(This is a repost of my translation of an interview with Mutsumi Inomata about Genmu Senki Leda (AKA Leda: The Fantastic Adventure of Yohko.)
“Character design is really embarrassing”
The truth behind the so-called can opener incident!
It seems you traveled to Okinawa while researching for Utsunomiko. How was it?
It was exhausting. (laughs)
Was it your first time in Okinawa?
Yes.
Are you okay with heat?
I suppose. It didn’t seem that bad. The climate was a good point, and I liked the personality of the people in Kamiji. I did think “this would be great if it wasn’t for work,” though. (laughs)
Were you on a tight schedule?
Yes. I went to see a lot of different kinds of places, like ruins and museums.
Were those illustrations a request from the author, Keisuke Fujikawa?
Yes, they were. It was a chance encounter from the time I worked on PlaWres Sanshirou. I’m very grateful. (laughs)
How was it when you first started to illustrate for novels?
Well… It was tough. I try to make pictures that don’t diverge from the source material, so that narrows my expression, but I also want the readers to feel some kind of inspiration when they look at them. It’s pretty hard to do, especially when it’s something set in a specific time period like Utsunomiko.
Is that added difficulty because the state of the evidence regarding that time period?
Yeah, there isn’t a lot of information left about the period. And since I didn’t know much myself, I really had to frequent libraries.
I feel like you have some connection with the delicate pen lines of shoujo manga…
I might have naturally been influenced by shoujo manga, but I don’t think it was something I tried to imitate on purpose.
Sahohime makes me think of Ryouko Yamagishi’s Hiizuru Tokoro no Tenshi. (laughs)
(laughs) They do look similar, don’t they? Utsunomiko takes place about 100 years after Hiizuru Tokoro no Tenshi would have, but female clothes and hairstyles didn’t change a lot, huh? There’s not much variety, either. Sahohime is the only young woman in the Imperial Palace at this point, but if more appear later, I wonder if they’ll all end up looking the same. (laughs)
Are the male characters easier to draw?
No, nearly all the men look alike, too. (laughs) It’s really hard.
Is it true we’re ten years out from Utsunomiko reaching its conclusion?
I was told there are enough ideas for about 40 volumes. Thanks to that, it does sound like I’ll have work for ten more years. (laughs)
Well then, let’s shift to Genmu Senki Leda. Apparently it was originally going to be 30 minutes long and have the feel of a promotional video.
That’s right. At the time, I thought about having maybe 2-3 animators, and having each person kind of do whatever they wanted. But it wasn’t really coming together, and it got longer, so it became a different kind of story.
How much did you participate in the creation of the story and setting?
How much… That’s a good question. (laughs)
The idea was a story of a female protagonist in another world from the start…
That’s correct.
And the first love theme?
That was an idea from the director, Kunihiko Yuyama.
Did you imagine it as GB Bomber-style slapstick story with a plucky heroine?
Not at all. It was the opposite — I wanted to make her more feminine. It might be strange to say, but I was thinking I wanted to draw her with that kind of face, so I requested it from Yuyama.
Could you explain that femininity in any specific detail?
Well, it’s like… It’s kind of messy. I felt like there were a lot of characters who were really strong even though they were girls, so I thought it might be better if she wasn’t like that, but more kind. I fel like it would be good to show the vulnerabilities of a young girl.
To a degree, that was reflected in Yohko’s personality.
Yeah, she’s a little indecisive… (laughs)
What do you think of an indecisive girl like that? Maybe a sense of affinity? (laughs) Maybe it brings up thoughts of your own personality.
Yes, it’s absolutely that, I’m very kind (laughs)… Though that’s a lie. (laughs)
Looking at the comments from Kaname Productions people, they say things like “Inomata has a Very. Strong. Will.”
(strongly) That’s right. They say that and stuff like how I’m “scary.” After the interview others and come to me last, they say, “everyone says you’re scary” and I’m just like “whaaat?!” (laughs)
One Junki Takegami said something like, “if you don’t wipe down the can opener you borrowed before you return it, she’ll get mad…” (laughs)
No, no, that’s all wrong! The thing is, at the company, there’s no supplies like that, so everyone has to bring their own individual can openers and bottle openers and stuff. Someone took the can opener off my desk right away and then didn’t bring it back. So I bring another, and that one goes missing too. And then it happens a third time, and a fourth time. At that point I started thinking of putting it in a box or hiding it in a paper bag, but there’s still someone who just takes it on their own.
