In the sense that emotion is designed, you are partially affected by this as an animation director, right?

Although this is a delicate question, the moment I use a theory, automatically I feel excited. Honestly speaking, I don't understand the theory. It's like, if you do this, you will get that. Not knowing whether it would be good or bad, I went ahead and made it.

Although not a challenge, I fumbled a lot about where to draw the line. Though it doesn't mean that there aren't parts where I use easy methods. Like, oops, I did it again.

Your latest work seems to depict a world that is an extension of the present, rather than the future.

That's right. I try as much as possible to approach that sort of things in my work. For this reason, while adopting the science fiction genre, while setting the story in the year 2040 for example, almost everything I draw is contemporary.

Because a Sharon could already be created in this age. Some years ago, I created stories trying to imagine what the world would be like 40 years in the future, but this time the setting is a dying planet, with almost no technological progress, I decided to set the story this way. It's almost a contemporary story, seen through the filter of fiction.

Are there any other things which you were careful about in drawing this story?

Well, not putting forth any clear enemies, for example, that's something I tried to adhere to. You know, when you put forth enemies and have them defeated, everything turns out groovy. Well, maybe that way is more fun.

However, after the crumbling of the Berlin Wall and the Gulf War, I really wondered what this thing about the enemy was about, it now looked so stale. We are in an age where the media, information are way ahead, for example, a news camera team filming a missile sent into enemy territory that hits an ally. It's like, what should I create, in this kind of day and age?

Japan is, after all, brainwashed. It's not like you can just lay the blame for that on somebody and that will handle it, and the fact that it's already far advanced today is the most scary thing.

These impressions about this age of upheaval must be reflected, to a smaller or larger extent, in your works?

I strongly feel that in being placed in this age, in living in it, you can't get away from it.

Though it may sound strange, I like traveling very much, and when coming back to Japan after having gone abroad, I feel that, yes, Japan is brainwashed. The brainwashing that goes on unnoticed is a much bigger problem than the problem of brainwashing being talked about today. That's the most scary thing.

The commonly held view of brainwashing just seeks to lay the blame on someone, say "they are evil," settling the matter this way; but it seems like that's not the way it is now. We're not living in a special time like Word War II, the fact that it's already far advanced today is scary, and also interesting.