#another movie that impacted me a lot was the princess mononoke but for different reasons

[m00ngbin]

I think the movie that has impacted me the most was Don't Look Up and I think everyone should watch it but not if they have problems with existential dread

[tantai-jin]

thouttes abt the boy and the heron

informal summary of some of my impressions and interpretations now that i've watched the film twice and want to put some of this into words... more like assorted notes than an essay with a refined theme or thesis. obv some spoilers ahead

p much the biggest impression i had after my first watch was that this film felt a lot sadder than many of the other studio ghibli a/o miyazaki films, and i think i pinned down some of the reasons better after a second viewing. main examples of this to me were

prominence of death in the story/worldbuilding

dreamlike elements were generally more unsettling and lonely rather than whimsical

music

protagonist's relative solemness

the finality of goodbyes and endings

want to expand on all of these a bit -- be warned that i will have some comparisons w other ghibli films, but since i have not watched all of them super recently and there are a couple i haven't watched (from up on poppy hill, porco rosso) my comparisons may not be that accurate. but i'm not writing an academic essay here, so bleh. for me, the point of comparison here is not to say which story did what better but to look at some similar elements and see how they evolved to serve this story. anyway!

prominence of death in the story/worldbuilding

i think actually the majority of ghibli protagonists have to deal with death intimately -- they may be orphans or have a parent who passed away or is on the verge of it. i think the difference in this movie is that mahito is still grieving for his mother in a more obvious (to the audience) way with his dreams, and then he enters another world through the tower that is "mostly" filled with the dead. kiriko and himi are not dead, but they seem to be more "liminal" than say natsuko or mahito -- younger versions of the people that mahito knows, around in this other world for a very long time, perhaps as long as they can remember, taking care of the warawara who will eventually become the living in the world(s) "above". it's not really clear (to me) if this is THE underworld or afterlife -- although it's filled with the dead, to me it felt like it was just a possible location, one of many possibilities. but then again it also hosts The Stone, which floats above a little island covered in blocks that are made of stones for tombs and tainted with malice. the source of power (and arguably life) rests directly above one representation/connection to death. i don't have a full thesis here but i am chewing on the thought

i thought it was really interesting that the dead did not have the power to kill in this world, and kiriko and himi seem to be the only people apart from the tower master who have powers (kiriko with that wand of fire) + the dead and warawara have to rely on kiriko for the fish catches. anyway i think death itself felt more prominent to me in this film bc mahito was always feeling the absence of his mother and then sunk into a world of death, even if death was not the only thing in that world.

dreamlike elements were generally more unsettling and lonely rather than whimsical

this movie felt a lot more liminal and generally "dreamy" to me, and while a lot of ghibli films are known for their whimsy and cute elements i felt that this one leaned a lot harder into creatures or sensations that were less pleasant. ofc i don't think it's the first one to do this -- off the top of my head, princess mononoke, spirited away, and HMC all definitely depict some "unsettling" stuff like gushing blood, goo, creatures or people melting, and so on. but in those works i feel like there are also a lot of beautiful or cute and whimsical creatures or moments to balance that out a bit, whereas in the boy and the heron it seems to happen less or it Feels less (to me) bc the unsettling parts have greater impact (to me) than the ~beauty~. the heron is beautiful and graceful at a distance, and then it follows him from window to window, interrupts his sleep, flies directly at him like an attack. you have the serene pond by mahito's house in his original world, and then there are the mobs of fish and frogs chanting at mahito and almost smothering him. you have the cutie warawara, and then some of them are eaten or go up in flames. you have the beautiful structures and gardens of himi's home and The Tower, and then you have the unsettling murderous parakeets in them. maybe the point is that they are all "tainted" or somewhat balanced like this.

also, the loneliness. again, not unique to this film, but i felt the presence of it more heavily, especially visually. in mahito's house in the countryside, most of the rooms are quite bare, save for natsuko's bedroom with its ornate wallpaper and carpet. mahito's room is quite sparse apart from the books on his desk. once we get into the sea world, it's wide and relatively empty -- an uninterrupted expanse of sea, eventually dotted with small islands, but those little islands are quite sparse too, mostly filled with trees. the lines of sailboats on the horizon, "none of which are real," as if they're all optical illusions. the rowboats powered by the dead, all of the rowers onboard appearing exactly the same with no way to differentiate one from another. inside the tower and near it, there are also these "bare" spaces -- that very illusion-like space of those arches, where you have to cross that empty and silent expanse from darkness into the blinding light that leads into the paradise-like garden. the island where The Stone is, just a hill covered in stones and grass growing over top. the delivery room, which is dark and bare apart from the mobile with the rotating paper strips. so much of it felt isolated and quiet in a lonely way to me.

