Editor's note (04/10/08):

This interview was originally part of a single page that contained multiple interviews, and the author's convention experience merged between Q/A segments. We've moved to a new format where each person we interview gets their own page, and our experiences related to the interview appear above the interview transcript. A handful of very minor edits and omissions have been applied for clarity. We realize that some of these older pages will still look funny, but we believe that the consistency achieved makes up for that. At any rate, if you wish to view all of the pages that were originally part of the convention report, click here.

At Animazement 2003, I had the opportunity to speak to a number of fascinating guests who had come all the way to the con from Japan. I had prepared a great number of questions to ask, but ultimately due to time constraints, I was only able to ask a few at each press session in which several of the guests would get to sit down and respond to the questions posed by the few of us who showed up, with the aid of several translators.

On Friday, I sat down at the table with Yasuo Yamaguchi, Hiroyuki Kitakubo, Yoshinobu Yamakawa, and Kazuto Nakazawa. Mr. Yamaguchi has directed a number of productions, such as Ge Ge Ge No Kitarou, Getta Robo, and Devilman, but he is best known as having been the chief planner of Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon. Mr. Kitakubo is best known for having directed Roujin Z, Blood:The Last Vampire, and Golden Boy. Mr. Yamakawa has taken on a variety of jobs, particularly director and character designer in a number of series, and his work was featured in Di Gi Charat and Slayers Gorgeous, amongst others. Mr. Nakazawa is an animator, and best known for his work as the character designer for El-Hazard:The Magnificent World. During this first press session, I was only able to ask a couple of questions, as the time quickly flew during that hour, but I tried my best to make them interesting ones. I opened with a question to Yasuo Yamaguchi.