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11:45:52 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> (Joining late, just moving into Q&A right now)
11:47:53 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> Q: Regarding the Aloha space ship, you said it looks like a canoe, was there any instruction on how to design it or was that Romain's instruction or the director's decision?
11:47:04 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> A: Dandy really likes hawaii
11:47:46 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> But he's a character who really likes hawaii and really wants to go to hawaii, but has never been to hawaii
11:48:15 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> (Paraphrase) That was how Romain went with that idea
11:48:23 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> Q: How big is the ship?
11:48:29 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> A: About 30m in length
11:48:50 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> Q: How was the experience working on Mind Game?
11:49:03 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> A: Mr Yuuasa is a good friend of mine.
11:49:27 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> And I was in the same studio as him when he was working on this animation
11:49:32 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> and I was looking over his shoulder and thought it was a very interesting anime
11:49:44 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> So I asked him what kind of music would be using in this show
11:49:55 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> So I generously offered to him to be the musical producer
11:49:58 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> He never asked me to do the role
11:50:26 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> But the composer, mr yamamoto, he composed some great music, so i think it came out great
11:50:36 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> I don't think it's well know in the US, but people should definitely watch it
11:51:25 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> Q: When developing the show, did you expect Cowboy Bebop to be such as success in America and how do you feel that it's a gateway anime in america?
11:52:22 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> A: So this is something I've said many times in the past, but when I was working on it, Japanese animation wasn't popular outside japan, so i never expected it would be that popular in the US
11:52:40 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> And it's been more than 10 years since it aired, and there are still so many fans of the show and that makes me really happy
11:53:48 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> Q: (about experiences early on with animating... was really confusing)
11:53:54 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> A: There are two routes to becoming an anime director
11:54:10 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> If you are good at art, you can start as an artist for an anime, and then move your way to become the director
11:54:24 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> This is the route Mr. Hayao Miyazaki took
11:54:31 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> In my case, my art sucks, so I took a different route
11:54:48 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> So I entered an animation compnay as a production manager
11:54:52 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> The company sunrise
11:55:32 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> And the work I did as a production manager, and it did a lot of driving cars and delivering packages (and telling animators to hurry up)
11:55:43 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> So the other route is to learn about production and then work your way up
11:56:17 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> In either case, the normal style is to enter the anime industry, slowly learn about the industry and gather the skills needed to be a director for a number of years
11:57:13 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> So if you are an aspiring artist, so I would suggest going from your folio through an anime production studio
11:58:40 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> Q: Since obviously bebop has influence from the western genre, and there any western movies that you like? (clarified to be wild west)
11:58:54 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> A: I like westerns, but I like classic westerns over the recent ones
11:58:58 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> My favorite is Rio Bravo
11:59:36 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> So you may recall there was a scene in the Cowboy Bebop movie where they watch a movie in a theater
12:00:01 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> That movie was intended to be Rio Bravo, but when we went to get rights, it took too long, so we made an original one instead
12:01:09 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> And there is a secret to Cowboy Bebop that comes from western movies... (for Spike's eyes... one of his eyes is a glass eyes and one isn't, and i set it up this way because western characters sometimes come out with an eyepatch?)
12:01:38 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> Q: Favorite old school sci-fi film?
12:02:19 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> A: As I mentioned earlier, I really like the movie Dark Star by John Carpenter. It's a very silly movie but please check it out
12:02:44 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> Q: What other anime were you influenced by when you were starting up and are still influenced by today?
12:03:15 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> A; There is a movie that was instrumental in my decision to enter the anime industry
12:03:26 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> And that was beautiful dreamer, the second movie for urusei yatsura
12:03:32 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> I was astounded when I saw that movie
12:03:54 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> (missed), but it was also a beautiful anime
12:04:14 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> (lost)
12:04:41 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> Q: In Cowboy Bebop, the world is a more hard SF in its influences. Have you read a lot of SF literature? Issac Asmov, Arthur C Clarke and so on?
12:05:06 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> A: When I was in my teens, I read a lot of scifi literature
12:05:57 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> At the time, my favorite was Phillip K Dick, and I've also read a lot of Heinlein and Asimov, and James Tiptory Junior
12:06:53 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> Q: Have opinion or device for new anime directors? ("because they aren't making anything good")
12:07:07 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> A: How can I answer a question like that?
12:07:59 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> So suppose I were to say some advice here and now, and then people forgot about Space Dandy, then what?
12:08:23 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> Q: How do you feel about people making live action adaptations of manga vs anime versions?
12:08:58 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> A: I think there are animes that are well suited for live action adaptation and ones that aren't
12:09:06 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> If it's not suited for it, then it shouldn't be made
12:09:59 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> Well, let's see.. my Cowboy Bebop,..there's been talks of making a live action version of Cowboy Bebop, it's not moving and it's not stopped. I can't stay much more than that, but there's still a possibility of it
12:10:36 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> With Cowboy Bebop, that's an anime I do think is suited for live action, so if we can produce a good live action, I think that would be great
12:12:44 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> My one wish is that the live action adaptation (lost)
12:11:46 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> End of Q&A...
12:12:01 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> Forgot to mention earlier, Space Dandy will be aired in Japan in Jan 2014
12:12:10 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> So I'm hopeful that the broadcast in the US will start soon after
12:12:59 <bay|Ota|Watanabe> End