music

to tie in with that last part, i think the music also felt generally more sparse and solemn than other ghibli osts, and i'm sure it was intentional. i've been listening to the ost for the past two-ish weeks and my impressions are that there's generally "less" orchestration and a lot more isolated piano sound. a lot of that piano is slow/drawn out and there's not as many chords, and the chords that Are there are simpler (maybe only two or three notes). there's a lot of intentional dissonance, both in piano parts And the parts with more instruments -- isolated piano is more obvious, but i can definitely hear it in the strings. it's hard to explain more than that without like, showing examples of specific clips or sheet music lmao but i think it definitely contributes to the overall moods of loneliness, somber tones, and unsettling vibes. like when you know you're having a really weird dream but can't wake up from it.

protagonist's relative solemness

most ghibli protags are precocious and have a greater sense of responsibility than the average child/teenager their age, but i really felt it with mahito. the sequence of him briefly in school was so interesting -- i really like how there was no dialogue in it and it was just music, bc the conversations didn't really matter when mahito was going to purposely isolate himself/make it so that he didn't have to go back and attempt to make friends there. mahito does have moments where he shows strong emotions: grief abt his mother, anger when the grey heron "disrespects" her honor with the illusion of her, more anger when he sees the warawara being burned, determination when he tries to get natsuko out of the delivery room. but in general those seemed like short bursts between longer stretches where he felt much more solemn and accepting of the current circumstances. when in the sea world, his curiosity about it felt restrained or maybe even limited -- he was there to find natsuko and nearly everything else was less of a priority. even when he decided to accept natsuko as his mother, it felt almost like he knew it was his fate and he simply had to go along with it without any other passionate conviction. he didn't seem to care about finding his own path or realizing any dreams for his future. i don't think this is a bad thing, but it was a different tone than i was used to for most ghibli films.

the finality of goodbyes and endings

again, certainly not the first time something has literally crumbled or been destroyed in a ghibli film: the forest in princess mononoke, howl's moving castle falling apart, the existing ravaged/poisoned world in nausicaa. however, i think the scale of it was much wider here: instead of an important structure or one contained place, the original stone was shattered and that whole world collapsed completely into space/time so that the pieces could not be rebuilt. the ending still has some hope - mahito chooses to return to this world so that he can be with his family and friends. but seeing how worlds could be built with two handfuls of building blocks and be knocked down just as easily, and then watching all of it shatter before his eyes? watching the (probably) only remaining version of his mother go through the door to another world separate from his own? a bigger loss to experience, imo. if the stone was destroyed and the tower collapsed, there's no other way to even try to get back to that portal space and other worlds (not that mahito would actually try to). that's the point, and despite knowing that, it still feels like a heavier blow to me that All Possibility is truly gone. unless another similar stone falls from the sky i guess lol, but the point is that it would never be the same.

as one friend put it, this felt like a goodbye from miyazaki. the possibility for a perfectly harmonious and peaceful world does not exist; those in power will seek to destroy what they cannot control and there may be no coming back from it; perhaps you must accept that you must live in a world of atrocities.

and one last thing i wanted to talk abt even tho this is so long already: symbolism regarding suffering & critique of society

not at all surprising that this film too shows some effects of war, but that was not the biggest impression of Suffering that i got from it. three main examples for me: the pelicans, the parakeets, and the building block stones.

pelicans: brought to this world by the tower master himself, unable to eat most of the fish in the sea, forced to eat the warawara to survive. doing something that others consider terrible bc they have to in order to live. no matter how they try to escape, they can only fly so high and it's not enough. birds that forget how to fly and/or are (symbolically) chained/caged to one place (there is prob more to be said abt how there are so many birds in this movie and they're all fucked up in a way but i don't have the thoughts/words to expand on it).

