This year’s guest list was as usual a varied one. The plethora of voice actors from the American industries includes Todd Haberkorn, Scott Freeman and Maile Flanagan among many others. Besides the beloved and honored Masao Maryuama as a guest, Madhouse also invited Hiroshi Koujina. Concerts were held throughout the weekend by the Yoshida Brothers and Home Made Kazoku as well as a special appearance by Yoshiki and Sugizo from X Japan. h.Naoto also graces the stage with his designs. This is only small part of the guestlist that were present that weekend, granting attendees the opportunities to speak with those that influence and create the Japanime culture we all love.

Friday: July 30

The morning started with me heading to the autograph area for Maruyama Masao and Koujina Hiroshi. Since Maruyama-san had appearaed at Otakon several times, the only thing I wanted him to sign was an autograph board.

Koujina was the key animator for the movie, Initial D: The Third Stage. The animation for the actions scenes has always been very good. It was an honor to tell him that I enjoyed the movie immensely.

First view: Dealer’s Room

Officially, the Dealer’s Room opens at 12pm. However, we were given special permission to explore the great hall before the crowds of people fill up the aisles.

Madhouse and more autographs

I left before the official opening since I headed to the Madhouse Industry panel with Maruyama-san. I left the panel a bit early so I could get to the autographs for Welcome to the Space Show creators.

From the left to the right in the above pic, we have character designer Ishihama Masashi, director Masunari Koji and producer Ochikoshi Tomonori. After meeting them, I returned to the Dealer’s Room in hopes to meet Peter S. Beagle who was signing as his booth.

Behind ‘The Last Unicorn’

Besides books and the animated film, the booth also sold prints of illustrations based off of the book. The gentleman that was with Mr. Beagle throughout the weekend (apparently a close friend and staff) spoke to me about the illustrations by Rebekah Naomi Cox. Ms. Cox (who is the illustrator for the recent 40th Anniversary edition covers) was inspired when she read the books at 13. Filled with images in her mind, she wanted to put them to paper. Having never drawn before, she began using a ‘$25 paint program in her family’s computer and drawing with a mouse.’ And by the time she was 17, she had created illustrations that amazed Mr. Beagle.

“And we found her quite by accident, loved her work. And Peter said actually, of all the people that did artwork based on ‘The Last Unicorn’ (and he loves a great deal of them,) her work is the stuff that he always imagines them in his head.”

What amazes me is that even now, she uses the same tools as before. That is truly an inspiration to aspiring artists who feels that the tools of the trade is merely too expensive: photoshop programs, copic markers, etc. If she can create using something so simple, it truly shows that creativity will overflow regardless of what is used.

I purchased a print. Aptly named, ‘Moon Unicorn’, the print had the unicorn standing under a full moon. A beautiful picture of deep blues and light grays that I found to be stunning. As I was getting the autograph for the book, Mr. Beagle described a bit of the background to the creation of the story. It seems that when he was writing this novel, he wanted to show his artist friend that he could succeed. At the same time, his friend was finishing a painting in hopes to show off to Mr. Beagle. Though the friend’s name was unspoken, I wonder if it was artist Phil Sigunick who was noted for being part of the inspiration to the Butterfly character. They had a laugh over their friendly competition and unknowingly being the other’s inspiration.

After the signing, I inquired about the legal issues concerning the animated movie, The Last Unicorn. Mr. Beagle had a contract with ITC Entertainment which entitled him to a certain perentage of the profits from the film. When ownership of the film changed to Granada Media, issues of nonpayment came up. Presently, the only payment that Mr. Beagle receives from the animated film itself comes from dvds sold by Conlan Press.

All in panel room 3…

Although I enjoyed Vic Mignogna’s singing and the songs he composed, I never had a chance to attend one of his concerts until that weekend. The concert proved to be a relaxing break from the morning’s activities, re-energizing me in time for the Funimation panel that followed.

The evening closed with ‘Voice Actors After Dark’ which is the opportunity for VAs to say anything, for us to ask anything in a free no-recording environment. Of course, there was crude humor, innuendos of all kinds…everything that makes it fun and over 18. To make things interesting, instead of a straight Q&A, the panelists flipped a coin which the audience member (who stepped up to the mic,) will call. If the audience member won, they got to ask the question. Obviously, if the VA won, then they will ask the question of the audience member. No details, but it was certainly a hilarious end to the first day.

Saturday, July 31: A Mitsuya Yuji Morning

The autograph session for seiyuu, Mitsuya Yuji was combined with Maruyama-san and Koujina-san. I was able to grab a better shot of Koujina-san since I missed him the day before.

Mitsuya-san came around the table to take pics with his fans. I told him that I was a fan of Anpanman, having watched it while growing up and that I enjoyed his character, Katsudonman. He started singing one of his songs which was hilarious…being that his character is a bowl of fried pork.

After the autograph session, I went to the press conference for Mitsuya-san. It was very informative (even though he only answered a few questions) since it was wrought with stories of his experiences as a veteran seiyuu and thoughts on the recording industry today.

Maruyama Masao and Koujina Hiroshi Press Conference

The press conference for Maruyama-san and Koujina-san was held after Mitsuya-san. The questions were quite varied ranging from the current projects that Madhouse are working with to the current trend of ‘moe’.

And then we had a false alarm.

Everyone probably knows by now that a bit before 2pm, the fire alarm was pulled. Everyone in BCC was evacuated to the terrace and out of the building into the streets of Baltimore. I encountered the scene when I was heading across the skyway towards BCC.

I overheard talks of the a fire and witnessed the crowds for myself somewhat grateful not having to escape outside into the heat. Interestingly enough, I found out later on that Mitsuya-san (the panel that I was attempting to head to,) went to the nearby Shertaon and continued the panel in the lobby. In either case, I wouldn’t have been able to get there even if I wanted since that is even farther than going inside the BCC. I thought that was very commendable of him and would definitely make an interesting story upon his return to Japan.

I thought that Otakon staff handled the situation well. The evacuation did not seem very panicky. If people were angry, they didn’t express their anger onroute to the Hilton. (I shall assume Japanime fans are quite mellow at times like these.) Majority assumed it was a false alarm since there were no smoke to be seen or any hint of the possibility of fire. And in an hour, people were allowed to return. To compensate for the hour loss, both the hours of the Dealer’s room and Artist alley was extended that evening and even panels were rescheduled. Getting the information out to guests was albiet difficult (without a building-wide announcement,) but the rescheduling were placed online and those who wanted to check for more information found it readily.

Eminence Panel

Since I was unable to head to the Mitsuya-san panel, I ducked into the second panel I wanted to see the most…which was for Eminence: Yura Hiroaki (director and founder,) Kikuta Hiroki (composer,) and Shihori (singer.) Yura was a guest at Otakon previously along with other members of the orchestra. He spoke the most…since he spoke English fluently without aide of an interpreter. I arrived in the midst of a Q&A session.

Masquerade X JAPAN!

The highlight of Saturday night would always be the masquerade. But really, Yoshiki and Sugizo stole the show. The link leads to the transcript for the Q&A session during the masquerade as well as the press conference that follows.

But I have to admit, I enjoyed the masquerade as well. The group that appears every other year to do ‘Street Fighter Revival’ came on again for ‘Street Fighter Revival Part Trois’ was fantastic as always. Being actual martial artists, their renditions of SF characters are always on the mark and their skit is hilarious, action packed and filled with feelings of ‘Do not try this as home…we’re professionals’. ^.^ Dance skits is a general norm in masquerades now, but I’m happy to say that there was only one Naruto dance skit…as opposed to half of the skits in another convention masquerade. (And the single one was actually well done.) My favorite of the dance skits was a Revolutionary Girl Utena one that had alot of drama wrapped up in the words and movements.

The masquerade and meeting X Japan was a wonderful way to close the evening.

Sunday, August 1: ‘The Last Unicorn’ Panel

The last day of the convention started with the ‘The Last Unicorn’ panel. When I entered, they were showing a stage performance of the story on the big screen. The performance of the small theater company caught Mr. Beagle’s eye. The actress’ depiction of the characters and story was one he liked. Mr. Beagle commented that rather than an actual horn on the actress, she wore a flower on her chest. When she was caught to be a ‘unicorn’ in a circus, than she wore a ridiculous headdress with the horn on top. When she became human, the flower laid in her hands. The stage was simple, the actors’ movements fluid like a dance…it truly was a good performance though it seemed awfully dated for a dvd.

Than they changed to the animated version. It was like watching a dvd with the commentary switched on: Mr. Beagle and the other panelist (the staff whom I spoke with on friday,) commented on the various moments and scenes. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to watch the entire thing as I left to head to the next and last press conference.

Welcome to the Space Show Press Conference

The last press conference was for the creative staff of ‘Welcome to the Space Show‘. The premiere of the movie was held on Saturday, however, I wasn’t able to attend. (The premiere was from 11:30 to 2pm. Thankfully, people noted that the fire alarm was pulled when the movie ended so no one missed any part of the movie.) I (being at a press conference at that time) didn’t see the movie, but am looking forward to it.

After the press conference, I headed to the press room and noticed the set list for the Yoshida Brothers concert. I didn’t attend the concert, but at least I have a setlist.

Last autograph session: Autograph Calvacade

The signing started at 12:30pm, but of course, it was almost 1.5 hours later when I got to get my photos signed. Sadly, not all the guys were there. Todd Haberkorn (Watanuki, TRC) left early, Jerry Jewell (Barry the Chopper, FMA), and Michael Sinterniklass (Satsohi Osugi, Higashi no Eden) were absent from this last signing.

Christopher Bevins signed my Hetalia pic as the English voice for Japan.

Scott Freeman signed the pic as Engliand.

Patrick Seitz was Germany.

