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Unedited Feed from the Yamamoto Yutaka panel at Otakon 2009. Transcription: bayoab
Note: ( ) is usually commenting on the panel and was not said.

11:04:05 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> Test
11:06:03 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> there are setting up right now
11:07:26 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> Playing a sample from the kannagi 1 DVD
11:07:29 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> beginning of the first ep
11:08:38 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> (OP)
11:09:38 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> The internet is extremely weak here..
11:09:42 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> Good morning everyone
11:10:03 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> Introducing the director of Lucky Star, Haruhi, and Kannagi
11:10:06 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> Yutaka Yamamoto
11:10:30 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> Wa wa wa~
11:10:32 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> Wa wa wa wasuremono~
11:10:56 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> My name is Yutaka Yamamoto, Director of Kannagi, I'm very glad to see you and talk with you
11:11:07 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> I think we will just proceed right into Q*A (toshi is the interpreter)
11:11:41 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> Q: I was wondering what inspired you to get into directing and anime?
11:12:10 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> A: Truth be told, I wanted to be an animator, but when it came down to it, i wasn't a very good animator...
11:12:28 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> So I wanted to work in the industry... and what can someone do? I became a directory
11:12:50 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> So I wanted to work in the industry... and what can someone do? I became a director
11:13:16 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> Q: About Tonari non 801-chan, how did yo get involved with that?11:13:55 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> So the title had it's share of difficulties as you may know, so the creator apporached me and asked me to do the show, so with everything else going on, i figured since the job came to me i figured i was destined to do this
11:14:12 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> Q: What do you feel your strengths as a director are?
11:14:19 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> (Yay bug on weak internet)
11:15:19 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> A: So I don't consider myself to have any sort of strong points... I just find myself, I'm an orthodox director that does orthodox stories... in no way do i consider dancing in my shows to be my strong point
11:15:26 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> Q: What happened with Kyoani?
11:15:34 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> (He laughs)
11:16:43 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> A: There is actually documentary book available on the whole incident in Japan. As for me handling that question, I can't. so please direct it to Kadokawa Shoten and Kyoani
11:17:16 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> Q: Nice to meet you, I'm a big fan. To me, you have surpassed the realm of a god to me....
11:17:53 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> So there was some reports online of him criticizing Akiyuki Shinbo's works and I was wondering why
11:18:57 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> (Long answer coming)
11:19:15 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> (This is going to be paraphrased...)
11:19:54 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> A: There are some rumors out there that I might have spouted off something unkind but I've never come out before and said I don't like the man
11:19:57 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> We both worked on SZS....
11:20:18 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> Truth is, I think that some of his methodology overlaps with mine so I might have felt some jealosy from the situation...
11:20:44 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> If there were any rumors before, I apologize, but that's the situation...
11:21:14 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> Q: Thank you for coming to baltimore... what's your motivation for working in critism and being a director at the same time
11:21:25 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> Being both a young critic and a young director
11:22:39 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> A: At non point do I ever consider my job to be a critic. My job is to be a director, but at the same time, I feel there needs to be a venue where creators can be honest with eachother...
11:22:56 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> If there is a place where we can be honest and complement suggestions.... (lost it)
11:23:27 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> Q: Any inspiriation in Ghibli's Takahata (another director who couldn't draw)
11:24:05 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> A: Before I became a name for myself, Mr. Takahata is one of the two directors that I respect greatly...
11:24:36 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> (Line censored for now)
11:25:07 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> His works, Anne of Green Gables is the text book of what a director should do with a show. It has eveything the director needs packed into one show.
11:25:33 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> Q: Could you highlight the top 2 and 3 changes between when you started in the 90s and now.
11:26:21 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> A: This sorta goes back to what I was saying earlier, but I think the people who go really wild have become old and the younger generation have become tame....
11:27:09 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> (Another long answer coming)
11:28:10 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> In the previous generation, we have names like Miyazaki, Tomino, Oishii,;..expressive creators.... the creators themselves are very expressive people, but with the 0 generation, people have a lot more tame, a more 4.0 type student good person and that's caused a change in the trend of the titles coming out
11:28:14 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> *creators with expressive works
11:28:36 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> In order to somehow to bring back things to the way things were, I've been said to have a big mouth... (lost it)
11:28:41 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> Toshi: He's so cool
11:28:53 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> (couldn't tell if that was said first or not)
11:29:01 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> Q: What was your favorite series to direct?
11:29:20 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> Toshi: Isn't that like asking who your favorite kid is?
11:29:23 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> (He agrees)
11:29:27 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> A: I love all my children
11:30:17 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> So, anyone with a lot of children would understand, some are good, some are depressive, some are hard to control, the child i had the most trouble with as a parent would be Haruhi
11:30:42 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> Q: Out of all the projects you've worked on, do you have a favorite episode (or two?)
11:32:10 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> A: So ones that stick in the memory the most, as a director, I felt that you should never put yourself into the work to the point that you get emotional, truth is that there are two points where I cry'd.... ep 12 off haruhi (Live Alive) and the last ep of Kannagi
11:32:23 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> Q: What older shows inspired you?