parakeets: normally(?) considered cute but kind of grotesque in this story, at least in the sea world. often moving in units like soldiers or as if an assembly line, mechanically and identically, having not much purpose other than guarding their territory, identifying and eating outsiders/intruders (the living??). seem to be kind of stupid -- can be tricked very easily. they unanimously celebrate their king, a parakeet that looks more like an eagle bc of his coloring.

speaking of which: the king himself, insisting on punishing transgressors even though they haven't done any tangible damage, holding rules/the current system in greater esteem than the situation in reality. claims to do everything for the good of his kingdom/people but haphazardly tries to seize control and build a new world himself when mahito won't do it. on the one hand, it makes sense that he would get mad that an outsider (mahito) has so much control over and responsibility of his people, rather than the parakeets taking care of themselves. but then he decides he'd rather destroy everything rather than rebuild? he does not wield his power responsibly here, and in the end he also has to escape. i feel like i'm barely scratching the surface of the potential commentary about this, and i definitely am not being precise enough with my wording. but it's not a very subtle allusion being made in the film haha

and then, the little stones! first, it's interesting that supposedly an entire world comes into being and continuously exists because of a couple pieces balancing on each other. perhaps more ironic that they resemble children's toys, simple shapes, but then are made out of the same material intended for tombstones. precariously stacked to make a new world, and they have to be rebalanced -- always shaped by someone's actions, not just something that stands on its own.

a whole mound/small island of them tainted with malice, and above them floats the ~divine~ stone, source of all power. mahito won't touch them, so the tower master searches through space to find pure ones. even stones untouched by malice cannot create a purely harmonious and peaceful world because the creator/master will always have some malice on their hands, some stain that makes them imperfect. he does have one piece with him when he returns to his original world -- sign of potential for building something new in the future, even if it's just in his own world? or is it just a momento of everything he experienced?

anyway. phew. how to end this. there are def some things i still don't understand fully - why natsuko was in the delivery room/why she felt like she had to have her baby in this world; what exactly made mahito decide to accept natsuko as his mother; the tomb behind the gate that said "those who seek my knowledge will die." there's probably more but i can't think of it right now. maybe an eventual rewatch in the future will unveil more for me! but i do think the mystery is part of the fun and part of the intention. it's hard to understand every facet of a dream.

[eyesaremosaics]

Feminist film recommendations?

Hmm interesting question anon. I will list some of my personal favorites (in no particular order) hopefully you enjoy them.

1. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

I felt like there was fire in my veins walking out of the cinema. Not only is Charlize Theron’s Furiosa a total badass, but the best thing is that it’s not just her. To have such a range of women portrayed equally and beautifully was so uplifting. Women caring for each other, lifting each other and fighting hard for what is right. We need more of that, both in Hollywood and in life.

2. The color purple (1985)

Read this book in high school, about a sisterhood of women, all standing together against the racism and sexism that they face and somehow coming out on top. It’s an inspiring story of women coming together in the face of adversity.

3. Gone With the Wind (1939)

Scarlett was the most coveted female film role of all time. Despite the films obvious flaws as a result of the time period in which it was made, overall this is a feminist parable. Scarlett is above all else–a survivor. She never gives up, digs her heels in, rolls up her sleeves and does it. She faces adversity with admirable courage. Despite the fact that she is a terribly flawed human being, you can relate to her. She sets her mind to something and she does it, whether it’s dragging her family out of poverty or eating as much BBQ food as she damn well likes. Her flaws make her human, which adds richness to the overall story. Scarlett has inspired me to persevere at the darkest of times. When all hope seems lost, “tomorrow is another day.”

4. Erin Brockovich (2000)

I love Julia Roberts, and this movie stands out as one of her best in my opinion. A single mother, fallen on hard times, but somehow holding everything together. Making the best of a bad situation, an eternal realist. Portraying a woman as much more than she appears. She uncovers some dark secrets (chemicals leaked into the sewer systems) which led an entire community to develop terminal illness. She works tirelessly to expose those responsible and find justice for those who can’t help themselves. My favorite line is when this bitchy secretary says: “maybe we got off on the wrong foot here.”“Yeah lady because that’s all you got, two wrong feet and fucking ugly shoes.” Bahahaha

5. Suffragette (2015)

Tells the story of the women’s right movement at the turn of the last century. It taught me to stand up for myself, and for women everywhere. Very proud to have that as a part of our history. Incredibly grateful to all the women who fought tirelessly, endured persecution, humiliation, incarceration to ensure my right to vote.

