are often said to be the main reason, but it seems to me that something spiritual is also missing. It would be stupid to turn my back on the times in which we live and act arrogant about it all, but I always find myself thinking that the old cartoon movies were indeed more interesting and exciting than what we hav

Tezuka-san was a rival against whom I struggled This article is supposed to be for a special issue devoted to Osamu Tezuka, so I’m assuming there will be a loud chorus of other people mourning his passing, and I do not intend to add my voice to it. I think I have probably been far more deeply involved with Mr. Tezuka than with the gang who go about

if someone were to ask me what the most important thing is when creating a new animated work, my answer would be that you first have to know what you want to say with it. In other words, you have to have a theme. Surprisingly, perhaps, people sometimes overlook this basic fact of filmmaking and overemphasize technique instead.

It’s not good enough to just string together a bunch of clever ideas, for the effort required is fundamentally different. Lies must be layered upon lies to create a thoroughly believable fake world. It’s an imaginary world, but it should seem to actually exist as an alternate world, and the people who live there should appear to think and act in a

For the past few years, I have put forth ideas for film projects with the following ethos: “To offer a sense of liberation to present-day young people who, in this suffocating, overprotective, and managed society, find their path to self-reliant independence blocked and have become neurotic.”