J. Michael Tatum was France and he also signed my Xxxholic pic as Doumeki.

Last round of the Dealer’s Room

I stopped by the Duex Press booth and ended up speaking with one of the workers there. We spoke about the merits of various works by Yamato Nase-sensei. She show me an oversized picture signed by Yamato-sensei. It was print, but they are used internally in the comapny and are not sold makng them very rare. She said that she was going to sell it (at Otakon? I believe she was referring to another convention,) but no one bought it. I asked if could take a picture which she obliged.

The closing of the Dealer’s Room was the end for Otakon. Otakon 2011 has already been scheduled for July 29-31. Needless to say, I’ll be in attendence.

Producer Ochikoshi Tomonori worked on Blood+, Kannagi: Crazy Shrine Maiden as well as the currently airing Senko no Night Raid. Director Masunari Koji was the original creator for Kamichu! and directed many popular series including Fullmoon wo Sagashite, R.O.D. and Saber Marionette R. Character designer Ishihma Masashi was the key animator on Digimon Adventure the movie, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Honey and Clover and R.O.D. among others.

Q: Is there any project they have previously done or is in the works that they would like to work on?
Ishihama: There was a work called Yojouhan Shinwa Taikei and this allowed me a lot of freedom so this is a recent work that I enjoyed. If I’m allowed, if the opportunity comes, I would like to work on a music flick with animation included and would like to try something new on that.
Masunari: First of all, for the works I enjoyed during the actual production going on, it’s always very tough. But when it’s done, all them were very fun. And for any project for my future? Actually we just finished Welcome to the Space Show so I’m kind of like empty right now and I would like to restock on what I want to do for now.
Ochikoshi: Of course I have been involved with many works but for Welcome to the Space Show, this was my first theatrical work and had I learned a lot and it was interesting. And for the future, since A-1 Pictures have not done any giant robot battles, I would like to try on that one. But I overheard that giant robot battle are never hot in the United States. Why? Can you tell me? *laughs*

Q: For Welcome to the Space Show, you cast children for the voice actors instead of normally cast of adults to play the children? What was the influence of this decision.
Ochikoshi: When we create the visuals, there’s always a certain type of lie in there to make believe. But to mix reality or truth in there is very important to make reality so that was the reason.
Masunari: And also realistically speaking, perhaps if we try to find five main characters worth of adult voice actors who can portray all different kinds of children voices, it would have been hard to gather all those five good voice actors than finding the actual children actors. When we have adult actors do the voice for the child, just once they have to go through the filter of thinking “I’m playing a child’s part”. On the contrary, when the child actor is doing, to start with, he is already a child so the filter is already lost. And straightforwardly he can be able to concentrate on acting which is one of the strengths of child actors.

Q: The movie is a little over two hours. The time is kind of long for an animated movie (for any movie.) It will make it distributing it theatrically very difficult. Did that enter your minds when you were editing it into a two hour movie or are you going to edit it down for a theatrical release?
Masunari: Honestly speaking, we do understand that it is a little bit of a problem. But when I thought about the story of the work, it was necessary to have this length. And I think it was the best length to portray what was necessary. [One of the Aniplex staff stepped in to clarify the question.]
Ochikoshi: If there is any specific reason that force us to shorten the movie, let’s say maybe a tv program-unless it’s going to be less than two hours, we won’t get on the tv slot or something like that-unless that kind of limitation occurs, we are not considering reediting a shorter version for the theatrical release just because it’s too long. We believe that the current length is a necessity and is the best. 

Q: Specifically for Pochi and Nepo, where did you draw your inspiration for those character designs?
Ishihama: First of all for Poohi, I believe that idea first came from director Masunari. He said that first the children thought that it’s dog, but then he happened to be an alien which was interesting. That where the Pochi design ran from a dog alien. And for Nepo’s design-wise…. For this project, we had the talented creator named Okama-san and the director had asked him to create multiple designs for all of the aliens. One of which that stand out just happened to be Nepo’s base design and from then on, Nepo was created.

Q: Once again on the character design, were you influenced at all by the moe movement in Japan when desiging them?
Ishihama: For character-wise in Welcome to the Space Show, there was no effect for the moe at all in my mind. Between me and the director, we have chosen the most cute character, but there was no influence of moe in the reference of the cuteness.

Q: Why did you decide to premiere the movie in America at Otakon and what did you expect from the American audience reactions?
Aniplex staff: The Otakon chair was interested in the movie, he saw it premiere in Japan, and wanted to show it at Otakon.  He really liked the movie and really liked the creators. So they suggested me that we show, Welcome to the Space Show at Otakon.  Time timing was great so contacted them, and we’re happy to be here so that was why it happened.

Q: What do you think of the American audience’s reactions?
Masunari: Well, we couldn’t check on all the reactions from the audience unfortunately as you know what happened yesterday. *audience quips with ‘fire alarm’* But for speaking of the early part of the show, at least many of the things that we inteded for the audience to react, we have seen a very great reaction from the audience. Perhaps in comparison to Japan, perhaps 50% more bigger, straightforward reaction than we had anticipated so that was great.

Q: What do you mean by straightforward reaction?
Masunari: For instance, one of the examples is the scene where the chidren eat the wasabi and cry. In Japan, probably the audience would just kind of smirk. But here everybody would actually laugh out loud, voicing the laughter so that’s why everybody has a more straightfoward reaction.

Q: With the popularity of Miyazaki and some other Japanese filmmakers in the art house community, do you plan on doing a theatrical release for this and rolling it out to art houses? Or are you doing a one night only thing? Do you see this as rolling it out to theaters in the US?
Ochikoshi: Miyazaki Hayao as you know is a world greatly known creator. Since this is our first try on theatrical release, there is no comparison. We cannot start in the same position as they have already been establishing all these years. However, that being said, we do intend to show this throughout the whole world. So we are planning to take this around the world to cinemas, awards and competitions. And try to increase the opportunity for people to see this as much as possible. Of course, there are business restrictions, and theater owners and things, so I cannot say for what our plans going to be, but we definitely would like more people to see it as much possible.
Aniplex staff: The movie was already premiered at the Berlin Film Festival and shown in England, Germany and Sydney. [One of the press added the last one.]

Q: Since you are at the end of a project, is there a way that you like to recharge from previous projects and get ready for the next project?
Masunari: This time it was a bit special since it was a theatrical work. But normally when I work on a TV series, when a tv series is done, I put myself canned in my room at home. And keep on reading all those mangas and novels that I couldn’t read during the production for a month. And then after that, I will maybe take a short trip or somewhere to rest myself.
Ishihama: As an drawer/artist, I do not need to take a break off in order to refresh. Rather, I would like to try to challenge for something new. So for me, in order to refresh and recharge, I need to get back on a new work as soon as possible.
Ochikoshi: In my case, I can keep on working and working, so I never get a chance to refresh.

Q: You mentioned before, Ochikoshi-san, that you wanted to work on giant robots. What kind of giant robot/mecha anime series do you want to work on?
Ochikoshi: If you live in Japan, most of us from the childhood time, we’ve been growing up watching many, many types of giant robot shows and animation. Japan has been creating these kind of types of giant robot shows for tens of many years. Specifically maybe something like Gundam where people can enjoy for year after year for many times would be great. Of course, when we get the opportunity to try our new show, we would like make it something totally new, not like anything else that has been done before.

Q: Which giant robot series do you like?
Ochikoshi: Among the Gundam, I like the first Gundam the most. 

Mansuarni: I like Hideo more than Gundam.

Ishiahma: Of course I like the first Gundam. No one expected us to talk about mechas as much.

Q: Alot of people say that anime is a gateway into Japanese culture for alot of Americans. How do you feel about that idea as being cultural ambassadors from Japan to the Americans and the world?
Masunari: That’s a very interesting question because when we live in Japan, Japanese society do not treat us in that way so we don’t think about it that way. In Japan, rather animation is still more treated like a subculture. However, the world is now treating anime as a very big form of artistic expression. So we believe that it is rather the world that is putting Japan and anime closer to them.
Ochikoshi: Among all the entertainment genre existing in the world, it is very hard for any of the Japanese entertainment industry to compete on the same platform, on the same level. However, it seems like the game and animation seems to work in the world level in Japan. There are many of my friends in the music or the film industry. They say that it is very challenging for the Japanese entertainment industry to compete in the world. In comparison to that, games and anime are allowed to compete. At the same time, I personally do not feel like I represent the Japanese culture, but I would definitely like to use this opportunity to express to the world what we have.

Q: Why do you feel like gaming and anime succeed whereas other Japanese entertainment don’t do as well?
Ochikoshi: I think one of the advantage is it is easier to do the localization when it is anime. What I mean is like in the case of anime, all you have to do is do the voice over and change the words and we can easily get rid of any type of racial differences or national anthems or any of those kind of things can be eliminated from the work. That is why I think it the localization helps us to make anime more competitive. 

Q: What does it feel like to work on such treasured and works that influenced the anime community over here such as Gurren Lagann, Speed Grapher, Kite or Read or Die?
Ishihama: While I’m working on those works, I am actually not thinking of how it is perceived by the world. It just happen that the work I did was well received. But if anybody said that my work is affecting anything else in the world then that would be great.

Q: Ishihama-san, you said earlier that you like dogs. There are other animators who also like dogs and place their favorite pet in the animation they make. Would you ever consider doing that again besides Welcome to the Space Show?
Ishihama: I’ m not particularly thinking or considering of using them. But since many of my designs comes from something close to me so perhaps maybe in the near future you will see something near some of my pets into the next design.

Q: What was it about Welcome to the Space Show, what was it about the story that drew you into the project? What was that something in the story that have that “I want to work on this project, I want to do this.”
Masunari: First of all, this is an original story that we have created. So rather instead of we were attracted to the story, we created the story and forced everyone to join us. On this work, this is basically an adventure story of the five children. And we purposedly tried to recreate the feeling that camera is following these five children’s adventure…kinda like a reality show in a way. If each audience feel like they themselves are the sixth child, joining the adventure, we feel that it is our intention to make them feel that way.