6. Pocahontas (1995)

Pocahontas is VERY loosely based on the true story. Disney took a lot of liberties here which mask the horror of early American history and its impact on the native Americans. HOWEVER, what I like about her characterization in this film… Is that she was strong, rebellious, bold, adventurous, and wise. She went wherever the wind took her, a true free spirit. She was graceful, and kind in ways other Disney princesses were not. The purity of her heart and the message she had to bring, stopped a war. She is a warrior, but not one that fights with weapons, she fights with love. In the end she chose herself and her duty to her people over a man. I wanted to be just like her when I was a little girl watching this in the theater, and she still inspires me today, nearly 20 years later.

7. Fried green tomatoes (1992)

I watched this film when I was in high school, with low expectations and was very surprised to discover how moved I was. A story of two women, finding empowerment within oneself. The main character listens to a story from an elderly woman and learns how to love herself. I believe it’s important to encourage other women and learn from each other.

8. Obvious child (2014)

Jenny Slate’s character has an abortion after a one night stand with a guy she actually really likes. However, she knows she isn’t prepared for it and chooses to terminate the pregnancy. There’s great friendship and family in the film and it really helps to destigmatise abortion.

9. Wild (2014)

The book is arguably better, but the film is worth watching. A woman goes out and hikes one of the worlds longest trails, on a mission to find herself and to prove that she can finish what she starts. Finding herself on the elements, and getting clarity. Very freeing and inspiring.

10. Kill Bill 1 & 2 (2003)

Uma Thurman is a boss, and everyone knows it. She is so vice tally connected to her inner life as an actress, always enjoy watching her. These films are what she is most known for nowadays, and for good reason. It’s a story of revenge. A woman is almost murdered by the man she loved, pregnant with his child. Wakes up in a hospital, having been in a coma for years. Suffered all kinds of indignities, she willed herself to walk again. Dragged herself by her fingernails until she could rise up, strengthen her skills as a warrior, and set out to settle old scores. She takes each person down one by one, yet you still find the humanity behind each character and the reasons why they did what they did and became who they were. It’s about survival, perseverance, and ultimately in the end–forgiveness. Leaving the past behind, to start over again.

11. She’s beautiful when she’s angry (2014)

It’s a documentary about the feminist movement in the 1960s and 1970s, with interviews with many of the women who were part of it. Sure, it makes you angry to see injustice, but it’s also highly uplifting to see what these women did, and how it paved the way for equality forty to fifty years later. These women were, and still are, amazing figures who haven’t stopped fighting.

12. How to make an American quilt

A group of older women reflecting on their lives around a quilting table. Each of their stories are so inspiring, and the way they all come together to heal from their traumas is very powerful. Winona Ryder’s character (Finn) is experiencing a late twenties crisis of identity, and is unsure about wether or not to get married to her long term fiancée. Listening to the lives of all these women helps bring perspective and clarity to her. Life is never black and white, life is like a quilt. You build as you go along.

13. Frida

This Selma Hayek-fronted, Academy Award-winning biopic of the feminist icon portrays the artist in a whole new light. It’s amazing to watch the story of any incredible historic figure succeed against the odds, but double if said figure is also a woman and shot so beautifully by Julie Taymor.

14. The hours (2002)

This film follows three women as their lives weave in and around the narrative of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway. The multi-generational movie shows how people are connected through time by similar angst, anxieties, and personal struggles.

15. The Stepford wives (1975)

What happens to women when things are too perfect? The answer might make their husbands happy, but the truth behind what is happening in this ideal-seeming suburb is nothing short of horrifying.

16. Miss Representation (2011)

A documentary on the way women are treated and portrayed in the media, this film broke open the truth behind the images women and young girls are force fed on a daily basis. Start your watching here, if you can, and then continue on to these other films to see how much has and hasn’t changed.

17. North Country (2005)

A fictionalized account of the first majorly successful sexual harassment case in the United States, this film follows the female miners who fought for their right to work without suffering the abuse their male coworkers heaped on them because of their gender.

18. The Headless Woman, Lucrecia Martel

New Argentine Cinema figure Lucrecia Martel draws connections to the country’s dark political/class struggles, transposing its “disappeared” from the mid-to-late ‘70s into a sedate, challenging story about a woman’s fractured state following a fatal accident and its ensuing cover-up.

