When this interview was requested in mid-April, Otomo was in the most intense period of focus, as the movie AKIRA was nearing completion. We received a response from Ken Tsunoda (角田研) of Kodansha, who works at the Akira studio, saying, “Not only ANIMAGE, but all media inquiries directed at Director Otomo are being declined.” Of course, we understood this. However, this project cannot be talked about without Otomo himself.
“If it’s just an interview at the studio…” was the way Tsunoda’s words were interpreted, and though I kept an eye on him, I boldly approached the director. Initially, Otomo spoke sparingly while making layout adjustments, but when the conversation turned to his own generation of parents or children, he suddenly became passionate. Those 45 minutes were incredibly memorable.
LIVING IN TOKYO, DEPICTING TOKYO
Animage: Where did the title AKIRA come from?
Otomo: It wasn’t really anything special. From the beginning, I thought I’d make it the name of a person. There’s no deep meaning behind it.
Animage: This movie focuses intensely on Tokyo, doesn’t it?
Otomo: It’s not as thorough as the original work. If we tried to go that far, we’d never finish in two hours (laughs). So, we focused a lot on Kaneda and Tetsuo’s story.
Animage: Did you always think of setting it in Tokyo?
Otomo: Yes. For the sake of the story, if another location was necessary, we would have used it, but the story works well enough in Tokyo.
Animage: People are talking a lot about how Tokyo might fall apart. The debate on moving the capital has been gaining traction. As someone who is depicting Neo-Tokyo, what do you think about that?
Otomo: Tokyo is so cluttered, maybe it would be better to move somewhere else. Universities are moving away one after another. I’m only in Tokyo because of work; if I didn’t have work here, I’d be fine living anywhere. If I could send faxes more efficiently, I’d go to the countryside. It’s cheaper, after all.
Animage: Do you think about demolishing Tokyo and rebuilding a new city?
Otomo: That would be a big problem. It would be difficult to destroy it.
Animage: In the original story, Tokyo was destroyed in 1982, right?
Otomo: It starts with a fiction, so in the movie, the beginning of the story is on its release date.
Animage: Before the original manga began, there were already talks about Japan or the world collapsing. Back in the early ‘80s, was Tokyo the focal point of these concerns for you?
Otomo: Hmm… not sure.
Animage: In the early ‘80s, people were focused more on what was happening to Japan or the world as a whole.
Otomo: Maybe it’s just coincidence. Urban issues can be an interesting subject, but most of them are far removed from reality. Before that, I thought maybe it’s better to focus on human issues. Before Tokyo falls apart, maybe humans themselves are the ones falling apart. That’s a bigger problem. Even if Tokyo is destroyed, humans will rebuild the same things.
THE EVERYDAY DESPAIR OF PARENTS OF THE SAME GENERATION
Animage:It sounds like idealism, but what do you think people living in Tokyo should do?
Otomo: The Japanese have a serious lack of moral sense. It’s always been like that, hasn’t it? People don’t think much from a public standpoint. They just do whatever they want. I don’t know why. If you look at kids in Europe or America, they’re all pretty responsible. Is it because their education is better? They take care of their own business. They don’t cause trouble for others. They do it properly. I wonder why Japanese people can’t do that.
When my child, who is now in elementary school, was still in kindergarten, I thought, “This is bad.” During the sports day event, the kids were running toward the goal. It wasn’t a long distance because it was a kindergarten event, but there were so many parents gathered at the goal, taking photos. Even though the announcer was saying, “Please don’t enter the area,” they ignored it and crowded around just to take pictures of their own kids. Most of the parents were around my age. I remember thinking, “I don’t want to be like those bad adults I saw when I was a kid,” but I didn’t expect the people around me to be like that. I thought, “If these kinds of people are raising kids, this is doomed.” These parents were getting in the way of other children just to film their own. I don’t understand why they’re doing that. I get wanting to film your own kid, but there are rules you need to follow. It’s strange to see people ignoring those rules so easily.
It’s not like this is happening with biker gangs or anything—at least biker gangs are doing it on purpose. What’s worse is seeing parents, who break rules simply because they love their own kids. When I saw that, I felt a sense of despair.
Animage: Biker gangs are the “healthiest” of the delinquents, huh?
Otomo: Yes, they’re doing it consciously. What’s worse is when parents break social rules with good intentions. When I saw that, I felt a sense of despair. These parents are raising their kids in a selfish, self-centered way, and I thought, “I don’t want to be like that.” But now, parents my age are doing the same things, and it was disappointing. I thought we all grew up seeing what bad adults were like and agreed that we didn’t want to be like them. But then I see everyone doing the same things, and it was… I was stunned. I wondered, didn’t anyone think about this?
Animage: Do you want to send your own child to a private school?
Otomo: No, not at all. But my wife was surprised when she called her friends and found that they were all struggling with that question.
Animage: Do you have expectations for your own child?
Otomo: I haven’t said anything to my child. I tell them to become a craftsman. The other day, when I was watching commercials, I saw a commercial with a master carpenter from Nara, Tsuneki Nishioka. I thought it was so interesting. He talked about how, in the construction of Horyu-ji, the columns facing south used wood from the south-facing slopes of the mountains, and those facing north used wood from the north-facing slopes. I was moved by that. These days, everything is made so quickly, and it only lasts 20 or 30 years. I want my child to have a craft and live a simple life.
THE APPEAL OF ANIMATION
Animage:Now that the production is progressing, what do you think of feature-length animation?
Otomo: There are still a few things we can manage, but there are definitely areas for reflection (laughs).
Animage: So, you still want to continue with animation?
Otomo: Yes, I would like to continue with animation. Even though this one isn’t finished yet (laughs), I want to try working on someone else’s original drawings next time. Drawing animation is fun, but it’s not easy (laughs).
Animage: Are you working all night, every day?
Otomo: Yes, that’s right.
Animage: No breaks?
Otomo: No breaks. (Once this work is done), I think I’ll go somewhere without a movie theater and spend a couple of months relaxing (laughs).