Q: What do you think from your point of view makes a character memorable or iconic in fan’s minds?
Masunari: First of all, I never created the character with the intention of grabbing the audience’s attention to that character. When I create the characters, we think about the background of the character, how this character had been living, what are they going to do from there. We try to create this character that is actually living now and that’s the way of creating character rather than a certain type of formula. And whether it is a good or bad character regardless. If the character is living that movement, then that character will be very appealing definitely.

Q: Anime is so detailed, that we can see new things in repeat watchings. For Welcome to the Space Show, what are details in the movie that you want your fans to be able to catch?
Masunari: Wow, that’s a tough question since there’s so much detail that we put in there. Many of the things we want the audience to realize, we put it in an easy place to see so I think people can see it easily. However, when Pyonkichi appears at the last moment, many people wonder why Pyonkichi suddenly appears over here. But if you look out at the movie from the beginning again, there are a lot of hints in place as to why Pyonkichi would come at the end. Specifically, according to amount of infomration that is put into the work of visual entertainment, animation I beleive is a key to make them believe there are lot more information in the work even though there is actually not that many. On the contrary, on the actual film cinematography, the key is to limit what they put in there and make them concentrate on what they want to show. That’s a kind of contrast between animation and film. In case of our work on Welcome to the Space Show, we have purposely put more information then considered norm into this animation. When we usually live in our normal life, our eyes catches so many information from what you’re seeing. But your brain is limiting the information what you’re actually understand. In this case, we wanted to recreate this process on the screen. When you watch this anime, your eyes would see so many details and your brain will try to understand and limit what you’re seeing. We wanted to recreate this process although it is very difficult decision to put in that much details into the animation work. We also understand this is a very tough for the audience too, since there’s so much information on the screen.
Q: That’s okay. That means we just buy the dvd and blu-rays and watch it many many times.
Masunari: Thank you. [in English.]

Q: What were some of the influences behind the story of Welcome to the Space Show? What went into influencing and inspiring the story?
Masunari: How we came up with this story? Or something about how the production started?
Q: How did they come up with the story.
Masunari: There is four of us in the group, Kurata Hideyuki who is not here today. At the beginning there was only a theatrical release in our minds. So the four of us together, “What should we do for the theatrical release?” That’s how we came up with this story. Something that would fit with a theatrical release. When we started talking, at first we said, “Let’s make it a story of children.” And then it derived to, “Let’s make it a children’s summer adventure.” And then “Okay, let’s have the children help out a dog.” And so it went from one thing to another, together in the story. When we recognized it, they were all in space. They all went up in space.

Q: The Japanese is more conservative on financing and putting money into projects. Looking at released schedules of live action and anime. There is an increase in movies that are based on prior projects whether in light novels or manga or other types of media. This was an original story. Was there any problems fincinacing an original movie or anime?
Ochikoshi: First of all, when the project stated, it was already decided that A-1 Pictures and Aniplex would do the project together.  At the beginning point, we did not have any problem in financing because that part was already taken care of from the start. But of course that was only possible because we’ve been working with this staff together for many years. There was actual numbers and trust that made this project come true. 

Q: ‘Anime no Chikara’ is all original tv anime. How is that tv segment doing and what are some upcoming shows?
Ochikoshi: ‘Anime no Chikara’ is on TV Tokyo with also working Aniplex and A-1 as well. We currently have a total of three works on ‘Anime no Chikara’. One of the meanings of ‘Anime no Chikara’ is to create, to find out and develop the new generation of new creators.  Even in Japan, ‘Anime no Chikara’ is a very well-received project.  So for us, after these three works are done, we’re going to take a break and we’ll think about what we should do next. However, there is meaning in continuing on the next project. So we definitely would like to consider in the future, to rejoin again and keep on continuing ‘Anime no Chikara’ work.

When Masunari-san talked about the audience ‘laughing out loud’ in comparison to the Japanese ‘smirk’, I’m reminded of the movies I saw in Japan last year. As I mentioned before, for whatever their reasons (they’re too reserved, too polite, concerned about bothering their neighbors,) they are silent even at the most hilarious of moments. Only during the One Piece movie did I hear audible bursts of laughter…though not so much as it would be here. So I understand completely, the context of the answer.

After the piece, the MC appeared onstage to thank them and ask them questions. It was a pretty funny start: “Yoshiki, Sugizo, let me say on behalf of everyone at Otakon-” Yoshiki saids something to interrupt and everyone laughs. ^^; “Welcome and thank you.”

Q: Yoshiki, this is your second time at Baltimore. Sugizo, this is your first time. Have you been having a good time so far and are you enjoying yourself?
Sugizo: Yes, yes, it’s very big. *audience laughs* It’s very beautiful too. *audience applauds*
Yoshiki: This is the second time for me…do you remember me? *audience screams* This is actually the first convention that I came to. Then I remember the first time when I was here, somebody from the audience jumped on stage and kissed me. [A guy actually said, 'I would do that. XD] Is that girl here?

Audience member: She is here!
Yoshiki: She is? *looks* No, different face. *laughs* Just kidding.

Q: What do you think about Otakon so far and the people here.
Yoshiki: It’s great!

Q: What kind of differences do you see between your Japanese and American fans?
Yoshiki: You guys are both awesome.
Sugizo: Very different type, but both are beautiful.
Yoshiki: So, what’s the difference?
Sugizo: I think you are more open. I think Japanese are more polite. *audience laughs* I think you are not quiet.
Yoshiki: Okay, let me translate. That means you guys are both-more fucking great.

Q: What is your favorite song to perform from X Japan?
Yoshiki: Well, whatever you guys want. *audience starts screaming out titles*

MC: Well pretty much everything.
Yoshiki: We only perform X Japan songs by the way.

Q: We heard you have some new songs. When will they debut?
Yoshiki: Very soon, very soon.

Q: We hear you will be playing at Lollapalooza next week, are you looking forward to your performance? Can you share what songs you will perform there?
Yoshiki: Yes, I have been living in America for a long time. Actually I live in Los Angeles, so it’s been my dream to perform in America. It’s such a honor. Also, I don’t know how to describe this feeling but it’s a very special moment for us. I think when I was here three or four years ago…which one? *audience shouts ‘four’* Four years ago, yes. At that time, I was talking about reuniting X Japan. At that time I had no idea if we can reunite. Thank you so much because of you guys, we are here. Of course, thank Sugizo for joining the band too. Yeah. The songs we’re performing, we’re performing the song called ‘IV’, and than there is this relatively new song called ‘Jade’. By the way, I just finished the mixing last week. It’ll be our first single for our world wide release. The rest you have to come and check it out.

Q: What other cities are you going to tour in the US? *audience screams New York*
Yoshiki: It’s not confirmed yet, but I guess in October, we’re coming to Washington D.C. *audience explodes* and New York. *audience explodes again*

Yoshiki announces the last song. “I will perform one more song. I’m not the vocalist, the vocalist is in Japan, couldn’t make it, but he saids hi too. I just want to thank you so much for supporting us. And um…um…”

Audience member: “I love you, Yoshiki!”
Yoshiki: I love you too. *audience applauds*

The MC appeared to save the two with the announcement of ‘Endless Rain’.

After the song, there seemed to be a standing ovation…though I couldn’t tell since I (and the rest of the press) got up to head to the press room for the conference.

Yoshiki and Sugizo Press Conference

The press conference was held in a room away from the main hall. When they entered, they stood there for awhile as all the cameras went off. Than the Q&A started.

Q: Sanspo.com published a story last week saying that you had reconciled with Sawada Taiji and he would perform as a guest with the band. Is there any truth to that rumor?
Yoshiki: Well, I wouldn’t say we reconciled, well I mean, I don’t know that I’d use the word reconciled. I saw him at Hide’s funeral about 12 years ago so we talked. But I never thought we were going to perform together again. But recently, Toshi met Taiji again for the first time in, I don’t know ten years or so. Then he kind of gave me an idea, “So maybe you guys should meet too.” Then last time I was Japan, in Tokyo we went drinking. Then we started talking about something maybe playing again. You know it’s not like…Heath’s the bass player, he’s here. So, he’s more like a guest musician. So…it’s not confirmed yet. The show is two week from now, but.

Q: What are your favorite manga or anime? Or is there any current titles that you are aware of?
Sugizo: Ah, so many.
Yoshiki: For example?
Sugizo: For example, Ghost in the Shell and of course Gundam.
Q: Which Gundam?
Sugizo: I don’t know.
Yoshiki: Sailor Moon *press laughs* I’m serious! I’m serious! Umm…why not?

Q: Going back to the Taiji question. If he does perform with you are you going to be playing any Taiji songs that he’s written.
Yoshiki: Possibly, possibly, possibility. Yes. But nothing’s confirmed so…we don’t know yet. But there’s a big possibility.

Q: Can you tell us what led to the decision in LA you recorded a new videos for several songs, including ‘Rusty Nail’ that previously has a radio. What led to the decision to redo that video?
Yoshiki: Okay, so ‘Rusty Nail’ we’re also making an English version as well. So I rewrote the song in English, and that’s another reason to do a music video. Yeah, that’s the reason. That song’s going to make it to the US album.

Q: At Lollapalooza are you guys going to be performing mostly songs sung in English or are you going to perform some in Japanese as well?
Yoshiki: Good question. I’ve been contemplating what we should be doing. Because a lot of songs we are performing, we do have English versions. But…because of our fanbase in general, we may want to share some of the Japanese lyrics as well. So, some songs could be a combination of both Japanese and English. Some songs we may just go for the English version. Some just the Japanese version. What do you think?