18. Princess Mononoke, Hayao Miyazaki

A thread of feminism weaves itself through the work of Hayao Miyazaki. Perhaps his most mature film, Princess Mononoke features a memorable and tenacious heroine, San, who subverts feminine stereotypes and is written without the fanciful quirks commonly found in animation. She is serious and single minded. Grounded to the earth, living in the moment. She is totally present, and pure. Even her rage comes from a pure unadulterated place. Wolf-goddess character Moro deserves attention as an unlikely mother figure that is fierce and, well, totally pissed off (you would be too if people were destroying your home), but also wise and nurturing. Fighting for what’s right, against impossible odds. Being humbled by nature, the ultimate female reclamation. So many layers in this film.

19. Dogfight, Nancy Savoca

A rare film set during the Vietnam War and told from the perspective of a woman, Nancy Savoca’s Dogfight reveals a different kind of cruelty people inflict upon one another, off the battlefield — in this case, a group of misogynistic Marines using women in a contest of looks. Lili Taylor’s peace-loving Rose, who becomes one of the targets in this game, soon realizes she’s being courted by River Phoenix’s Eddie for the wrong reasons — though his guilt and seemingly genuine interest in Rose is apparent. Rose confronts Eddie about the game, defending the honor of all women involved, which winds up bringing them closer together.

20. Alien, Ridley Scott

She’s not a sidekick, arm candy, or a damsel to be rescued. She isn’t a fantasy version of a woman. The character is strong enough to survive multiple screenwriters. She was lucky enough to be played by Sigourney Weaver,” said Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America President John Scalzi of Ellen Ripley from 1979’s Alien. Defying genre cinema’s gender clichés (she is gender neutral, really) as the clear-minded, intelligent, and capable officer of the ship Nostromo, Ripley is more resourceful than the men who employ her and steps in to take over when all hell breaks loose.

21. Orlando, Sally Potter

Our own Judy Berman recently highlighted Tilda Swinton’s performance in Potter’s adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s satirical text that explores gender and artistic subjectivity, a project that was ambitious in both form and content:

“Although it’s far more straightforward a narrative than most of her work, Virginia Woolf’s Orlando still presents one major challenge for the big screen: its protagonist is a nobleman in Elizabethan England who lives a life that spans centuries, and is suddenly transformed into a woman midway through it. Tilda Swinton may be the only (allegedly) human actor equipped to play the role of such a regal, mysterious androgyne, and her performance in this adaptation — also a breakthrough for director Sally Potter — became her signature.”

22. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Jacques Demy

Celebrated for its vivid milieu, Jacques Demy’s sensitively characterized film is a superior look at an independent woman (Catherine Deneuve) in a romantic narrative who makes difficult choices about marriage, children, and survival that sometimes leave her alone — but she is never lonely because of that.

23. Daisies, Vera Chytilová

The young women in Vera Chytilová’s Czech New Wave farce “construct fluid identities for themselves, keenly aware of their sexuality, toying with the men who pursue them. It’s an exhilarating, surreal, anarchic experiment, framed by the turbulent 1960s.

24. Daughters of the Dust, Julie Dash

Julie Dash directed the first feature film by an African-American woman distributed theatrically in the United States in 1991 — a stunningly captured look at three generations of Gullah women off the coast of South Carolina and Georgia in 1902.

25. Meshes of the Afternoon, Maya Deren

The bar for avant-garde female filmmaking, born from personal experiences and anxieties. Maya Deren’s 1943 experimental classic builds its interior female perspective and constructs of selfhood through dreamlike imagery.

26. The Passion of Joan of Arc, Carl Theodor Dreyer

Critic Jonathan Rosenbaum on Carl Theodor Dreyer’s crowning achievement, released in 1928, that still painfully echoes contemporary cases of female oppression — the film’s silent context taking on an unintentional resonance:

“Carl Dreyer’s last silent, the greatest of all Joan of Arc films… . Joan is played by stage actress Renee Falconetti, and though hers is one of the key performances in the history of movies, she never made another film. (Antonin Artaud also appears in a memorable cameo.) Dreyer’s radical approach to constructing space and the slow intensity of his mobile style make this ‘difficult’ in the sense that, like all the greatest films, it reinvents the world from the ground up. It’s also painful in a way that all Dreyer’s tragedies are, but it will continue to live long after most commercial movies have vanished from memory.”

