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 Saturday at noon, I sat down with the second press session's attendees, which included Koichi Tsunoda, Hiroaki Sakurai, Asami Sanada, and Kyoko Hikami. Mr. Tsunoda has worked as Drawing Director for series such as Devilman, Mazinger Z, and Uchuu Senkan Yamato, as well as the Mazinger Z meets Devilman OVA. Mr. Sakurai has been working in anime since 1984, his works inlude Hime-chan no Ribbon, Akazukin ChaCha, Kodomo No Omocha, Sugoi Yo! Masaru-san, Akihabara Cyber Team:Summer Vacation 2011, Di Gi Charat, Da! Da! Da!, and Parappa the Rapper. Ms. Sanada is fairly new to the anime industry, and best known for being the voice of Dejiko in Di Gi Charat. Ms. Hikami has been in the anime industry for over a decade now, and she has been the voices of Rabi En Rose in Di Gi Charat, Momoko in Ai Tenshi Wedding Peach, CBD Sara in Hand Maid May, Deborah in Trouble Chocolate, Lisa Hotfist in Final Fantasy Unlimited, and Ema in Geneshaft, amongst many others. During this hour, I was able to get in a few more questions than I had on friday. I opened with a very general question for all four of them to get the session going.