Q: I think you should do both.
Yoshiki: Ok! *audience laughter*

Q: On the topic of Lollapalooza, what are your anticipations for it and do you intend to meet Lady Gaga or other artists performing at the festival?
Yoshiki: I think Lady Gaga is performing August 6th. And I want to watch that. Actually, I went to see her show in Los Angeles last year. Well, it’s gonna be a big day for us because it’s just our first performance, except today. But yeah…um anticipation… Well for sure we’re gonna rock. And then…um…I don’t know, what do you think?
Q: Rock out.
Yoshiki: Rock out…yeah.

Q: What are your thoughts for the future of visual kei? I see a lot more Japanese artists are consistantly trying to hit the American market. Than I see other Japanese bands appear in anime conventions or other venues. But they end up breaking up or something happens. So what do you think is the future of visual kei?
Yoshiki: Yery interesting and deep question. Um…I don’t know. *laughs* Somebody has to do it. Somebody has to break into the market. Well, I’m almost shocked right now because I moved to Los Angeles like more than 10 years ago and I wasn’t really listening to Japanese music for several years. Then I came back to Tokyo again and went “Oh…visual kei evolved.” And it was a very interesting thing. There are a lot of new great bands doing a lot of great shows. So visual kei is…I think it’s going to last. It’s gonna keep evolving. It won’t die, I think. The answer to the American market, that’s a whole new level. So, hopefully we are one of the band to break into the market. We just have to keep trying.

Q: Personal preference, quiet or loud?
Yoshiki: You mean?
Q:: Do you like quiet sounds or loud sounds?
Yoshiki: Both, that’s why I do classical music and rock.
Q: I was surprised. You were very quiet.
Yoshiki: Am I quiet?
Q: Today? Yeah.
Yoshiki: Oh yeah today, yeah. You haven’t seen the other side yet. *audience laughs*

Q: This is a question for the both of you. What would you do if you could do anything or work with anyone, live or dead, what would you do?
Yoshiki: You mean any project? *translate question into Japanese for Sugizo*
Sugizo: I really want to play on the moon. *audience laughs* I’m serious.
Yoshiki: It’s…very soon. But you have to play in the US tour first. *audience laughs*

Q: A couple years ago you released remastered versions of ‘Blue Blood’ and ‘Jealousy’. Have you given any thought to remastering ‘Vanishing Vision’?
Yoshiki: Interesting…maybe we should. Yeah…probably.

Q:: You’re currently working on a new album. What can you tell us about it other than the fact that it’s all in English?
Yoshiki: Okay. So, I’d say 50% of the songs are old songs. Such as ‘Kurenai’ or ‘Rusty Nail’ or ‘Tears’. And some are kind of new songs, like ‘IV’, ‘Jade’, or ‘Born to Be Free’. And we just recorded a music video for, along with the songs I haven’t even named yet. But, the recording’s done. Yeah, it’s a combination.

Q: How did you become involved with Repo?
Yoshiki: Ok, um…how did I get involved with that? So I was working on the movie called ‘Catacombs’, I actually composed the end title. Then the same director was working on ‘Saw’ and ‘Repo’. Actually Darren Bousman, the director of ‘Saw IV’ was also directed ‘Repo’. So then somehow, because of that connection, that lead to me producing the music for that movie.

Q: Would you like to work on more film projects in the future?
Yoshiki: Sure…working on a film project is very interesting because I’m not completely in charge. So it’s an interesting thing, when I was working on that project, ‘Repo’, Darren Bousman and I got into a nice argument. I said “You’re fired. Right?” He said, “You can’t fire me, I can fire you.” Because he’s the movie director, I’m the music director. So what I’m trying to say is, in the music world I’m usually completely in charge. I just keep going on and on and on, but working on a movie project, there’s somebody to stop me doing music forever. At the same time when I’m composing I think about pictures and then scenes in my head. So working on the movie projects is very, very interesting and very inspiring.

Q: You mentioned something about seeing scenes and pictures when you compose music. Do you every experience synesthesia…when you hear musical notes you see things like colors in your head.
Yoshiki: Sure.
Q: Are they more colors or are they definitely scenes?
Yoshiki: Um…interesting…. Sometimes very specific, sometimes very ambiguous. Umm…but, for some reason, if it’s color, I don’t see pink or something. I only see very dark red or something bloody. I don’t know why. Yeah, something dark and beautiful. If it’s a scene, I always…in a good way though, I always have some kind of death involved. Kind of like, as I said in a positive way to see the moment we are living right this moment. When I compose I usually think about that: living, death and life and dark.

Q: You’ve worked with various visual kei fashion labels before, behind the scenes just wearing their clothes. But how did it come forward to actually be presenting with h.Naoto with their presence on stage?
Yoshiki: h.Naoto, right? Well, one day I was reading some Japanese magazine then I saw his clothes and said “This is cool.” Then my management talked to them and then, “Sure, lets do something together.” So, that’s it.

Q: Alice Cooper, KISS, Twisted Sister. They all pioneered extreme levels of fashion to improve their noteraity in spite of being excellent musicians. X Japan obviously did the same thing to get a big foothold in the Japanese market with visual kei. What I have to ask is as you tone down the visual kei, how do you plan to continue differentiating yourselves from other great artists in America as you attempt to release an album in English?
Yoshiki: Hm…Good question.
Sugizo: I think just music’s good. It’s real music skill and sense. Every great band has great, great player, a great composer.
Yoshiki: Okay, yeah. Same thing. The fashion is very important for us as well. Of course it is visual kei. But at the same time, we think the music is the core, the main part. Than we’re pretty confident our music is pretty strong. Well, I wouldn’t say strong. We are very different. Well, I wouldn’t say different…unique. Because of our background, both Sugizo and I, and Toshi, three of us have classical music background, besides rock. Then of course, I do respect a lot of the bands you mentioned. We’re not trying to differentiate with somebody. Of course, we’re going to get compared with a lot of bands, but what we are trying to do is just be ourselves, not trying to be somebody. Just being ourselves, then we’re just gonna go for it.

Q: For Lollapalooza (it’s a pretty big rock festival) similar to an earlier question, there are many rock bands, you will be a band in a crowd. What kind of message would your band want to send to your fans for your US debut?
Yoshiki: Something new is coming to America. And I hope it’s gonna be some kind of like historical moment. Um…I don’t know….
Sugizo: I think…my message is very simple. Music has no borders.
Yoshiki: Interesting, but there have been the invisible walls between east and west. Than hopefully we can put a hole into that wall and then smash it totally. Eventually.

Q: How exactly did it come about that your American debut is at Lollapalooza? It’s a pretty big thing to have your first show be at a big festival like that.
Yoshiki: Well, um…I live in Los Angeles. I’d been talking to several managers or agents about how X Japan should debut in America. We thought about doing a club tour, we thought about doing a small hall tour. But then some of my people who I work with said, “How about Coachella, how about Lollapalooza…” and then I was like “Hmm…that’s very interesting. Let me think about it.” Then recently my agent said, “Let’s do it. If X Japan is ready, we can have a very good spot for X Japan.” So, that’s it. I’ve known those people.

Q: In Tokyo you have really large productions when you play concerts. On your US tour what kind of production are you kind of anticipating?
Yoshiki: Well, obviously we are just starting in the US. Now we are gonna do whatever we can have. It doesn’t have to be a huge production. We can play in clubs and everything. So, we cannot bring that huge drum riser or the production to the US until the day we can perform in a big arena. But the lighting and all of those things are part of our show as well. So we’re gonna try as much as we can. But at the same time, we are ready to perform anywhere. Without even lighting. Yeah…without even anything as long as we can play. So we do have kind of the same mentality, like when we debuted in Japan a long time ago. We didn’t have that kind of production when we first started in Japan. So we have the same mindset. We’re just starting again. Which is very exciting. To be born again.

Q: Thank you very much for your time. And I’d like to ask, what is your message for the fans who are looking forward to seeing your live shows in the United States.
Sugizo: This is really big honor for me. I really respected X Japan from a very long time ago and X Japan’s musical skill and sense is very great. When I joined them I thought, “I need more practice!” It is very, very important for me and now I am part of X Japan, it is very exciting. This time is our American debut, too exciting. How can I say? I’m just excited, and I really love Americans, all Americans.
Yoshiki: I’m very excited that finally we can perform in the US. And because of our fans, because of you guys, we could reunite the band. So without you, basically we are nothing. Nothing and nobody. I want to say thank you so much for supporting us and I would like you to support X Japan for the future as well. And we will do anything to make it up, to live up to your expectation. Yeah, we’re ready to rock the world. Thank you and I love you.

The flash from camera lights appeared as they stood up to leave the room.

Q: From everything that you have composed, which is your favorite track and which is the hardest to compose?
Kikuta: My favorite would have to be from Secret of Mana and I’m sorry I don’t have the English title for that. *plays music from the laptop* The reason I’m must fond of this, because it’s the very first piece I composed for Nintendo. And so for me, Secret of Maan of Mana was a game that involved the spirit of adventure and this is the piece that incorporates everything into it. At the same time, this was for Nintendo 64.

Q: 10 years ago, I took 2 years of Japanese in highschool so, this is the perfect time to use some of it. My apologies…. Watashi wa anta no ongaku ga daisuki desu. I don’t have a question, but I represent a website called ‘Overclocked Remix’ and it’s made up of fans of video game music and your music is very present on our website. I have remixed from Secret of Mana and on behalf of the site, I would like to present a cd of all our remixes of your music and also a shirt.
Kikuta: Thank you very much. I always listen to cd remixes and I brought something for you guys too. This is the soundtrack of Secret of Mana 3. There are are some illustrations inside. This is not the regular cd that is sold on the market. This saids ‘Not for Sale’. *audience laughs and applauds as they present the gift*

Q: Kikuta-san, concerning the ‘Lost Files’ project and concerning the ‘Island of Lost Souls’ tracks, can you elaborate on the origin of this?
Kikuta: This piece was not something that I composed on the spot. This piece was something that I had made back in my Square days. Back than, they were thinking of making a fighting game. But for whatever reasons, the project was scrapped. It was an idea that I had from back than that resurrected for this. There was a version of that piece with Yura playing the violin that is only available here for purchase at Otakon. I would be very happy if you could make a purchase. *audience laughs*

Q: What is it like working with Mizuki Nana over the years?
Shihori: Mizuki Nana is a very energetic type of person and she has been making various records in the voice acting industry. Even though she has been very successful, she hasn’t decide to quit yet. She is striving for a higher achievement still. And it’s that kind of energy that inspires me to be close to. My very first involvement with Mizuki Nana was as one of the chorus singers.