11:32:23 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> (Or creators)
11:32:58 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> A: the one title that i wouldn't be doing what I'm doing today is miyazaki's laputa....
11:33:27 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> Q: You went to Kyoto Uni? How did that inspire you?
11:34:34 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> A: A lot of people in this work tend to go to art schools, but i felt that by going to a 4 year uni, you can look at it from different points of view....
11:34:53 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> this is something that miyazkai had said previously, but this is something that made me realize what he said was true
11:35:15 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> Q: You said you don't consider dancing to be a special skill, then why is it in all of the projects? And can you personally do any of the dances?
11:35:41 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> A: Only 3 times...
11:35:53 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> Perhaps I shouldn't have done it one after the other...
11:36:17 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> All the movements in haruhi i came up standing on my futon in my little apartment... so if i was told that i need to do it, i can
11:36:57 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> in the case of kannagi, i actually went and got a coreographer
11:37:09 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> Q: Did you have any idea how popular those dances would become in Japan?
11:37:13 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> A: Not at all...
11:37:20 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> Q: What did you think
11:38:25 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> A: Well, as a pro, I probably shouldn't say this, bt its something I wanted to do, but I thought to myself that I'mm in no way im a pioneer, it has been done before...
11:38:28 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> so why not make cute girls do movements that idols make
11:38:45 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> Isn't that something that everyone would consider moe and be a hit and i think thats the reason everyone likes so much
11:39:01 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> Q: Who is the other director that you respect (of the two you mentioned before)?
11:39:07 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> A: I will keep that to myself
11:39:09 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> Sorry
11:39:47 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> (Completely didn't get the question..something about sekaikei)
11:40:44 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> A: I don't want to get into the whole definition of sekaikei, but the original creator of haruhi, tanigawa feels that it is not.. and if anything, the 5 members reject the whole concept..
11:40:52 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> I agree that haruhi is not sekaikei
11:41:23 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> Q: When you create something, how much should be reproduced from the original and how much should be created?
11:41:27 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> (Slightly paraphrased)
11:42:36 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> A: When it comes down to it, since the media is different, when you are creating an animated show out of a manga or novel, some things just don't translate...
11:42:50 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> and of course, as a creator, you want to throw in your own originality...
11:43:01 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> so I've butted heads with Tanigawa and pushed my own ideas through...
11:43:04 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> (lost)
11:43:40 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> To further what I said, I feel that once the show is done, I was able to go back to the original creator and say "this is haruhi" and this is the way it worked out best...
11:43:47 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> Q: Could you describe what "moe" is to you?
11:44:18 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> A: I think you are catagorizing me unfairly (described as working with moe)
11:44:36 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> I feel that whether its a robot show or any other show whether be it, TTGL or K-on, if you are into it, it's moe to you
11:44:40 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> If you like it, it's moe
11:45:11 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> Q: As a director, what details do you categorize as most important
11:46:39 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> A: Without getting into whole ideologies and theories of film making, i feel there are so many titles out there that don't pay attentionn to this well enough, i think characters are most important and keeping them in character is the most important..
11:46:48 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> (paraphrase)
11:47:07 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> Q: Have you worked with or encountered any promising future directors?
11:49:06 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> A: Well, like I said, there are very expressive people in the past and sometime I feel i'm being a clown being in the forefront but there is one creator I feel that might suprass me if he hasn't already, working at Shin-ei douga, Takashi Wataru... does work on doraemon
11:49:41 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> Q: Do you think Haruhi pushed the fandom in a certain direction in japan?
11:51:54 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> A: I feel the fandom did change. One of the trends that came after it is the whole festival contents.. which lets us be rowdy and get out there... as creators we want you to ejoy the show, not to have the festival or be rowdy with... i'm thinking of what it would be to counteract that...
11:52:01 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> (para at end)
11:52:30 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> Q: Your work tends to cover a really wide range... how did your approach differ between different productions.
11:53:08 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> A: it might not be the best description, but as long as people are as people, I like working on it...
11:53:34 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> Q: Last year, there was this shitstorm on the internet about Nagi-sama not being a virgin... thoughts.........
11:53:35 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> A: Uhhhh...........
11:54:25 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> Well... at this point.... yay or nay has not been made clear... but I feel that on the original works in the following series, it may be made clear so please follow that.
11:55:50 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> Q: in the broadcast of haruhi, it was originally in out of order.... and with touka gettan, it then was out of order.. and with e8 being 5 times.. do you think that caused a bad trend?
11:56:12 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> gettan was backwards*
11:56:41 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> A: I can't answer for other series... I can't answer for why they did it...
11:57:48 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> Well, for haruhi, basically, what I wanted to do is put the final story in vol1 of the novels to be the final episode
11:58:01 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> so in order to make that work, we all sat down, to try and make a series out of that and make it work
11:58:07 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> the only way was to shuffle the episode order....
11:58:22 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> the whole thing was i wanted that to be the last episode and thats the way we did it
11:58:42 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> (it being done for the fans was completelly secondary)
11:58:46 <bay|Ota|Yamakan> thank you for coming
Notes: None