I see…
So, instead of having them get returned, when we’d do big cleaning for the new year, I’d find them lying around somewhere covered in dust. “This is my can opener that went missing!!” I’d say, angrily… Of course I’d be angry, wouldn’t anyone? That’s the kind of thing I might have kind of warped memories about though, I think. (laughs)
Is Mr. Takegami the type to take things without a second thought?
No… He borrowed it properly… At least, I think he did. (laughs)
Then, personality-wise, are you closer to Yoni than Yohko?
I suppose so… Wouldn’t I be?
Director Yuyama was the one who had Yohko wear a sailor uniform
Was it your idea to have Yohko and Yoni have designs that showed so much skin?
Yes, it was something I decided on my own and with my own biases. (laughs)
Eve with the combination of that story and those costumes, there aren’t many panty shots, and there’s nothing along the lines of nude scenes at all. Was that intentional?
Yeah. Even though the costume itself is revealing, I don’t personally like that sort of thing. And I don’t think Yuyama is the sort of person to just keep going along with things like, “hehehe, I’m so happy~” either. I dislike crude things like that, so I wanted to make something more proper, where anyone who sees it can enjoy it, so I tried to make something more refined.
Would you say that the story’s development and art, and even the backgrounds, are all very feminine?
Well, Yohko likes shoujo manga a lot, too, you know? I also worked on things like Magical Princess Minky Momo, so I think that sort of world is an area I’m skilled with.
So it matched up with how you’re oriented.
That’s right.
I believe Yohko was the first one to fight in a stance with her toes turned inward.
(laughs) That’s right, yes.
Why is it that we never see the face of A-kun, the person Yohko likes?
So that when watching Leda, the audience can think of people from their own life and fill their own partner into that role. (laughs)
I see. I’ve heard that, looking at the costumes of Zell and his subordinates, it would be best not to export this work to southeast Asia.
Ahahaha, really…? (laughs)
Do you like costumes and customs like that?
When we were making the initial settings, Yuyama and the others were squealing about following the trend for things like Indian and esoteric Buddhism. Ashanty gave the impression of being in the direction of the middle east with its white-hot sunlight and dry air, so I gave Zell’s clothing that kind of feel.
He’s royalty.
Yes, middle eastern royalty. His associates’ clothing give the impression of Bali in southeast Asia. I made them thinking of the image of talismans.
Do you regularly do this kind of careful research?
I suppose I do. If I’m interested in the subject, I’ll buy books, too.
To study women’s fashion, do you read magazines like Ryuukou Tsuushin?
Yes, though I don’t read them just to research for work…
Ah, you read them as a single woman?
(laughs)
Was it Yuyama’s preference to have Yohko wear a sailor uniform inside of Zell’s illusion?
Yes! (laughs)
As animation director, do you look through all of the key frames and in-betweens?
Just the key frames. But I did also go through the in-between frames in important parts. Like with bust scenes of important characters, I went through to make sure there weren’t any character-ruining in-betweens, and more or less just watched to have it character-focused.
When Yohko transforms into the Warrior of Leda, her face seems to get a little longer.
It does. Given that she transformed, I wondered if it couldn’t bring out things like her strength of will.
It sounds like you and Yuyama were present for the voiceover recording.
Yeah, just for the start of the first day.
To give advice?
Not at all, I had absolutely none to give. It was just, you know, I felt like being a visitor.
Was it your first time going to a voiceover recording studio?
I often go to them. I like watching — the voice recording and production are linked, after all. An animation is finished only once all the parts are gathered together and the film is complete. The part I do is just the art, but seeing others do voiceover recording and mixing, and the whole process of completing it, is something I enjoy a lot. But I don’t really want to go when there aren’t many of my pictures in it. (laughs)
What do you think of Hiromi Tsuru’s voice?
There aren’t many characters in the film, so I think it was good to have that kind of bright voice to bring in some cheerfulness. Noriyoshi Matsuura, the sound director, had to listen to all kinds of people’s demo tapes. Tsuru was the best. She fit the image of the work the most.
What did you think of Chika Sakamoto?
She was great, as expected. There are scenes where she engages with Yohko, right? Both of their personalities come through in those scenes without either of them eating into the other’s acting.