[animeslovenija]

Hiroshi Shimizu interview

Interview: Studio Ghibli Key Animator Hiroshi Shimizu by Zac Bertschy

Sep 8th 2017

It isn't often you're given the chance to sit down and talk to someone like Hiroshi Shimizu. As a key animator, his work spans virtually the entire history of anime most fans these days are familiar with, from Studio Ghibli's groundbreaking, beloved work of the 90s to just about every flavor of Lupin III. A frequent collaborator of superstar director Sayo Yamamoto, Shimizu handled character design on Michiko & Hatchin – an experience that led him to work on just about all of Yamamoto's projects since then, including some key animation for Yuri!!! on Ice. With an unbelievable career like that, there's so much to discuss – which is why we were honored to get a chance to speak with the man himself at Crunchyroll Expo this year.

Of the films you worked on at Studio Ghibli, which one was the most memorable?

The most memorable one for me would probably be the first one – Only Yesterday. The big difference between that project and others that I've worked on is that I worked on it from one cut to one cut, fully animating. It involved a lot more work.

There's a scene in Only Yesterday where they play baseball. I did a bunch of research for this – I went to watch elementary school kids play baseball, and put a lot of effort in to trying to draw it naturally.

Which one was the most stressful?

Well, I originally became involved with Studio Ghibli because I wanted to work with Hayao Miyazaki. One of the first projects I worked on with him was Princess Mononoke, and it was difficult to meet the demands of production – the bar was really high, so I had some trouble with it.

You worked with both Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata on films they directed. How would you compare the two experiences?

Miyazaki is an animator, he can draw. He'll draw what he wants you to do – he'll illustrate the movement, hand it to you and show you what he wants. Takahata doesn't have that background – he has to explain to you using words what he wants to see. So it's a very different experience.

Did you see the documentary “In the Kingdom of Dreams and Madness”? What did you make of it?

Yeah, I saw that when it came out. They actually had a camera crew inside Studio Ghibli for 24 hours a day over several days – I think it was pretty accurate. Every time Miyazaki got angry about something the crew would rush over. Really any time he said anything they'd hurry over and make a scene out of it.

Are there any cuts of yours in the Ghibli films you've worked on that you're particularly proud of? Any we should watch out for, scenes we might recognize?

There's a scene in Porco Rosso where children are taken away by pirates and they're playing around, but the kids are causing problems playing around on their ship. That's when Porco Rosso arrives and starts firing. I had a great time working on that scene – and Miyazaki even complemented me on it.

What prompted you to leave Ghibli?

Mononoke Hime was very tricky to work on. Miyazaki-sensei was very strict – at the time, that was supposed to be his last movie. He had very strong feelings about it and was very demanding – everyone felt a lot of pressure. After that, I didn't really want to work at Studio Ghibli anymore.

You've worked with a huge variety of anime directors, from the late Satoshi Kon to Mamoru Oshii, and you've directed plenty of animation yourself. What makes a good animation director, in your opinion?

It takes someone who has clarity of vision and can clearly express what that vision is. It doesn't matter if it's Kon-san or Oshii-san – it needs to be someone who can explain things to their staff and clearly convey what they want and what they're going to need. Having that power of self-expression and being able to explain what you want is crucial to being a director of animation. If you can't – and you look at the work of someone who can't do that – their work is all over the place, and it doesn't really hold up.

Is there someone, or even a studio, you enjoy collaborating with the most? If so, why?

It was during my time on Mitchiko & Hatchin – working with Sayo Yamamoto, it was her first time directing actually and I got a lot of clear communication from her on that work. She was someone I really enjoyed working with.

You did key animation on Yuri!!! on Ice too – did that come about due to your collaborative relationship with Sayo Yamamoto?

Ever since Michiko & Hatchin I've been getting offers from Yamamoto-san to work on her projects – she called me to work on The Woman Called Fujiko Mine, and she called me to ask me to work on Yuri!!! on Ice. I was busy with a Doraemon movie at the time, so I could only participate in the last few episodes of Yuri!!! on Ice.

You handled character design on Michiko & Hatchin – was that a new experience for you? What lessons had you learned in key animation that prepared you for character design?