Q: Which of Mizuki-san’s song do you like and why?
Shihori: In the same single [Secret Ambition] was ‘Heart Shaped Chant’ and I was instantly charmed by the song and lyrics of this piece.

Q: I was not fortunate enough to be a musician professionally, so I was just wondering, if music did not work out for you, what kind of occupations would you have done? Or before you became a musician?
Kikuta: I would become a potter.
Yura: I think it would have to be sports. I used to play badminton.
Shihori: Actress. [in English.]

After the Q&A, Yura talked about the various games that they worked on including Valkyria Chronicles and proceeded to show some pictures of the studios as well as the orchestra members and staff, naming them and explaining the context of the photos. Yura also hinted at working on a new project with Shinkai Makoto that is ‘really big’. He asked audience members to guess, but stated that he wouldn’t tell us what it is, just that it [the announcement?] may come out soon.

When the panel ended, they announced that they will have cds for sell and an autograph session (for only a short while) at the back of the room. Of course, I jumped at the chance. I bought the ‘Promise’ album and had it signed by Yura. All three of them signed a picture postcard of themsleves which they provided.

Q: As an introduction to the question, have you heard of the talk Sato Dai gave about the state of the anime industry?
Maruyama: No, Maruyama is not aware of what kind of comments he left.
Q: Essentially, he was talking about the anime industry in the last 10-15 years. There is so much in demand, but much of the industry has been shipped to overseas studios in Korea and China. There is no new blood in the Japanese studios. Is Madhouse doing the same sort of thing or are they actively trying to recruit new people to stay with them?
Maruyama: Since Maruyama is not aware of the comment, he can’t say anything for sure in response to what Sato said. From what he can grasp right now, there may be some misinterpretation of Sato’s comments. That isn’t the state of industry that Maruyama is aware of. The situation that Maruyama is aware of in the industry is that there is some animation work that is done in Korea, but it’s not the majority. There are still Japanese creators growing up. Maruyama does think that some companies are lacking in their effort to train the new generations. We [Madhouse] are in fact working with Korea but this isn’t work-for-hire, that we’re hiring simply hiring from Korea. With Korea, we are clearly collaborating to create a series. It is not as simple as they do the work and we give them money. Actually, we’re working as a team. It is a fact that there is some decrease in companies powers or energy to educate the new generation. Maruyama’s intention to run Madhouse is that, we should always try to give chances to the new generation for them to step up. Maruyama has very high hopes for the new generation. For example, Death Note ‘s director is currently doing Highschool of the Dead, Araki Tetsuro. He is a young director, and he is looking forward to seeing how he developes.

Q: Many people consider Dennou Coil as one of Madhouse’s strongest projects because it demonstrates, in may aspects the ranges that anime can reach. What does work mean for you?
Maruyama: Maruyama believes that the director (who is also the creator,) of this project, Dennou Coil is very challenging in finding out a new way how to show animation. This project was visually attractive due to the director’s potential.

Q: There’s been a series of 3D movies in US films and a lot more HD films and dvds. How much does new technology or these new fades affect what Madhouse does. How much does it affect the creative process?
Maruyama: As for the creative process, there isn’t that big of a change concerning the HD process. The only thing is that it does cost fairly more that SD process. This could be purchasing, buying more equipment, the human resource cost as well. It just depends on the funds, or the if the company really wants to do it and if they’re able to support the cost of the process. Being HD on our side is a benefit on our side since what we do is clearly reflected on the film in quality. At the same time, there if there are some loose ends on the film, than it clearly shows up. As Madhouse, we’re not going to not tell the audience how to watch the anime. If there are demands for HD, we’re always ready to answer that. Then it is just the matter of where the cost going to be paid by, the audience or the investors.

Q: I’m really enjoying Highschool of the Dead. Is the simulcasting working out and do you see this as a method to defeat the rampant internet piracy on anime. Is this the new model for simulcast, same day as in Japan?
Maruyama: Since we’re not distributers (we’re actually a creative studio,) we can’t give a figurative answer on that. But as from the creative studio, we’re really happy that everyone around the world is able to enjoy the show at the same time. There are differences in distribution systems in each country. For example, has complex distributions where Hollywood movies come out later than the US. In Korea, they distribute Hollywood movies at the same time. For Maruyama, if there is a movie that he really wants to watch, he flies over to Korea to watch it. But as a studio, as a studio that everyone can watch it.

Q: To Koujina, tell me about your directing style or approach to Rainbow.
Koujina: If you have watched Rainbow, it’s really not a series that you get ‘happy happy joy joy’ out of it. It’s a really serious drama. There is no dynamic action scenes, no battle scenes in the series. It’s a heavy drama so he was very careful about how each dialogue fits into the drama and how each expression shows on each character.

Q: I know you have been dealing with alot of fans at the con during all the previous years and months, what are each of your favorite fan moment or fan story is in the US or Japan?
Maruyama: At the creative side of series, Maruyama feels very happy to see cosplays of their work. He has been to China and Russia and he sees the same thing everywhere: people in cosplay. He is very happy to see this phenomenon taking place throughout the entire world.
Koujina: I have been actually told that by my president, Ashida, to always take care of fans. For exampel, there was this time when someone sent Valentine chocolates for one of the characters that I was involved with. I was very appreciated of that and we enjoyed it as a staff. Not only at Otakon, but at these kinds of events, he is very happy to see people in cosplay. For example, he is very happy when he sees a cosplay of Neuro which he worked on. [Majin Tantei Nogami Neuro] When he sees these costumes, he feels that they can’t really exist without the support of these fans. So everytime he comes to these events, he really likes to take that chance.

Q: How has Hosoda Mamoru been performing in Madhouse, considering the creative freedom he displayed in productions such as Summer Wars and Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo?
Maruyama: Hosoda is one of the modern directors at Madhouse. Hosoda is one of the special people at Madhouse. Each of these directors always have something that they want to do. And every time they make something, it’s always a battle between what they want to do and what the company wants to do.

Q: What influences your work methods? Is it a creative idea or the result of research in an area and than the inspiration strikes? Do you have a philosophy about creating works?
Maruyama: When you’re working in animation, it isn’t actually an individual work. You’re always working with someone. When we’re working in animation, we’re working as a team. So there are always considerations of what kind of directors we’re going to work with and how do you combine them with these kinds of artists. Madhouse has many talented directors. So it’s always the key to find the right chemistry between all these people.

Q: How has Studio Madhouse change over the years from when it began and what do you feel has been the strength that has evolved and what do you miss the most from the old days?
Maruyama: One definite clear change is that we have more people and that equates to having more titles. But at the core, we haven’t really changed. “Maybe.” [Maruyama quips in English. *crowd laughs*]

Q: What do you guys think of the general trend of moe in anime, as an individual director: whether or not you want to use moe in your works?
Maruyama: He is not sure exactly the moe ranges from…here to there. But he actually feels that the trend to moe has actually been decreasing recently. In the case of moe, animation itself serves as a good tool to describe cute girls. Not limited them to the moe, he likes to present cute girls in different ways.
Koujina: I have never really worked on a moe series so I can’t say from my past experiences, but I wouldn’t really mind working on it. The only thing is that moe, I don’t believe has to be limited to girls. It could be shonen or it could be animals. But if there is moe somewhere in the series, its only part of what the entire series is to me. It is part of what the main thing want to convey to others.

Q: What was your biggest fanboy moment? Like when your suddenly working with somebody, “OMG, I’m suddenly working with…they’re so cool” or before you got into the business as a fan, you sent a letter or chocolate or was that excited about their work.
Koujina: My big fanboy moment was when I was able to work with Madhouse. I was a big fan of Maruyama at Madhouse ever since I was a student.
Maruyama: Maruyama’s range of ‘want’ is so big that he actually hopes that Madhouse will be gone and he will be free to work with any director in Japan. He is very honored to work with directors. Every time he works with a director at Madhouse, he is pleased to create a work with them. They may not like it, but he really wants to work with Miyazaki and Oshii.

Q: What is the prupose regarding future projects wtih Marvel – Ironman and Wolverine? Making American heroes closer to Jaapn?
Maruyama: Maruyama is a big of fan of American comics and to be specific, he is a big fan of how they draw them, their quality. When it comes to their story, there is a story he likes and a story he doesn’t like much in US comics. Our intentions is not to spread the popularity of American hero in Japan. It is a tool to make an exciting series. The image of a hero in US and Japan are different. For an instance, Iron Man is really cool when he is in an Iron Man suit, but when as Tony Stark, he [Maruyama] is appalled that he this rich guy who has everything he wanted. Does he really have the criteria to be a hero?

Q: In your position, you have the ability to leave a message for many people. So with that power, what are you going to do to make the world a better place?
Koujina: As he comes to America, he noticed that animation is still accepted even in a foreign country. By seeing this, he believes that by seeking what truly makes a good animation, he knows that he can bring the world together.

Q: How successful has artistic productions like Kaiba been and how necessary are they to Madhouse Studio as a whole?
Maruyama: I am a very challenging man and I would to challenge many different things. As long as I have a chance, I would definitely like to go for more artistic stuff and definitely would still like to go for entertaining stuff. This is according to how other people talk about Maruyama, but they say that I am the type of person that when someone comes up to me, and say “This project will be too hard for Madhouse.” and I go, “Oh yeah? We’ll see about that!”

