Anime Expo was also graced by the presence of Mr. Yamazaki Kazuo. While his name might not be immediately familiar to American anime fans, his list of credits shows that he is indeed an prominent person in this industry. A partial list of his credits includes work on such popular titles as MAISON IKKOKU, THE FIVE STAR STORIES, and PLEASE SAVE MY EARTH.
The following is a transcript of the press interview Mr. Yamazaki gave at Anime Expo 97.

You've directed films serious and comical. Which ones do you find more enjoyable to direct: the serious ones or the comical?

Yamazaki: I think it is more difficult to make comical work, but I think pieces like PLEASE SAVE MY EARTH match my personality very well. The ones that I'm not very good at or don't want to do are fighting anime or lots of battles. Those types of situations I can't get myself to like myself. If I have to put that type of scene in the story, I can direct it, but things like meaningless destruction of a city with large robots fighting, just for the sake of rhythm or tempo of the story, I can't do that.

How did you decide on what plot elements to focus on in THE FIVE STAR STORIES?

Yamazaki: Of course FIVE STAR STORIES wasn't an easy story to tell. Before I start any work, I try to decide inside myself what kind of story it should be. For FIVE STAR STORIES, I decided it was a love story between a boy and a girl. So except for the absolutely necessary battles, I got rid of the fighting. With animation you can do anything, destroy the Earth, save the Earth, or have a robot as high as any mountain or skyscrapers. But I think animation is a gallery to show what the character is thinking or the difficulties in his life. I think the medium should be used in that way. Then I can really get into it

What are your feelings towards the use of computers in animation today?

Yamazaki: When I refer to animation, it is something with a story and a character, and it's a world based on the world of pictures drawn with those characters. Making a story only with only computer graphics is something I haven't done or know about. I think computer graphics could be used to help a story made with traditional animation. I don't know if you're familiar with this game on the Playstation, but this is a game where you play a role character and make a story with them based on computer animated images. But that's very different from traditional animation.

Your work seems to have a very strong emotional feel. Is there a message you're trying to get across in it?

Yamazaki: I always think when watching a movie or reading a comic or a novel, whatever the medium is, it's not really that you get emotional about what is expressly shown or written. I think it is what you can relate to, with your personal experiences or thoughts that really gets you into the story and characters. And I think it's not due to very good direction of film, but it shows other things, messages that I want to communicate. You have to take it step by step with the characters and build up the story and characters so the audience will have time to be able to think about it. In the case of animation, everything is very capsulated. You can really control what's shown or when things come in or are introduced, so that's why I think animation is a great medium to communicate or show the emotion of the character. So that might be the reason why you get the impression that I have a strong message to communicate, as I always take the story step by step and build up the story and character so the viewer sympathizes with him.

How did you decide what to put in and what to leave out of PLEASE SAVE MY EARTH when adapting it to animation?

Yamazaki: Let me put it this way, in the case of PLEASE SAVE MY EARTH, there are over 20 volumes of original manga. My first step was to go through all that, then I would condense that into one page of paper. Then I would try to decide how to split up that one page into 6 volumes of video. And from there I reconstruct the story from that one page of concentrated story. Of course in condensing the story, there are scenes that are excluded. And some of the excluded scenes could be very attractive to some people. After I make that one page I work on figuring out how to connect one point to another point and so on, and I get a feeling on how the overall story will look. It should be relatively easy to understand, but too much explanation is not good. But with the limited show time available, you have to live with the fact that something gets excluded. In the case of a regular movie, the director watches some footage and figure out which scenes get used. However with animation you start with a limited amount of shots and pool, so everything needs to be calculated carefully, and you have to live with that fact.

Much of your work are love stories but from different genres. Which do you find the most challenging or interesting to work with?

Yamazaki: Of the work you mentioned, I think PLEASE SAVE MY EARTH to be my favorite. But I'd like to think of myself as a real professional creator, so if a sponsor approaches me with a good idea, series or whatever, I would not refuse.

Is there anything in particular you would really like to do?

Yamazaki: First of all, I like fantasy settings within present day. I also like it if after watching a program people have a very good feeling about it. I really like the stories in movies like BIG and GHOST. And I'd like to do stories like these.

You've directed television series, OVA series, and movies. Which do you like best working on and why?

Yamazaki: Television series work is aired quickly and I get a response very quickly, which makes it very rewarding. However, it is also the most tiring. I don't think I have the physical stamina to do that anymore. So I work in videos and movies that give me enough lead up time.

How did you get started in the anime industry?

Yamazaki: It really is a coincidence that I'm in this industry. Until I was 21 I was really not a good guy, a delinquent as it were. Between 10 and 21, I wasn't really at home very much. I was a floater, and went to Shinjuku and other places and I didn't know animation. I did read comics though. I saw a newspaper classified ad for someone who likes drawing: amateurs okay. So I called him up and said it sounded interesting. It was for a job as an animation inbetweener. The fun part about this story is when I got there, I was given this paper to draw some pictures which I did, and I got a message later from the guy which said to come in next week. And when I got there I didn't leave for a week. They had gopher staff who would draw pictures and such, and that guy got to rest in a room in the back while waiting for me to catch up. And when he went to sleep, my boss came in and said "Mr. Yamazaki, draw the key animations too." I said "I can't do that, I don't know how!" And he said, "Just do it." For a while I was working constantly, and only going home occasionally. But after that experience I started watching movies and studying animation, how to direct and such. At that point I hadn't really watched TV or movies.

What are the current projects you are working on?

Yamazaki: Since last year, I've been working on games, this one in particular is coming out for the Playstation, and it should be out in Japan later this year or early next year. It has four stories, a winter, spring, summer, and autumn part. I can't talk about the details, but it's about the player meeting a young female (in Japan these are called Adventure games).

Do you like playing games?

Yamazaki: Yes. Very much so. I really like WIZARDRY.

Is there anything you would like to add?

Yamazaki: Until PLEASE SAVE MY EARTH came I thought I would never direct another piece of animation in Japan. But I found this place I work with right now, Production IG, to produce good high quality work, so that's why I got back into doing Japanese anime work.