It's very different work – there isn't much overlap between key animation and character design. One thing I did think of is that it's important to make sure the keys are easy to move, to design things so they're easy to animate.

You were designing those characters from scratch, right?

For Michiko & Hatchin, yeah, it was from zero – I'd show the designs to Yamamoto-san, she'd give me feedback and I'd change it a little bit at a time, that's how it came together.

You served as animation director on Gundam: Reconguista in G – did you work directly with Tomino at all, and if so, what was that experience like?

I wanted to work on Gundam because I'm a fan of Mr. Tomino. A friend of mine from Studio Ghibli – Yoshida Kenichi brought me in. I'd heard these rumors that Tomino-san was super scary so I kept my distance. I basically didn't see him the entire time I did my work, so I didn't actually run into him until the closing party. I did get to meet him once there – because it was the wrap party, he was actually really happy, so I didn't have to worry about seeing that scary face.

You directed a couple episodes of Space Dandy, which you also storyboarded and did some guest character design for. How much creative control did you have over the story on your episodes? Was the production process on that show different than what you were used to?

I was contacted by Shinichiro Watanabe as the project was coming together, asking if I'd like to have input in the overall story, but I was busy with other work. He did bring me in to work on the storyboards for a few episodes, and I was able to put some influence in there, some of my own ideas for a change, but I didn't actually have any impact on the overall story.

There was a screenplay already there, but my creative contribution came in through the storyboards.

You've been animating Lupin III since the 1980s, through a whole array of character design changes and different eras in the show.  In what way do you think Lupin has changed the most over the years?

I watched Lupin III when I was a kid – I loved it. Then I saw The Castle of Cagliostro and also really loved that. When I think of Lupin, that's what I think of.

But I also really loved The Woman Named Fujiko Mine and also Koike's work on the franchise – those were more serious and realistic, that Lupin is cool too. In the old Lupin, you still had a serious side to it, but they had great gags – I miss the old gags, but I love the serious Lupin stuff.

Which version of Lupin was the most challenging for you to work on, and which version is your personal favorite?

Koike's stuff was the hardest – he has a very difficult style, very sharp. That was the hardest for me to replicate. There's a surprising number of people who have been working on Lupin for a very long time, across all these different styles.

Can you tell us a little about what it was like to work with Satoshi Kon? What was he like as a person?

I didn't do that much work for him, but he was actually pretty angry and scary. It might've come from the fact that he was so incredibly talented – there was probably no one better at drawing in the world of animation, period. It's difficult to be that guy. He was very strict.

What's your take on the current work conditions for animators in Japan? What do you think the major problems are, and what do you think it would take for change to occur?

The problem right now is, there are too many projects and not enough animators.  A lot of stuff winds up going overseas, to China and Korea, because there aren't enough animators to do the inbetweening work in Japan. So new animators can't learn via that experience and become better – there aren't a lot of new animators and the old ones are retiring. Good animators in general are starting to disappear. This whole process requires money and not a lot of people are paying animators very well right now – so that's another reason for the disappearance of good animators.

Do you think the responsibility is on the studio to pay the animators more?

They should probably provide more of the project budget to the animators – right now it goes other places instead.

Do you think the anime industry is in a production bubble right now?

Thanks to the internet, anime is popular everywhere and that means more and more people are watching it, and thus more and more shows get created. That doesn't mean more pay for animators and it doesn't change that much for me as an individual – but because of that passing popularity it could be a bubble.

What do you think it would take for things to change, for more of that production money to flow down to you, the animator?

I've heard that in America, it's more popular for creators to get some manner of royalties or IP rights that allow them to continue collecting residuals, especially if the show becomes popular. In Japan, you get a one-time payment, you don't collect royalties if the show is a huge hit. So I think we need a system more like that – where creators (and animators) can get some more of those residual payments, especially if the show is a hit.

Of the countless things you've worked on, what are you most proud of? Is there one cut, one piece of animation you'd like people to know you by?

I'm proud of the work I did at Studio Ghibli – it affected a lot of my other work. Also my work for Sayo Yamamoto on Michiko & Hatchin – that was very satisfying. Now that Yuri!!! on Ice is such a huge success, I'd like the fans of that show to go watch Michiko & Hatchin!

Thanks to Hiroshi Shimizu and Crunchyroll Expo for the opportunity.