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16:16:24 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> Hi everybody
16:16:30 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> Welcome to the Maruyama Masao panel
16:16:40 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> We're going to start off by showing 2 short anime films
16:16:43 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> the first is hana wa saku
16:23:31 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> music by yoko kanno, animated by mappa, directed by katabuchi
16:17:30 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> made for 3/11 to tell people to keep going
16:17:44 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> so without further adieu, i'd like to present hana wa saku
16:23:11 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> like i said earlier, it was a music video to give words of encouragement to the victims of the 2011 earthquake
16:29:34 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> now that our special showing is over
16:29:47 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> i'd like to open the panel up to questions from the floor
16:30:35 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> Q: My question is have you had a project that you really want to do but something stopped you, like the company you were working with, or something that stopped you?
16:30:40 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> If so, could you elaborate on it?
16:30:56 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> A: There's a ton of projects like that.
16:31:17 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> Including one that I would like to animate right now that I feel like that I need to animate right now...
16:31:37 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> So I'm hoping a project i have right now will be animated and available in 3-5 years
16:31:58 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> Q: What exactly is the role of a producer in the animation process?
16:33:11 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> A: So it's one word, producer, but in reality, there are different types, there are two major types
16:33:26 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> there are ones who are part of a large company and make anime for a large company and there are indepdentent types
16:33:35 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> when you get down to it, they are the person who get the money to make the project
16:33:50 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> that is what an indepedent one mostly does, they gather, the money, the staff,
16:35:55 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> within a company, they work within the company to select a work and produce that work
16:34:33 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> Q: What do you think about tropes since Madhouse and MAPPA are known for pushing boundries?
16:35:22 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> Have a specific example?
16:35:35 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> Madokawa magica and the magical girl trope
16:36:52 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> A: I personally love magical girl shows, and I love battle type shows from shonen jump, but I do feel that even within these tropes, there are works that are amazing and others that can use improvement
16:37:29 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> So I personally worked on a magical girl show called Cardcaptor Sakura and a shonen jump show called Death Note
16:38:04 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> But one thing i bear in mind when i create an animation is i want to give it a unique and creative impression so that someone who is channel surfing will stop and ask what it is
16:38:12 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> so whether it's magical girl or battle, it's something i strive for
16:38:52 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> So when I channel surf on my own and see something that catches my eye, i'm impressed
16:39:02 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> some recent examples are madoka magica, aku no hana, and attack on titan
16:39:20 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> for some reason, aku no hana and attack on titan are both from directors who worked with me at madhouse
16:39:45 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> Q: As someone who worked with Osamu Dezaki, do you have any stories about working with him?
16:40:23 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> A: So there are a few big reasons why I'm here today talking about anime
16:40:38 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> the first big reason is mushi production where i worked together with osamu tezuka
16:40:52 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> and the next big reason is mr osamu dezaki, i think he's two years younger
16:41:17 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> and together with him, we made the animation work ashita no joe
16:41:24 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> it was the first anime we made that wasn't by mr tezuka
16:41:43 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> because of mushi production going bankrupt, me and mr dezaki started the company madhouse
16:42:19 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> there at that house, we worked on a few films together,
16:42:52 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> but then he moved on to work on the theatrical sequal, ashita no joe 2
16:42:59 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> and i felt that it didn't require a sequel
16:43:18 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> i stayed with madhouse and he went to anapple
16:43:21 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> so we decided to part ways
16:44:28 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> So for the next few years, we're still friends (lost)...at the time, i was busy making films by kawajiri, kon and such, so i didn't have time to work with dezaki
16:44:37 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> so for about 10 years, we worked separately
16:44:41 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> but we were both approaching 70 years
16:44:59 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> and we figured there wasn't much left in us, so we came together to work on the animation for ultra violet
16:46:21 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> so i'm sure you are all aware, it's a remake of the hollywood movie, and the movie has a strong image, and he wasn't sure if they should work on it, but it was the only project i had on hand , and we figured we wouldn't be able to work on stuff together again so we went ahead
16:46:28 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> and it was indeed the last project we worked on together
16:46:48 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> so he and i, we both knew it would likely be our last work together
16:48:00 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> we were oth getting pretty strained physically, so we made this film trying to leave nothing behind, and it turned out to be something we were happy that with how it came out (lost)
16:48:12 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> and then mr dezaki went on to make genji before he passed away
16:48:16 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> but we can see in genji, he's trying to do the things (he couldn't do in ultraviolet)
16:48:28 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> so i started with mushipro and went on to madhouse
16:48:33 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> but when he passed away, i knew i had to leave madhouse
16:49:19 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> so i left madhouse and created the company mappa without the company and the reason i'm going to continue making anime for a few more years is to finish the works by satoshi kon and mr dezaki that need to go out into the world
16:50:04 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> Q: Knowing your involvement in the production, that took 7 years... what problems popped up?
16:50:24 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> With other studios successfully funded with kickstarter, is this opening doors for works that may not see the light of day?