Kei Tomiyama’s Ringhum is a difficult role, isn’t it?
Well, there wasn’t much art of him, so I thought, “Ah, I’m so sorry.” But Tomiyama is a veteran of voice acting, so we could count on him.
I get the feeling all this means you gathered only talented people…
That’s right.
What do you think about Zell’s voice?
I imagined Zell as someone with a strong will and an oppressing-feeling voice, so Shuichi Ikeda was a perfect fit.
What do you think about Shiro Sagisu’s music and Rio Akimoto’s singing?
I thought the music was extremely good. It had the impact of a theatrical film, and made the screen feel larger than it really was. I also thought it was great that Rio’s innocence seemed like it could actually be felt by Yohko when she sang. When she was singing, you could almost see her voice overlap with Yohko’s form…
Did you meet her at an event?
Yeah, we met a number of times. She’s very cheerful and honest, and a good person.
When your schedule is packed, “Keep calm!”
There are many isekai/other world stories that are handled carelessly in parts, but in Leda the real world and the other world are distinctly separate, and the reason the other world exists is also properly explained.
Well, if it was a simple story about another world, the story would become super expedient and everything would be very convenient, and it would just be like, “it was all thanks to magic, how fortunate!” (laughs) It wouldn’t be satisfying to watch. I spoke with Yuyama and the others about making some kind of explanation for everything along those lines.
In Zell’s illusory world, the image of the ray coming straight through from the window was amazing.
That was Yuyama’s idea. He’s drawn key frames before, and because he’s a director who can also draw, he can create a story from his art. I think that’s one of Yuyama’s strong points.
What did you think about Yohko’s “I like you, but I can’t say it” mentality?
Let’s see… (laughs) Doesn’t every girl have times like that? Though a year and however many months might be a little too long to be that way. (laughs) I think that sort of think happens to everyone, though. Especially with anime fans, since a lot of them seem to be introverts.
So when you see those kinds of feelings, do you think, “a girl after my own heart!” or the like?
Hahaha! Who knows? It is a mystery. (laughs)
You’re weaseling out of answering by laughing, in other words. (laughs)
(laughs)
In your interview with a certain publication, you stated that character design is embarrassing?
That’s right. It is embarrassing. Even when you draw stuff like a character sheet, there are still parts that are incomplete. Until you actually see it in motion, you won’t understand what it’s like from this angle, for example, or how it will look when they make this expression. Well, I guess it’s not that I don’t understand, but more like, it’s extremely hard to grasp from just a character sheet. So, if you look closely, and in a variety of ways, you find there’s actually a lot of places that are weird. It’s difficult…
When a production comes close to its end and the schedule gets tight, what is your state of mind like?
Ah, well, that thing, you know? I suppress my anger. (laughs) All the while thinking, “keep calm, keep calm.”
The stress must really pile up.
It does, since you have no time to let it out. Regardless, you still have to keep your calm. Before long you’ll only have to go home and sleep.
How long do you sleep?
I think it was a comparatively small amount? But since it’s not something I could just do for a week and have it be over, I think I would usually try to get at least five hours of sleep.
That’s still pretty rough.
Well, I suppose it is. But I can make it through one or two months as long as I get five hours. Near the end, my mind also started getting hazy.
In terms of endurance, do you think you’re a tough person?
I actually thought I’d be weaker and that it wouldn’t be strange if I collapsed at any time, but surprisingly, I made it through. (laughs)
You seem like you have a lot of willpower…
Yes, I suppose I might.
Did you sleep like the dead for the first two or three days after the production was completed? (laughs)
Nothing like that happened. It wasn’t just the film itself. There were illustrations for Leda that I also had to do, so I was going from one deadline to the next for a long time. Gah, even now it’s not over.
I’m very sorry.
Don’t worry about it. (laughs) I usually decide at the start things like, “I’ll take a day off on this day,” or that I won’t do any work on Sundays. Something always gets shifted around, and then it’s like, “ah, well, tomorrow is Sunday, so I’ll do it then.” It always seems to go that way. (laughs)
What was your reaction to seeing the completed work?
If I told you all the little details, there’d be no end to it. There were a ton of things I wanted to fix, but I think it came out pretty good, considering the circumstances.
The part-time finishing job that changed her fate
So, your birthplace was Tokyo.
