I think it is really important to not only take advantage of these tools that you have at your disposal but also to really take the time to develop ideas within yourself and think about what you want to animate, and then you can use these tools to create what you want to create.
Ghibli is about craftsmanship. They draw characters and put life in it.
People who draw tend to think they're craftsmen, so they really want to hang onto their pens and papers, but it's not terribly productive. To be honest with you, it's faster and easier to start with the computer.
When I was working at the game company, I wasn't just doing graphic design, I was doing the entire product management, so I would do the graphic design, I would create the advertisements, even the catch copies. I would figure out what kind of packaging and design of the packaging, so I was basically doing total product management at that time.
I think it is one of the common themes for many Japanese people to choose where to live: Tokyo or their hometown.
I think animation can tell more than live action.
There are loads of novels that I really love, like Haruki Murakami's books, and when I read them, I do think about how they would work as an anime. But I do believe that those are great books because they work best as novels, or great manga work best in that form.
'Your Name' is a film created with the innate imaginations of a Japanese team and put together in a domestic medium. When such a work is imbued with Hollywood filmmaking, we may see new possibilities that we had been completely unaware of - I am looking forward to the live-action film with excited anticipation.
I was working in a gaming company, but I really wanted to make animation. I didn't really have anything special, no special tools at my disposal, so I used what I had on hand like Photoshop, and that's really how I started.
I have never really sensed any of Miyazaki's artistic influence on Ando. If there is an influence, it's more in his attitude to his work.
When you're a teenager, there are more things you don't know than you know, and more people that you haven't met than you have met. I felt that way when I was a teenager, and I think maybe, with my films, I'm targeting grown-ups who remember that feeling.