Q: Of all your works that Madhouse has currently created, what is your personal stand out work of art? What was the most enjoyable work for you?
Maruyama: Each of these projects that he worked on is very precious to him: all of them. This was because they were made by all the staff that he cares about. He doesn’t really choose one project over another. But I’m sure what I just said won’t really serve as an answer, so if I must, I will name one title which will be Hanada Shonen Shi which isn’t too popular in the US, but has strong support from other countries. He feels very close to this project.

Q: Maruyama-san, why did you hire Koujina-san? *guests and audience laughs*
Maruyama: This does not fit only Koujina, but he likes to work with many talented directors as much as possible. As he found Koujina as a very talented director, he was his type so he tried to convince him to work with him.

Q: You have all sorts of interesting exciting intellectual property out there, if there nothing is stopping you, what will be your ideal intellectual property to work with?
Maruyama: As I said before, I am a very curious person to like to do work with many titles as much as I can. If I start naming them, it would go to thousand to two thousand or more. What just popped into my head is Shiton Doubutsuki, literal translation to be Seton Animal Tales.
Koujina: There are no specific titles that he wants to work with right now, but it has always been his desire to work on an original series. Because when you’re working on an original series, people are really questioning what your skills as a director is. To be more specific about the genre, he wants to work with shonen series because shonene are basically young generation of people where they are still developing/maturing as adults. He is always interested in relaying a message of what he has to say to them.

I had hoped that more questions would be directed towards Koujina-san since it is apparent that Maruyama-san spoke alot during the conference. It is true that Maruyama as the general head of Madhouse would have more questions to answer, but he will certainly return to Otakon (since he is repeat guest and is even staff) while the chances of Koujina-san returning is slim.

Q: You’ve been in voice acting industry for a long time. How has the industry and voice acting changed from since you started to today?

Mitsuya: It’s been about 35 years since my debut. Back than, the whole concept of a voice actor was really unknown and done by a limited number of people. No matter what studio you went to work, you recognized everybody, like a large family you became very familiar with. When we first started, we were all stage actors who needed the supplementary income since we couldn’t make a living being on stage.

During the release of Battleship Yamato, people in the industry was calling it the first or second boom of voice acting when actors start considering themselves as voice actors and taking pride in their work. But as the popularity grew, it started coming to the point where popular voice actors would start releasing albums and now cds of their music under their own names. And so as voice acting became more popular, the concept of the ‘popular voice actor’ became more noticable where fans of the voice actor (and not of the roles they play) started coming to the studio waiting for them to come out to get autographs and this change started to happen around 25 or 30 years ago…when this phenomenon started. Then there are about 10 or so male popular voice actors and 5 or 6 female popular voice actors who release albums and do concerts.

Mainly there wasn’t a whole lot of increase in the number of popular of voice actors was the fact that the pay wasn’t very good. Because of that, the people who knew each other, the family would try to keep the work within the family because it was the only way to make a living. It’s very hard for an up and coming voice actor to get a break in the industry. As the popularity grew in the whole ‘idol voice actors’ and the regulars who get work all the time started considering, “It’s becoming an industry of itself, I think we deserve to be paid a little bit better.” We decided to have a call to arms, not really a strike (though we did strike a couple of times) but we got the production companies to raise our rates. With the help of the Japanese actors union, we were able to really promote the awareness of what we are doing and get our needs fulfilled.

After all this, there were voice actors that could fill Budokan, a concert venue in Japan from their popularity and that went along with the increasing of knowledge and notoriety in the voice acting industry. And right around the time when the rates were finally being increased, the desire for fans to become voice actors were increasing. There were people who were saying “I just want to be a voice actor. I don’t want to be on stage or tv, I want to do voices for a living.” Around the time when all these changes were happening (like 25 years ago when I was 30,) there were acting schools, but no voice acting schools. And with the increase of people who want to be voice actors, schools to train voice actors started popping up everywhere. 5-10 years after the creation of all these schools, people started debuting as voice actors as graduates from these training schools. And the majority of the popular voice actors now are those that went through the schools initially.

When I started out, there was a room full of veterans with 1 or 2 new actors coming in trying to get into the industry. But now, studios are filled with a majority of beginners and graduates and maybe 2 or 3 veterans so the makeup of the room is completely reversed these years. I can’t say for sure, but budgets haven’t really increased for animation, except for maybe cost of living, but what it all comes down to is with our minimum rates going up, it’s much cheaper for production companies to hire a bunch of new actors rather than hire actors. So I sense that trend, but I can’t say for sure.

Of course, coming from my background of looking upon the works of the veterans in the room with me, learning from them and honing my own skills, I feel that was the best way to do things. In order to past on the skills to the next generation of actors, keeping the room filled with more veterans than beginners I think is the way to go, but with the state of the industry. There are still voice actors that I considered my mentors and elders who have been in this industry for 50 years and I find their skills amazing. In order to maintain the level acting in a show, it is important to maintain a number of verterans in a cast.

I see that the animation industry in Japan is split into two genres: animation for kids and animation that is created for anime fans (people who are attending this convention) which are directed for students and adults and broadcast during late nights. Of those cast in anime for anime fans are those that are called voice actor idols have come forward and released albums that have hit the top of the charts. In Japan there is something called the Red and White song competition at the end of the year, where all the vocalists who have released albums throughout the year will compete. They split into the red and white teams, men and women and compete in this variety show. Last year was very notable in the sense that it was the first time a voice actor idol was featured, Mizuki Nana and brought attention to the field of voice acting. It was definitely a news item to note. Because of such changes, I think the field of voice acting has narrowed and locked in. When I first started out, voice actors were tv actors that would show up in tv and movies. But these days, the whole industry of voice actings are of those that just want to do voices so it has become very compartmentalized: there are actors for tv and there are voice actors. The crossover rarely happens these days. There are 3 or 4 magazines just catering for voice acting industries. When they started showing up, it was just a section inside acting magazines and I too, run a voice acting school.

So many students just want to be voice actors, nothing more. They have no other aspirations of wanting to be on tv, or on film, they just want to make a living being voice actors. It becomes even more evident to me running the school. In my day when I started, when you were a beginner, if the producers and directors saw any potential in you would spend 5 or 10 years raising you, directing you, realizing your potential. In these days with new voice actors coming out of these schools in droves, its gotten to a point where a director or producer would bring a new voice actor in and use them up, throw them aside and bring in a new batch. It seems to be a use and forget type of mentality: it has become sort of the norm recently. One thing I tried to teach all my students is to realize their own style and to hone their acting styles. Otherwise, you’re not going to be able to survive more than 5 years in the industry these days. The only reason I’ve been around for 35 years and still continue to get work, I believe it’s because I was trained by all the veterans who helped me out when I was beginning and all the work I put into honing my acting skills. I tried to convince my students to find their style as fast as they can, hone their skills. And maybe even if it’s not for alot of money, try acting on stage. Just to get their performance level up.

Q: You’re also well known for your dubbing roles. Is there a different approach from anime to dubbing American films?

Mitsuya: First of all, when you’re working on an anime in Japan, you start with a blank slate. There is nothing, there is not a single sound recorded so you have to really create your role and put it into the show. But when doing an American film, the music is already there, the actors’ voices are already there and the sound effects are there. You have to understand what the actor was doing, comprehend it within yourself and translate it in a way that is most effective in the language you’re dubbing into.

In an anime series, you sit in there in front of a screen, script in hand and looking at the screen to create the role. In dubbing an American or foreign film, you have one earphone that is playing the American or foreign dialogue and you act on top of what you’re hearing. I do make a careless mistake: when my ear is hearing “One, two, three” and I have to say “Ichi, ni, san”, I find myself going “Ichi, ni, three!” because I get drawn in by what’s in my ear.

When working on a Japanese film, we get the satisfaction of creating something brand new. When approaching a foreign film, I have to see if I can completely do as well if not better than the actor that I’m dubbing over. Of course the hardships of having to maintain the integrity of the foreign work, but still make it Japanese. For Disney titles, I play Rex in ‘Toy Story’, Timon in ‘Lion King’, Pleeky in ‘Lilo and Stitch’. All three of these roles are played by different actors in the US, but in Japan, it’s all me. So I have to change the tone of my voice, change the style of the intonations to create these voices that are different from each other but similar to the original works.

I will point out the differences in the mentality of doing dubs from when I started to the way things are done now. When I first started, my mentors told me that “You have to get in there and surpass the original acting. You have to do better than them. Even if it’s the crappiest movie you’ve ever seen, you have to make it a good movie by voicing it properly.” But now producers these days are saying “You have to mimic the original work as much as possible. Put your focus on mimicing it.” Those are the changes that I see in the industry. I still believe in the whole mentality of surpassing the actor and make something better, but I find the producers saying “Well, that was a little too far. Why don’t you pull it back a little.” so I find myself a bit wanting in those shows.

Q: Is there any particular work that is either currently airing or in the past that would have liked to work on?

Mitsuya: In the industry, I try not to think about the roles that I didn’t get. These days, I’m considered one of the veterans so it’s very rare that I audition for anything. I just get notified to just go and play this role. There were times in my early years when I would audition to get roles. I would try to get into this show and wouldn’t get it and be disappointed.

But there is this one story when this director friend of mine was doing this one show back than called God Mars. My friend told me that when I audition, I should audition for the younger brother, of the two twins that are the main characters. “Because, just to let you know, the older brother dies in episode 13…you will be out of work. So when you audition, try to get the younger brother.” So I went to audition and I tried to get the younger brother and I didn’t get it, but I did get the older brother.

