Ideon is the Ego’s death – Yoshiyuki Tomino Interview [Niigata International Animation Film Festival 2024]
Yoshiyuki Tomino is, without any doubt, one of the most famous and important directors in anime history. Not just one of the creators of Gundam, he is an incredibly prolific creator whose work impacted both robot anime and science-fiction in general. It was during the...
“Film festivals are about meetings and discoveries” – Interview with Tarô Maki, Niigata International Animation Film Festival General Producer
As the representative director of planning company Genco, Tarô Maki has been a major figure in the Japanese animation industry for decades. This is due in no part to his role as a producer on some of anime’s greatest successes, notably in the theaters, with films such...
“The Niigata festival aims to include everything, from art to entertainment” – Tadashi Sûdo Interview
During our time at the second edition of the Niigata International Animation Film Festival, we had many encounters and reunions. Among those was Mr. Tadashi Sûdo, whom we were used to seeing at the Annecy Animation Festival. While maybe not well-known to the Western...
Animation is chicken – Chicken for Linda! interview with Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach
“We looked for a place where animation and live action could have a dialogue” Chicken for Linda! is one of the biggest works in French and, one could say, world animation of both 2023 and 2024. Not only did it reap prizes in nearly every festival it was screened at -...
The resurrection of Science Fiction: Mars Express – Long Interview with Jérémy Perin
First with the Music Video Fantasy for DyE and then with Truckers Delight for Flairs, Jérémie Périn quickly made a name for himself and climbed to the top of the animation industry without compromising by working on commissioned films or in the shadow of a mentor. A...
“A place where only the drawings exist” – Interview with Benoît Chieux
When we first met with Benoît Chieux at the Forum des Images and saw his feature Sirocco and the Kingdom of the Winds, we were extremely eager to hear more. Indeed, not only is Sirocco an impressive animated movie that combines many influences from all over the world:...
Do anime events have room for creators? – Interview with Koji Takeuchi
The Annecy International Animation Film Festival is a place of many little pleasures, and one of them is to meet with Kouji Takeuchi, a pillar of the anime industry, and learn a little bit more of Studio Telecom's lore, which you can read more about in our previous...
From Yoshinori Kanada to Jujutsu Kaisen, 40 years of action animation – Shinsaku Kôzuma Long Interview
Shinsaku Kôzuma is among the greatest action animators in Japan. From his beginnings in the industry in the late 70s, he has been a witness and an actor in some of the most important works in anime history: in-betweener on Galaxy Express 999, key animator on Urusei...
The history of Studio Dove: Studio Sunrise’s hidden trump card – Nobuyoshi Nishimura Long Interview
If you've watched any Sunrise anime from the 1980s or 1990s, chances are you've encountered Nobuyoshi Nishimura’s work or become aware of his name. As an animator and animation director, he was one of the core members of studio Dove, an outsourcing company mostly...
Colors and cinematography in anime – Interview with Death Note director Tetsurô Araki
As the director of cult works such as Death Note, Highschool of the Dead, and Attack on Titan seasons 1 to 3, Tetsurô Araki is one of the biggest names in the anime industry. In recent years, he has had many occasions to get his name out, from the movie Bubble to the...
From unions to Doraemon – Interview with Éclat Animal’s Toshiyuki Honda
Toshiyuki Honda’s name may not be familiar to many anime fans, but he is the very definition of a veteran, one of those people who have supported the anime industry for decades. He started his career in 1969 in the genre-defining sports anime Star of the Giants and...
Takeshi Honda’s The Boy and the Heron – Long Interview
Nicknamed “Master” since his early days in animation, Takeshi Honda is one of anime’s greatest artists. After a brief period at the studio Atelier Giga, he spent most of the 1980s and 1990s at studio Gainax, where he worked on its most iconic productions: Gunbuster,...