MAKOTO SHINKAI

I think it is one of the common themes for many Japanese people to choose where to live: Tokyo or their hometown.

When I made 'Voices of a Distant Star,' I wanted to make money from making that movie, of course, but that wasn't my major reason.

I grew up in the countryside and wanted to go to Tokyo. I had Tokyo complex.

My life has had a lot of fun moments, but I tend to feel sadness more often.

When Ando arrives in the studio, he picks up his pen even before he gets a cup of tea, and he stays seated until the very last train at night. He hardly eats, just nibbles at little balls of rice at his desk.

I think love isn't doomed, of course, but in real life, love doesn't always work out.

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.

When we were doing 'Five Centimeters Per Second,' at that time, Japan was in an era when it felt nothing would ever change, so I wanted to make a movie that reflected that feeling.

I don't think anybody can replace Mr. Miyazaki.

In daily or everyday life, I am so impressed with tiny details, like when I look up at a street lamp falling on the street, it seems to have meaning or so much information in it.

I am from the countryside, very rural countryside, and I moved to Tokyo when I was 18 and have been living first-ever since. So yes, I am a city guy, but sometimes I sort of feel there's another me in a parallel world, still in the countryside.

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.

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.

I pay attention to the things that nobody else is looking at.

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.

Ghibli is about craftsmanship. They draw characters and put life in it.

When we have a disaster in Japan, I wonder, how can we prevent our lives and traditions and history from the disaster?

As soon as I have the idea, I need to create as quickly as possible, because it's what's going on in society, and that's what connects me to my audience.

I feel the best scripts are those that are originally written to be films: that is film in its purest sense.

I think that's a universal theme, you know: we don't know who we're going to meet tomorrow. And that person might change your life entirely. There's always that possibility, and while you're not necessarily actively seeking it, you have that desire deep down.

I do receive some offers for live-action, but I'm not really that interested. It's not something you can just try out and give it a go.

I personally am not very interested in awards or the awards circuit.

The identity of Studio Ghibli movies are how the characters move. They move like live, real people.

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.