I played the character Margu and he was so popular amongst the Japanese fans, that there was a miraculous resurrection of this character. Because of the popularity and before the resurrection was announced, we held a funeral for the character at the tv station. We staged this whole funeral and since my character was dead, I didn’t think I could attend this funeral ceremony. But they said, you have to come. So I put on the mourning clothes and hid in the corner while all the other cast members cosplayed as their characters and lined up in front of this funeral stand. The actors were all saying that it was a joke, and they were trying to keep a serious face onstage when they noticed every single person in audience was crying. So all the actors got into character and saw everyone in the audience in tears.

Afterwards, my character came back and the popularity continued to grow to the point where there was a God Mars movie and I was the main character. I even got to sing the opening theme and it won an award. And so this is an example of how it’s good not to get the role you audition for.

One of the roles that I didn’t get voicing order in ‘Star Wars’ was Jar Jar Binks. I wanted to play Jar Jar but I didn’t get that role. I was really ticked off since I wanted that role. So even though I didn’t get to play Jar Jar in the movies like I wanted. When the ‘Clone Wars’ animated series came around, the actor wasn’t feeling very well, so guess who they asked to play the role? So I got to play Jar Jar. If you want it enough, it will come true! At least I think so.

Q: How has your career as a voice helped with your role as a sound and voice director? And vice versa, how has your role as a sound and voice director influenced your voice acting career?

Mitsuya: I will start with the story of how I became a sound engineer director. A long time friend of mine who produces shows came to produce the show called Rurouni Kenshin. He came to me and asked “I want to use someone who is not a regular voice actor as the lead role of Kenshin. Do you know any actors or theater performers that I could find to play this role?” There is a theater company in Japan called Takarazuka where all the actresses are female playing male roles, which is the opposite of kabuki theater. I suggested someone I knew who left the Takarazuka company so why don’t we get her to play Kenshin. I suggested Suzukaze Mayo who was a really popular Takarazuka actor and my favorite. When I heard that she left the company, I asked “Could we get her to play the role of Kenshin?” And I thought it was a shot in the dark having just left the theater company and try to convince her to do anime. But she accepted.

I thought that since was a theater actor, having never worked in anime, I thought that she needed a sound engineer director who understood both theater and anime. My friend said, “I can’t think of anyone better than you. Will you come in and be the sound director because you had theater and anime experience. You’re the only one who could do this job.”

When I took the job, I was really reluctant, but I really wanted to meet her and I really wanted to work with her. So I had to do it. But I was afraid even though I started to be one of the veterans, I still didn’t consider myself one. I didn’t want to be seated in the booth with all the veterans out there going “Who the hell he think he is, sitting back there as sound director?!?” I was really afraid so for three months when I was doing this job, I did it without putting my name in the credits. The plan was that after three months, I would leave this position (once the actress got used to doing anime,) my position would be replaced with another sound director.

In the first three months, I’m not in the opening credits. Three months came where I had to either quit or stay on, Suzukaze Mayu came and said “I can’t do this role without you here! You have to stay!” It made me really happy so it cemented decision to stay on until the end of the show.

So since you asked me if it’s affected my current job, having been an actor and a sound director, if an actor cannot deliver a line, I can push the mic button down and say “Do it this way.” and perform the line. A director (not being an actor much of the time,) would have a line like ‘Good morning.’ They would say “Say it like a delinquent, or say it like you really don’t care.” A director would never perform the line or tell an actor how to do it. Sometimes the actor doesn’t understand it and it takes a long time to get the line you want. I could say “Instead of doing that, why don’t you do it this way…” and than it’s over and we move on.

I’m currently working as a sound director on a show called Ai! Mai! Main!. All the minor roles, I see them struggling. And having been there myself, I can guide them and teach them. It sort of the work I do to raise voice actors and try to pass on my knowledge. It’s a definite plus that I was a voice actor first before I became a sound director. I can read the mood of the room. After being an actor having to wait for my time to come up, it gets kind of irritating. But having been there myself, I know how to lighten the mood, keep things moving. And just try to be understanding of what the actors are going through really helps me do my job. Then because I do have the understand, I get more work.

Of course the biggest difference is when I’m an actor, I only have to wrry about my lines. When I’m directing, I have to worry about everyone’s lines. I have to look through, make sure every line’s going to work. I swear it takes 20 times the energy to be a sound director. Of course it’s much easier to be an actor, but it helps me to understand things as a sound director. I will continue to be an actor, and I would like to continue working on at least one show or so a year as I move on in my career.

When I entered the room, they were showing short trailers of upcoming releases, including Casshern Sins (8/17/2010,) Hetalia seasons one (9/14/2010,) Hetalia seasons two (10/12/2010,) and a personal favorite, Eden of the East (9/28/2010.)

Funimation announced that they are creating a new media site that will give members a chance to view improved video (I’m can only assume better quality of their streaming content,) also encouraging comments and reviews on content, places for cosplay pics, fanart art and other fanbase related activities. Membership is free though there is a planned release of an Elite Membership next year that will grant access to high quality dub episodes prior to their tv or dvd releases. Sign up for beta testing is already in place now which will begin in September and the launch date for the site is in October.

The cast list was finally given out for Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~, Oh! Edo Rocket and a personal favorite, Black Butler. J. Michael Tatum (Doumeki, Xxxholic) is Sebastian, Brina Palencia (Juliet, RomeoxJuliet) is Ciel with new and upcoming, Daniel Fredrick as Grell.

New licenses were announced including season two of Strike Witches with Crunchyroll simulcast a week after Japanese airdate, Shukufuku no Campanella, Okamisan, Hetalia seasons three and four, as well as the recently announced Hetalia Movie: Paint it White. The biggest announcements were the licensing of Summer Wars and Evangelion 2:22 (which is seeing a 2011 release date for both dvd and blu-ray.) Later in the panel, it was confirmed that there will be theatrical releases for both movies.

And for some reason, the question about keeping the cast for the Eva movie…cannot be discussed. They had the same people for the first movie who are the same people from the tv series…so I wonder why is this one so uncertain. Hopefully, it isn’t the case of money.

Q&A time! They listed a bunch of things that CANNOT be asked…including (but not entirely,) Laura Bailey’s phone number. lol

Funimation did not acquire the Blu-ray rights to Birdy the Mighty, One Piece and Kanon. Unfortunately, they only acquired the opening song, ‘Oasis’ for the first episode of Eden of the East. Which means all the other other episodes will not have this song. (I wonder what song they will have instead? Will they sing it again? The song is already in English.) Sgt. Frog and The Dragon Box (special Dragon Ball boxsets) releases have been doing well. Upon inquiry, the new Funimation site would include Hulu players as well as their own player.

He began to talk about the musicians and singers who inspired him, playing little bits on the keyboard and singing the familiar tunes. Barry Manilow, Billy Joel…and in the middle of ‘Piano Man’…fellow voice actor and singer, Todd Haberkorn appeared on stage.

Vic and Todd really knew how to play for the fangirls.

Vic: *singing* Well, we’re all in the mood for a melody, and Todd gots me feelin’ alright.
Audience: *fangirls*
Vic: *turning to Todd* Todd, I got something to say to you.
*singing* Lying beside you….
Audience: *more screams*

Todd encourages him to sing Elton John and they also turned ‘Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me’ into their very own love song. After their onstage hugs, Todd left the stage. Vic then talked about his first time playing the piano. Turns out he is self taught, playing by ear. He mentions his love for ballads and starts to sing one of his own creations, ‘Hello, Beautiful’.

Than Vic talks about the history of the song ‘Soldier A’. Simply put, he was voicing some bit parts for background characters and came up with the song between recordings. His hummings grew so incessantly…that the engineer complained about the tune being stuck in their heads. ‘It’s eating our cerebellum!’ And than of course, he had to sing it. However, it being so popular with his fans, he got some people from the audience to sing on stage…including Todd Haberkorn with the famed amv was shown in the background.

Following the song, Vic re-introduces his movie, ‘Fullmetal Fantasy’. It’s a live action fanmovie of the voice actors of Fullmetal Alchemist cosplaying/becoming their characters from anime. The movie was shown throughout the cons in 2005, but stopped afterwards since Funimation was considering the legal ramifications of the movie with the Japanese company. Although Vic never got permission to sell the dvd, he received permission to show it again. However, the usual rules apply: no recording allowed.

After the awesome movie, Vic sang ‘Brothers’ and ‘Nothing I Won’t Give’ with the amv in the background. Vic mentioned something new (new to me,) which was that the song’s inspiration was actually Evanesence. It was his longing to create a song in her style. I believe he succeeded quite well. While we were leaving the room, the remix of Vic’s English version of ‘Guilty Beauty Love’ (Tamaki’s character song) was playing through the speakers.

The Madhouse panel was already well underway when I entered the room. Although the panel info spoke of there being both Maruyama-san and Koujina-san as panelists, only Maruyama-san sat at the front. Trailers and clips from the latest Madhouse projects were shown including Highschool of the Dead, Rainbow – Nisha Rokubo no Shichinin, Black Lagoon: Roberta’s Blood Trail and of course the long awaited movie, Trigun: Badlands Rumble. (Funimation is hoping for theater-wide release of Trigun.) One of the most unique new projects was Tibetan Dog which is based off of a Chinese novel by Yang Zhijun. The character designer is none other than Monster creator, Urasawa Naoki with director Koujima Masayuki (who was also director on the Monster animation.) Maruyama-san mentioned that he traveled to Tibet for research. The story is simply about a boy growing up being a mix of Chinese and Tibetan…but nothing by Madhouse is truly simple.

The Marvel anime projects were introduced, most notably Iron Man which will begin airing in this Fall anime season (starting in October.) Apart from that, the anime that I’m most interested in is Redline: a fast paced trailer which was mindblowing with tons of lights and action…and Maruyama-san warned viewers of repeat viewing of the film. ‘Bring eyedrops’ seem to be the rule of thumb. The plot? You can’t really pinpoint it but it seems to be Speed Racer on overdrive with fireworks and sparkles. Tons of sparkles. Maruyama-san noted that the animation is hand drawned…and I’m curious to confirm if it means it’s all handdrawn cel animation rather than coloring in the computer. Six years in the making.

