Dear Mr. Know It All,
If Ranma and Tenchi fought barehanded who would win and how long would the fight last?
—Doug S.

Citlaltepetl, also known as Mount Orizaba, is the highest mountain in Mexico - 5,702.6 m (18,697 ft) high. It is an extinct volcanic peak that lies in southern Mexico between Mexico City and Veracruz.

Dear Sirs,
When you evaluate a portfolio, what do you look for?
—Someone Who Wants In

Life drawing: It is absolutely imperative that the artist be able to draw people and not just in an anime style. Animators must understand how humans and animals move and how they express emotions with body language in order to be able to communicate through animation effectively. Someone who doesn't have any idea how muscle groups work is going to be a terrible animator.
Original artwork: I much prefer to see a mix of non-anime related artwork like watercolors, marker illustrations and pencil work than just one type. For animators I like to see portraits and for background artists I like to see landscapes, but I really prefer if the artist has a mix of both. Honestly, they don't have to be great, but I want to see that they think of themselves as an artist, not just an anime artist. It also helps to see at what sort of an artistic level they are at and how they handle proportion, perspective, space and color.
Original anime style artwork: Original characters are the main thing I look for in a portfolio. If an artist doesn't have the creativity to come up with their own designs then I'm probably not going to be able to find a use for him/her. I take a look at illustrations of other artist's characters, but mostly to see what their interpretation of the character is. If the images of another artist's characters are strong and those of the artist's own characters are weak then the artist is almost surely a copy artist and I definitely don't need any of those. Likewise, if the artist shows a fixation on a certain show or type of character I will be very wary. If he's obsessed by TENCHI MUYO then he really isn't going to be happy at my company because we didn't work on it and it is highly unlikely that we will do something that is close to it.
Style is not so much of a problem unless the artist can only copy other people's styles. About the only style that makes warning flags pop up is an H manga/doujinshi style. If the artist's work is obviously heavily influenced by H manga then I won't consider hiring him. I have no objections to H manga, but artists who read it a lot tend to have a different agenda than that of an animation studio, and sometimes the sexual maturity issue comes up and other problems occur. (It's really difficult for the female employees to work with guys who stare at them and drool and sit around all day doing hardcore porn sketches.)
Related: If there is manga or doujinshi or some homemade animation I will definitely take a look at that. The first thing I will try to check is that the artist actually finished something. If he has a bunch of manga but none of it is finished then it's a good bet that he won't be able to follow through with a job. Manga and animation also can help show if someone has some sort of obsession or hang-up. (Everybody has their interests, but if your ardent desire is to share your intimate knowledge of 1880 trains or your recipe for cherry pie or your foot fetish then that's fine. But do a doujinshi or web page about it—you're not doing it in my company.) Obsessed people can often find it difficult to be open-minded and grow very slowly if at all.
We don't look for perfect artists. If someone is not at a very high level but we think we can train them, we are often willing to, but this depends on their personality and how well we think they will be able to fit in the company and production system. Originality is extremely important. If the portfolio shouts otaku to me then there is no way I will even interview the applicant. (Anime company rule #1: never hire otaku.)

So if you don't hire otaku then where do you get your staff from?

There's a difference between being a fan who is interested in animation and one who is totally obsessed by it. If somebody is into fandom then that's fine. I'd even hire someone who goes to fan group meetings, cons and events. If someone comes to me and they can name every seiyuu in any show I can mention, or they live to do cosplay, then I think it is better if they remain a fan and never try to cross the border into professional animation production as both of us will end up extremely disenchanted.

Dear Scott,
I want to work in the Anime industry! Where do I start?
—Tony K.

I get a lot of e-mail, calls and letters from people all over the world who want to get into the anime industry or just to learn to create anime. I had so many that I created a form letter to reply to them and then I made a web page that I could point people to. (It needs to be updated though.)
Now I get so many e-mails that say, "I read your page about becoming an animator in Japan and I was wondering how to get a job in the animation industry in Japan" that I've had to make another letter that basically says, "Read the page again." What you see there is all I know about the subject. Some people ask if I can help them get in but I cannot do that.

Dear Scott,
How many foreigners work in the anime industry in Japan?
—Hiroshi