16:51:06 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> A: So with redline, there was no unexpected trouble
16:51:17 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> it took 7 years because the director, mr koike was working very hard
16:51:24 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> and i figured he would give up and we'd get people to help
16:51:30 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> but i wanted to be there for him and let him work as much as he wanted
16:51:53 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> and he persevered and worked really hard on it
16:52:36 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> 7 years of production, he worked a lot longer than we expected, and the project went in the red, so we got a little bit of debt from making that work of animation, so i left madhouse to take responsibiliy for that...just kidding
16:53:59 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> and kickstarter
16:53:47 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> I think this is great, it's an alternative that allows people to make anime that they want to watch without having to rely on big companies so being able to go out to the people and ask if they want to watch and then make being able to make it is great
16:54:17 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> however, it's really difficult than one would think
16:54:47 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> with big directors like miyazki and hosoda, there are lots of people who want to invest, but if you think to when hosoda started out, before tokikake
16:55:49 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> so with hosoda-san, with befor tokikake, he was unknown, so who would have contributed money to that piece of animation
16:56:14 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> and one thing you need to realize is that animation cost a lot of money, especially with ones who work diligiently, and it takes an outstanding amount of money
16:57:04 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> (lost) and to make animation, you need thousands or ten of thousands, and generally you invest for a profit, but if people invest thinking "i don't care if i loses money, i just want to see it animated" i'd be happy
16:57:16 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> Q: I'd also pay for mappa films
16:57:18 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> A: Please send me money
16:57:50 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> Q: You've had a few years with MAPPA, and did a phenominal work with kids on the slope, what would you consider your greatest pride with mappa at this point and how do you hope to exceed it in future works
16:58:45 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> A: So I worked for a long time at madhouse and made many piece, but with mappa, i'm older, so we thought we'd work but we'd avoid taking on too much work and not work too hard
16:58:56 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> but starting with this year, there are a lot of people gathering at mappa and a lot of people working at mappa
16:59:26 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> so in terms of tv series, the only work we've created is kids on the slope
16:59:37 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> and the reason i created it is that we promised shinichiro watanabe that we would create it together
17:00:50 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> but i can't announce anything officially yet
17:00:13 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> but this year, we're starting to work on various different projects like pt 3 of hajime no ippo
17:00:38 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> and another work in the talks is the new animation by shinichiro watanabe
17:01:24 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> so for this otakon, i brought with me, mr tomokazu seki who i first cast as the main character of x and have been working together since
17:01:39 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> i also brought shinichiro watanabe who is here to announce his animation which is with bones
17:01:47 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> and ms yoko kanno is also here, the person who composed the music to the video you saw earlier
17:01:54 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> she also worked on the music for kids on the slope
17:02:00 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> so i have a lot of friends at otakon this year
17:02:10 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> we love otakon
17:02:35 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> Q: Can you talk about what it's like to work with Satoshi kon and how he worked?
17:03:15 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> A: Mr Kon as a friend, he is very shy, and other than the fact that he drinks to much, i like him very much
17:03:32 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> When it comes to work, he doesn't listen to anything i say, he has to have his way, he's crazy, i hate him
17:03:50 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> Q: What are the top 3 of projects you've worked on?
17:04:08 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> A: That is a question that i get frequently and i always provide the same answer
17:04:15 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> I love all of my works, they are all my children
17:04:29 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> they are really like children to me, and with children, there are good children and bad children
17:04:41 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> but a parent can't really say this is my favorite or i dislike this one
17:04:47 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> i love them all
17:05:13 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> but one exception is a work that you probably aren't too familiar, but there is a work called hanada shonen shi that i like very much
17:05:48 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> Q: Have you ever had a project, that no matter how much you tried and worked on it, you couldn't present it, you couldn't make it real
17:06:03 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> A: Let me think...
17:06:29 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> It's not over until I give up
17:06:56 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> There are a few works that haven't gotten out, but as long as I'm alive, I won't give up
17:07:17 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> So some examples of these works include
17:07:23 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> Kono sekai no katatsumi de
17:07:26 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> by katabuchi
17:07:38 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> another example is the last work of mr. kon
17:07:41 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> the dreaming machine
17:08:00 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> and mr tezuka's work remade by naoki urasawa, Pluto
17:08:54 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> Q: With Kids on the Slope, it's about teenagers but takes place when I was a child... what about kids on the slope do you think would appeal to teenagers?
17:11:05 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> A: So every generation has it's own taste, everyone is different, but i strongly believe that human nature is something that doesn't change much at all , and there are themes in every generation that everone can relate to, one of them is love, so when we make things, we try to avoid making it so that only a certain segment to relate, but we can put in a taste of the times,
17:11:45 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> Q: We see in Hollywood, they produce sequels because they are more secure bets, do you find similar things in the anime industry, a pressure to create sequels for hit IPs
17:11:48 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> (paraphrase)
17:12:19 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> A: So in japan, you rarely see a bit hit coming out, and then multiple sequels being made for the hit work
17:12:27 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> i guess part of the reason is we haven't had any big hits like that
17:13:06 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> so in japanese tv, there are animations that have gone on for years like doraemon, or conan or one piece
17:13:22 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> but it's unfortunate that there haven't been many examples of tv series being a big hit and then adapted for the theater
17:14:44 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> so when there is a big hit, the companies always want to make money, so they want the director to make a seuqel, but the directors don't want to make seuqels, so i haven't heard of anyone trying to make princess monoke 2 or summer wars 2, they want to work on different projects
17:14:56 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> the only examples i can think of in japan are works that were created to sell toys
17:16:02 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> I'm actually jealous of the US because there are all these big hits and sequels,and the sequels were better than the originals
17:16:16 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> with things like batman and iron man how do you make things that surpass the original? it's very education for me
17:16:29 <bay|Ota|Maruyama> Thank you everybody, but we're running out of time, so please give a final applause