I was only in Tokyo when I was little. Then, there was some public housing that became available in Chigasaki, in Kanagawa prefecture. My dad was super worried, like, “what’ll we do in such a faraway place?!” But, well, since we got accepted, we went ahead and moved…
So he commuted from Chigasaki to Tokyo every day?
Yeah, apparently there’s a connection. Don’t you think that would have been really tough? (laughs) After that, in middle school, I moved to Yokohama.
Do you have any siblings?
I have a sister who’s three years younger than me. It’s just the two of us.
So you’re the eldest daughter, then. What kind of kids were you when you were little?
In elementary school, when we were in Chigasaki, there wasn’t much to do in terms of playing other than running around outside, since it was out in the country. The school and its grounds were huge, and our gym was also just huge, and didn’t have a pool. And the area around the schoolgrounds was just plains and fields, so all that was left after that was the sea. That’s the kind of place you run around in. We were country kids, after all. I was bad at sports, but I liked to move my body.
So you were the type of kid who liked to talk a lot.
Not at all, I was a quiet kid. A quiet and very good kid. No, really. (laughs)
How were you at studying?
No good. (laughs)
What things were you bad at?
(strongly) School.
What about arts and crafts?
Arts and crafts… (thinking) I did like that, in comparison. In elementary school, I had homework where we had to turn in a shelf we made and painted. And, well, I just played around mindlessly during the day, and when night came and I tried to paint it, I ran out of the paint I was using. Since there was no way around it, I painted it with a soft color, then layered that, until it came out as some kind of pale blue color that didn’t look dirty.
That’s some impressive coordination.
When I looked at the finished product, it made me really sad. Since I was a kid, I wanted to paint it a prettier color, you know? I was thinking things like, “I even ran into the stationery shop owner during the day, but still…” and then the next day, I was ashamed, but I turned it in. Then my teacher praised it, saying, “this is a nice, calming color.” And I just though, “I don’t understand adults’ tastes!” (laughs)
I suppose you felt like you couldn’t trust what they said after that. (laughs) What year of school did this happen in?
It was either 2nd or 3rd grade.
When you were a child, what sorts of anime did you watch?
Things like Attack No.1 and Star of the Giants… And also, before Space Battleship Yamato, they had something called Samurai Giants air in the same timeslot.
That’s an anime adaptation of the baseball manga written by Ikki Kajiwara and illustrated by Kou Inoue.
At the time, I liked baseball a lot. The original manga was serialized in Shounen Jump, and since I was a fan of that, I also liked the anime. After that, I watched anime like Future Boy Conan, and Gamba no Bouken. I call myself an anime fan, but I haven’t really seen a ton.
To speak of movies, you liked films such as Toei’s Wanpaku Ouji no Orochi Taiji
Yes, and things like Arabian Nights: Sinbad’s Adventure, too…
Now that you mention it, Zell and Sinbad resemble each other in that they have beautiful faces with angular eyes.
Hahaha, that’s right! (laughs) The lips have a trace of color, too. Back then, I did that a lot. It gives it a delicate look. I like that. (laughs)
If you had to choose, do you prefer one-frame or two-frame shots?
Let’s see. If I want to make sure it’s enough to express what I want, I have to use two-frame shots, not one-frame. I feel like three-frame is my limit, though. That’s why, when there are very distorted action scenes in three-frame, and you look closely, you can’t really tell which character is doing what.
Have you been involved in anything like doujinshi?
Not even remotely.
When you were in middle school and high school, what kind of profession were you aiming for?
I hadn’t thought particularly hard about it, but since I liked drawing, I had some vague thought that I’d go to some art school and work for a design company.
And then, when you were a high schooler, you got a part-time job doing finishing touches at a company called Maki Production. That changed your direction, didn’t it?
There was an ad in the newspaper that kept flickering in my mind. It said, “You can even work from home!” And then I went ahead and started doing it.
Do you have any stories of your failures?
Yeah, I have a lot. Like times when a painting finally finished drying, but ended up looking splotchy, or when I’ve knocked over paint containers.
Was the pay at Maki Production relatively good?
That job was cheap. I really cannot recommend it. (laughs)
When you started doing that every day, did it affect your schoolwork?
It didn’t.
It seems you were in art club before, but what about sororities?