There was an additional title viewed onscreen under upcoming projects…though it was blacked out with the words ‘censored’…to the laughter of the audience.

Q&A followed. Of course, questions were asked about the marvel series (Ironman, Wolverine) and Maruyama-san commented that Marvel seemed to have given lots of freedom with these series. The Supernatural anime will be made up of the first two seasons of the tv series, backstories of the characters and original stories just for the anime.

Upon inquiring about the ‘censored’ title, turns out it isn’t as perverted as the rest of the audience had thought. It’s only a tentative project, tentively titled as ‘Ninja Ten Battles’ with a guy in drag fighting ninjas with a sword. Maruyama-san jokes that if he announces anything more though, it would have made. (Seems like the Trigun movie was made in such a way: announced at a previous Otakon that it’s possibly being made-even before discussing with the company-and so it had to be made. Yay for the power of Otakon!)

Someone inquired about more Vampire Hunter D anime. It seems that previously, the question for anime was put on pause since the creator was thinking of the possibility of a live action. Since there is no live action to speak of, Maruyama-san hopes to propose the option for an anime once more. Depending on the response for the Trigun movie, more content for this anime is also a possibility as is Kaiji.

Review by Kris

Akihito Takaba is a freelance photographer who got a hot tip and a huge scoop involving politicians and the criminal underworld but unfortunately the story was quashed. The crime boss Ryuichi Asami won’t have Takaba butting into his business so to intimidate Takaba he kidnaps and rapes him. But that won’t keep Takaba down. He’s determined to get the story one way or another. But he’ll need to watch out now that he’s entangled in Asami’s world. Not only is Asami after Takaba (he’s attracted to him) but it seems that Takaba’s caught the eye of the Chinese Mafia and their boss Fei Long. Man, poor kid! How will he handle these rough (but gorgeous) men? Also included are a few one shots: Love Lesson involves high school students, Plants in Love feature two classmates who find out their dads seem to be having an affair, and Risky Society is about a secret crime fighting group where the members have superpowers. Sorry for the poor synopsis but I really don’t want to give away the story.

This has to be one of the biggest, and most anticipated, releases of the year. Since the demise of BeBeautiful fans have been clamoring for any yaoi publisher to license this series. Earlier this year Digital Manga, Inc. announced that they had acquired this license just on the heels of the announcement that Ayano Yamane was going to be this year’s guest of honor at YaoiCon. Digital Manga announced that the title would be released through their Juné line. Initially there was excitement to be had but then worries about the fact that Juné was releasing it and not 801 Media (Digital Manga’s more explicit boys love line). Since Juné is Digital Manga’s mainstream BL line it’s a known fact that in the past they’ve been known to make some content edits to make it possible to sell their titles in more places i.e. brick and mortar stores like Borders. To try and quell the fear Deb Aoki at about.com spoke with the folks over at DMP regarding this title (click here for that article.) Now just to let all of you know I don’t own the original Japanese tankobon (I will eventually) or the BeBeautiful series that was released several years ago (by the time I started reading yaoi it was out of print). But thanks to a friend of mine she did have a copy of the first two volumes and lent them to me so I could compare the two against each other.

Now I can inform all you rabid fangirls out there that you have nothing to worry about. This is a beautiful release and you will be pleased. In my opinion it is a far more superior than the BeBeautiful version. They’ve included a full color cover page. The translation read smoothly and they’ve kept the honoriffics (-san, -sama, etc.). For someone who is new to the series and only read the BeBeautiful version right before the Juné volume the Juné translation was clear and made it easier for me to understand what was going on. In the volume Finder is only the first third of the book and the rest are brief one shots. In the BeBeautiful version the one shots Love Lesson and Plants in Love have aged up their characters and either state that they are university students or imply they are college age. But looking at the artwork they look like they are high school students (uniforms and the like). In the Juné edition it is vague. There is no statement of their ages but you know they’re high school students. With the new translation I was able to enjoy Risky Society a lot more and it made much more sense. And finally no artwork has been altered in any way, at least comparing it to BeBeautiful’s version. All in all I have to say that the Juné’s is miles ahead in quality over the BeBeautiful volume. I’m sure that there are people who will prefer the other volume but for me Juné wins.

Ayano Yamane-sensei is a fan favorite and I can see why. Her art is simply stunning and her men ooze sexiness from every pore. The sex is hot, explicit and leaves very little to the imagination. Yamane-sensei is also known to be very protective of her work. She insists on the highest quality and won’t settle for less. Because of this fact I was one of the few fans (of sensei’s, not of Finder seeing how I haven’t read it until now) that knew that Finder would get the best treatment and there wouldn’t be anything to be worried about.

All of the characters are impossibly beautiful, extremely ruthless, and everything you would expect in the criminal underworld. You can’t help but feel sorry for Takaba getting roped into all of this. The Finder story starts out with non-con and some pretty kinky stuff so if that isn’t your thing you may want to stay away but this series is a piece of yaoi history created by one of the genre’s most gifted artists. Do you want to be left behind?

Review by Lynn Loper

I remember reading a ‘making of the film story about Raging Bull years ago. Martin Scorsese said he put the comedian scene in first, because everybody knew that De Niro had put on a lot of weight for that part of the movie, and he wanted them to get the fat man out of their minds and watch the movie.

The prologue of “You Never Give Me Your Money” lays out the book for you. Time, death, lost hope, tangled relationships, pain. For some reason, it took me three days to get through it. Am I still that much of a Beatlemaniac? Probably. I still can’t sit still watching “A Hard Day’s Night.” I want to scream.

After that, it’s a well-written, densely researched, humane and absorbing book about the Beatles as a business entity, how their personal relationships became inexorably linked with the business, how they changed and warped and aged. About the women in the picture, and the managers, and the hangers-on and producers. The author has used his own interviews as well as he wealth of other Beatles material available, and although nobody ever got any of the four people most involved to sit down and say “Here is how it all happened”, you don’t feel any gaps in the story. You want to find out what’s going to happen next, even if we all know.

About those things we all know: watch out for page 270. Explicit anatomical details of John’s death. I could have lived without that. But it’s my only objection to the book, which fills in the details of the Beatles aside from their girls and songs and fights. Necessary, if sometimes painful, details. Life is full of those, and so is this book.

Review by Kris

Riya’s life is spinning out of control. When we last left off Atsushi and Black Riya had attended Saki’s concert (for all info you need feel free to check out my reviews of volumes one and two) so Saki could witness for himself the dual personality. While at the concert Riya runs into Kousaka. Every time Riya has been around Kousaka he’s been in White mode but today he’s Black. He tries to pretend to be the White personality with disastrous results. Riya blows his own cover and then Kousaka gets angry and strikes Riya when Atsushi shows up. Atsushi and Riya head back home. Riya comes on to Atsushi to help dull the pain and initially Atsushi goes along with it until he truly discovers he loves Riya in a romantic way not familial way he initially started off with. Atsushi confesses his feelings and tells Riya that he doesn’t want to hurt him. Due to this shock Riya again reverts to White.

Atsushi has made the decision that he’s going to continue as a housekeeper but no longer wants to live with Riya. Riya on the other hand remembers nothing for the past 10 days and it really freaks him out to find out everything that’s happened. He escapes to school where he now has to face Kousaka. Kousaka offers himself up as a refuge because he feels that Riya has no one to support him and also spills it about the other personality. Riya’s emotions reel out of control and he skips school. While Riya is supposedly at school Saki arrives to spend some time with Riya before he heads back to New York. Sadly the only person there to greet him is Atsushi. Saki wants to know why Atsushi wants to move out and Atsushi tells Saki that he’s fallen in love with Riya. Saki accepts this news but insists that Atsushi know more about Riya’s past. Riya has definitely had it tough and I’ll leave it to you read about it. But Riya’s not out of the woods yet. Can he get things together or will he spiral out of control to complete destruction and who will he choose, Atsushi or Kousaka?

The final volume definitely dials up the drama to 11 (sorry for the lame Spinal Tap reference). We find out all about Riya’s childhood and how he developed his multiple personalities. It’s really rather sad and tough to read through but it definitely is an important part of the story. I’m still trying to figure things out with that section of the book and I’ve read through it many, many times and still pick up new information. Child abuse and mental illness are subjects that you don’t see much in manga (or at least the manga that I’ve come across) but it is handled well and I will inform you that it does have a happy ending and in the authors notes she states that her publishers have given her the go ahead to continue on with the story. According to mangaupdates.net (the link is to Tooko Miyagi’s page not the two titles) they have a couple titles listed as sequels to Il Gatto Sul G. I would love to read them but they don’t look like they’ve been gathered into tankobon form and one of them is brand spanking new. If the opportunity arises to have them eventually be available for license here in the States that would be absolutely fantastic.

As a series this is definitely a worthwhile and emotional read. It does follow some of the stereotypes that are prevalent in yaoi but it’s nice to see that Atsushi doesn’t follow them, it’s mainly Kousaka. It’s that attitude that I like to bully you and that’s how I show you my love. It can be true in real life (you know when you like to tease the one you like) but it’s taken to extremes which again are in typical yaoi. This would be a good introductory yaoi title because it’s not really graphic but definitely packs a heavy emotional punch.

Juné published this title after they made the move to remove the dust jacket, which makes me sad with this particular title. Also the paper isn’t as high quality as it used to be but compared to other publishers it’s definitely better. The cover has a shiny finish which doesn’t quite go with the matte finish of the first two, but I’d rather get the final volume in its current state instead of never getting the title.

Pick it up, it’s definitely worth your while!