I didn’t really attend anything much. Even when I did, I just messed around. Although, before that, I did go to a place that was something like a painting class, where I studied art.
Was that when you were a middle school student?
Yes. To get into art school, I went to a sort of atelier, where they taught me skills I would need to pass the art school’s exams. There, I had to study properly, or I wouldn’t be able to pass. I guess I was pretty carefree about it. I was thinking that if I failed the exam, I’d just plan to retake it a year later, and in the mean time go to an atelier like that and then I’d be able to get into art school.
Did the drawing and design work you did as part of the art club come to help you in any way for your current work?
I don’t know, I don’t think it was very useful. (laughs)
Your first job that you did at Maki Pro was SF West Saga Starzinger, correct?
Yeah, that’s right.
After that, in broadcast order, was Galaxy Express 999, Captain Future, and Hana no Ko Lunlun.
Those finishing touches jobs were done really chaotically. I thought I worked on a lot more of a variety of works, but maybe it was just one kind…
Were there any jobs that left an impression on you?
I wonder which one this was… There was one where there was a ton of changing colors. They’re all the same color if you see it on screen, but when I was painting, I had to paint each sheet a different color. Plus, there was stuff like shadows and small patterns, and it was just such a pain to paint those one by one.
Do jobs that take more time pay higher than simple ones?
No, they’re the same. (laughs) I wasn’t that good, so they never gave me anything that difficult, anyway.
After that, when you were in your third year of high school, the president of Maki Pro introduced you to Ashi Pro. Was that because he saw a picture you had drawn?
Oh, no, that kind of thing doesn’t happen. I’m not sure why he introduced me. Maybe it was related to him complaining to me, “your drawings are better than your coloring.”
Do you have to do any kind of company entrance test?
I was told, “I’ll take you to it tomorrow.” Since it was an art company, I thought they would make me draw something, and when I asked what supplies would be needed, I was told, “You probably don’t need anything.” I went into the interview thinking “Is this really okay?” and they ended up giving a feeling like, “okay, come here after you graduate.”
Did you bring some art to show them?
No, not at all. I didn’t bring anything. I thought, “would this even be good?” Back then, that was just the feel of everything, I guess.
“That’s Mr. Kanada, who’s higher up than the clouds!”
You joined the company in April as a new graduate, and for three months you were a “research student.” What were you doing during that time?
First, I put the key frames onto paper, and studied the fair copy. But being the type of person I am, copying everything bit by bit was a hassle, you know? The lines were rough.
But if you consider that a part of animator’s aptitude…
It’s not good. (laughs) That’s why, even when I was doing in-betweens, I couldn’t help but want to hurry and do the key frames.
Did you do anything else at that time?
Stuff like how to put in time sheets, and practice with in-betweens. I was given the production’s completed key drawings, with things to study like natural objects and humans, and I would watch people make in-betweens for them.
Did you study rough sketches?
Actually… now that you mention it, I hardly did any of that…
After that tough three months was over… (laughs) you started working on in-betweens. Those works included Kujira no Josephina, Zukkoke Knight Don De La Mancha, and Uchuu Senshi Baldios. You worked with Yoshinori Kanada during Don De La Mancha, it seems.
Yes. Back then, I felt like Mr. Kanada was someone so high up he was above the clouds. So when he did come in to the office, it’d be like, “he’s here today!!” (laughs)
Half way through Baldios, you started doing key animation, correct?
That’s right. But the story was so serious that I drew and drew but there was never a place where a character smiled. There wasn’t even a grin. That was tough. (laughs)
Have you been acquainted with Kunihiko Yuyama since your time training?
Yeah, he taught me a lot.
You also did key animation for Sengoku Majin Goshogun, it seems.
Yes. I drew for the last episode as well as some things in the first half.
Were your parents opposed to you going into the anime industry?
They weren’t. I got the feeling that they just let me do what I want because I’m a girl. (laughs)
What about your sister?
She’s working at a design office right now.
Between the big sister and the little sister, who is better at drawing? (laughs)
Who knows? She never shows me any of her art. (laughs) Though she doesn’t seem to look at any of my work, either.
When did you get the ambition and confidence to think things like, “I’m going to climb up to this position” or “I can make it on this path”?
Well… I never had confidence in myself. But for ambition, wanting to do my best and go higher, I’ve had that way back since the beginning. Even now, of course, I have that. Ever since I started, I’ve always wanted to do my best and accomplish all kinds of things. I still do.
Was your goal back then to be an animation director?
At first, I didn’t know what I wanted to do, so I decided I’d start by becoming a full-fledged in-betweener. Once I got experienced with that, I’d see if I can do key animation. And if I was able to be a key animator, I wanted to try being an animation director and character designer. Rather than a specific goal, I think about everything one after the other.
After Goshogun, you transferred to the newly-founded Kaname Productions, and took on the role of animation director and character designer you had been looking forward to. That anime was Makyou Densetsu Acrobunch.
I was the animation director for about two episodes. Episode 6, “The Ruined Atlantis,” and Episode 14, “Illusory Babylon.”
You collaborated with Shigenori Kageyama on the character design. What were your thoughts?
Well, it was a first for me in a variety of ways, so there’s a lot… Looking back on it now is just embarrassing, so I guess it’s more of a seed for laughter… (laughs)
How did you divide up the work?
I designed things on the side of the Randou family, and Kageyawa was on the enemy side.
You can see influence in Acrobunch from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Have you seen that film?
I’ve seen it. It was interesting. I was just finishing up the key animation for Goshogun‘s finale, and I went to the first all-night showing on Thursday with my parents. I had been pulling all-nighters for the previous two or so days, but I thought, “I have to hurry and finish up work!!” and I rapidly put out the last key frame drawings so I could see it with my friends at Maki Pro too. But Yuyama still had a lot of direction and processing work to do, so he couldn’t come. So he was like, “I’m the only who still has work…” (laughs)
What did you think about your first animation director job?
Well, you know… I don’t really think I did anything that makes sense to call “animation direction.” Since it was my first time, and I didn’t really know what to do, I just did things without thinking too deeply about it, like, “maybe this would be better if it was done with this kind of feeling?” and stuff like that.
What about refining the main character designs?
There were some corrections to do with the characters, there were other things that needed to be fixed too, like the continuity between scenes, and layouts and action sequences.
I heard from another publication that you don’t enjoy animation director work much.
It’s not fun. (laughs) You have to check things other people drew. But it’s a very important job in the sense of unifying the work into one world. In retrospect, I shouldn’t have approached it without that mindset. It’s a job that can let you dig a little deeper…
You also participated in Goshogun‘s theatrical edition, correct?
Yes, I did almost the entirety of the accompanying commercial parts.
The daily hell of Sanshirou and GB
Moving on to PlaWres Sanshirou, what did you think when you saw the original art from Minoru Kamiya?
When I first saw it, I thought it would be easy to animate, but it’s actually very difficult to replicate the soft touches of a pen in anime. Pencil lines almost always end up looking monotonous, too. When doing close-ups, I’ll add a lot of lines to create emphasis. Even if I only replicate the outline, it gives off a totally different feeling. So I had to change things around for the anime.
There are many attractive men and women in the series. Were you trying to add some extra color to the work?
That’s how I thought about it. Even though they look beautiful, their faces have a relatively round look. The protagonist, Sanshirou Sugata, looks very childlike. He and Kyouko Fubuki make an incredibly odd couple. I didn’t want to disrupt their balance too much, so I gave Kyouko a round face like in the manga. Sheila Misty is a more or less mature character, but she does have a round face and large eyes, so I made sure she didn’t get out of balance with other characters, either.
Is the protagonist really that small?
Yes, he was tough to work with. It was difficult to fit him into the frame. Even when framing in a way that would naturally show just his upper body, Kyouko’s upper body wouldn’t totally fit. It was really hard.
Leda‘s staff are almost all here today, aren’t they? If I remember correctly, you said that Shinji Murao was the easiest character to draw.
On second thought, it would have to be Kyouko and Sanshirou.
What about Sheila?
Sheila was difficult. Bringing out her round face but mature, mysterious air always made me think something was off somewhere.
To help with that, the sunglasses and fashion came in…
But if you wore Shiela’s clothes in reality, you wouldn’t be able to walk across the street. (laughs)
Now that you’ve said that, isn’t that the case with most anime characters? (laughs)
I guess that’s true. (laughs)
Now then, let’s go to manga for a moment. Your manga GB Bomber was published in The Motion Comic. That seemed as if you were burning with the fire of “I’m gonna challenge manga now!!”
No, no, that was just embarrassing. It would be a bit rude to manga to consider that a challenge to it. (laughs)
But surely when you received the request, you were thinking, “this is my chance!”
I’m not sure I would put it that way, but I did accept it in a carefree fashion. Later, I was thinking, “Noooo!” (laughs)
Doing the character design, animation direction, and key frames for each episode of Sanshirou, while simultaneously drawing illustrations and manga, must have been a miserable day to day.
It sure was. The wretched, terrible cost of that was shifted all onto the manga. (laughs)
What makes manga hard compared to anime?
What makes it hard… Any job is hard, but if I had to say… (thinking deeply) Any job is hard… But also, I really, really don’t like painting solid colors or putting in tones.
Do you have other manga requests?
Well, a little… But I’m so embarrassed… (laughs)
Is illustration also difficult?
The colors, the entire atmosphere, the way you represent things, the composition… whatever you’re doing, it has its own difficult aspects.
(PlaWres Sanshiro painting by Inomata)
My beloved Yuusaku Matsuda
And now for the Personal Life Chapter. (laughs) Right now you live in Tokyo by yourself. What do you do on your days off?
Zone out. (laughs) I sleep until noon, and then clean up and do the laundry. Then it’s already evening.
Are you good at cooking anything?
Cream Stew. It’s nice and simple. You just throw leftover veggies into a pot and boil it.
It seems like you can drink a lot of coffee. Isn’t that bad for your stomach?
It is. There was one time a friend and I abstained from coffee for a year and a half to pray for the Taiyou Whales’ victory, since we were Yokohama kids. And then…
Did they win?
They ranked last place. (laughs)
Might I ask if you like action films?
Yeah, I like ones that are straightforward, like Raiders of the Lost Ark. I watched a movie called The Spirit of the Beehive a bit ago, and some people who weren’t in a great state of mind told me, “How do you not get such a great movie!?”
I should have expected. That’s your personality…
I guess it is. (laughs)
It seems you’re fond of Japanese actors such as Masao Kusakari.
Uh oh! (laughs)
Do you like movies like Kareinaru Keiji?
Yes. I also thought the combo of Masao Kusakari with Tatsuya Fuji in Pro Hunter was hilarious.
On that note, do you like Detective Story‘s Yuusaku Matsuda?
Ah, I love him! I’m a huge fan! I love things like the Yuugi series even more than his films.
Who do you like best? Kusakari or Yuusaku?
(immediately) Yuusaku Matsuda is better. Definitely.
It seems you like tall men with long legs, then. Kusakari… Yuusaku… What about Tomokazu Miura?
He seemed a little boyish before, but the more refined feeling he had in Kemonotachi no Atsui Nemuri was good.
It seems you like works directed by Tooru Murakawa.
Ah, I do. I actually want to go see Hiromi Go’s Seijo Densetsu soon, too. Hehehe, I’m so embarrassed! (laughs)
Kusakari, Yuusaku, Tomokazu, Go… It seems you’re mostly interested in good looks.
Do you think? But an ideal man is tall… That’s my dream…
By the way, which singers do you like?
Kenji Sawada.
You really are just in it for looks! (laughs) Come to think of it, Zell resembles Kenji Sawada, too. (laughs)
I’ve been a fan of Kenji Sawada since the days of The Tigers.
Who do you like in terms of women?
For Japanese ones, I like people like Asami Kobayashi.
And for foreign singers, someone like Kathleen Turner?
That’s right.
Ah, this settles it. You’re in it for their looks.
Oops. (laughs)
What sorts of books do you read?
I read stuff like Haruhiko Ooyabu…
What?!
Hehe, I came to like his writing. (Laughs)
Ooyabu, Murakawa, Yuusaku — they’re all connected, aren’t they?
They are. (laughs) I’ve read all of Ooyabu. Right now, my closet is full of cardboard boxes with tons of books in them.
Well then, what are your thoughts on Kazumasa Hirai?
I like him. Cyborg Blues was extremely good. When Zombie Hunter was being serialized in Yasei Jidai, I would run to the bookstore in front of the train station on mornings it would be released. The paperback versions would come out the month after. I really liked Noriyoshi Ourai’s illustrations, so I would buy them again.
It seems you read quite a few hard-boiled stories.
I suppose I do. Raymond Chandler, Dick Francis, James Hadley Chase, Dashiell Hammett…
It’s rare for a woman to read that much of the genre.
I also really like Ryoutarou Shiba’s historical novels.
Like Moeyo Ken?
I love that one! The TV adaptation with Asahi Kurizuka cast as Toshizou Hijikata was the best. To this day I have a video recording of just the final episode.
What kind of shoujo manga do you like?
I love things like Suzue Miuchi’s Glass Mask, for one example. I can’t get enough of her “sniff, sniff”! (laughs) I also like Moto Hagio’s manga, like The Poe Clan. Her more recent Hanshin: Half-God only has 16 pages, but it’s extremely good.
What about male manga artists?
Hmm… Ryouichi Ikegami.
For his Spider-man manga?
No, Otokogumi! It can’t be anything other than Otokogumi! (laughs)
Would a typical delinquent manga be to your tastes?
No. Ikegami has such pretty art, and Otokogumi has deeply moving drama. I like Mikiya Mochizuki, too. Wild 7‘s ending was just… tears, tears, and more tears… (laughs)
It sounds like you enjoy “cheesy” drama.
I do, basically. (laughs) Actually, I only realized it after you pointed it out just now.
I didn’t think this would be the case, but it seems you’ve seen Etsuko Shihomi’s Sister Street Fighter series?
I’ve seen a few. It’s a shame. I wish Shihomi had starred in more high-budget works along those lines. In terms of Toei films, I also liked director Kinji Fukasaku’s Battles Without Honor and Humanity series.
I suppose that’s thanks to parts 1 and 2 for Mikio Narita’s performance.
How did you know? (laughs)
It follows the same preference for physical attractiveness we noted a little bit ago. (laughs)
First love… and the future
Now then, we’ve reached the long awaited First Love Chapter…
Huh?! Wait, wait, we definitely can’t be talking about that…
But the audience would like to hear about it.
Do they, now….
If you were the only one who didn’t talk about it, the interviews would become unbalanced.
No, no, it’s fine. It’s completely fine, hehe. (said while smiling and looking the other way…)
Then I’ll ask it this way instead. Were you the same as Yohko at the start, or the same as Yohko at the end?
Hmm… (deep in thought)
Are you able to tell us?
I suppose, but… First love is like, yearning for the person, right? Like for a classmate. That sort of love… Well, I’m not sure if it goes as far as a first love, but… I never confessed it either way. I did things like take pictures, but you know…
So you did things like getting photos on school trips, and the like?
Yeah. And like, if they were walking by, you could pretend to be taking your friend’s photo, then snap them walking by instead. People did that kind of thing a lot.
I completely understand. So, what about your plans to marry?
They don’t exist. Well, for now, they don’t. (laughs)
Do you have any goals for it related to your age?
Goals, huh? I’m not sure… Working the way I do now, I’m not sure I would want to be tied down like that…
I understand.
The hours are pretty irregular, after all. If I were to uncharacteristically try living an orderly life, something would be bound to go wrong. Right now, I don’t have to think much about it.
What about marrying someone in the industry?
I don’t really have any desire to marry someone in the industry… (laughs)
Speaking of female directors, there aren’t very many in the industry. Why do you think that is?
Well, it takes many years before you can become a director. So the number of women who’ve reached the appropriate age… (laughs) isn’t as high as the number who have quit.
So it’s not that it’s unsuitable for women, then?
I don’t think so. It’s just that it takes a ton of endurance, and there are a lot of responsibilities… that’s it. It’s just really hard work.
As a female director, what are your thoughts on what is referred to as lolicon anime?
Personally, I hate it. Frankly, I think it’s disgusting. Something about it just feels really gross. It’s also readily accepted, and a lot is being made, right? It just makes me wonder why. Well, home video is different from TV, so if the people who want to see it spend their money on it, they have that freedom… Personally, though, I don’t like it.
In terms of your job, would you like to try production work?
I don’t think I would want to do something like that right now. In the future, it’s possible I might want to try it, but for now, I think I want to try a lot of things focused around art.
If you could plan to do anything you want, what genre of work would you like to do?
Since nearly all anime watchers are young people, I’d like to make a work that’s fun to watch, and makes you think “that was really good…” after you finish it. I wouldn’t be particular about the genre.
Thank you for giving so much of your time.
THE TRASHLATION BLOG 
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