* ~ Creator Impressions ~ *

Anime Expo 2000... Four days in Disneyland, Anaheim, four days of anime and manga fun! Were you there? I certainly was.

One of the highlights of AX2000 was the interview with Chiho Saito and Kunihiko Ikuhara. Chiho Saito is the manga artist and original creator of Utena, and Kunihiko Ikuhara is the director for both the television series and the movie. They introduced themselves, the series, how they met to collaborate on the series (a rather silly anecdote), and then the floor was open to questions.

If you've ever heard rumors that Mr. Ikuhara is strange, well, they're pretty true. He's strange, in a cool sort of way... My friends and I first noticed his habit of saying "Eeeh..." when trying to think of an answer for questions. And he said it a lot. "Minna-san... eeeh... konnichiwa... eeeh..." (We picked up the habit of adding "Eeeh" into our own speech for our own amusement, which was high.) Ms. Saito is quite pretty but fairly quiet, and she smiles a lot. Still, when she gets the mike she can sure have long answers to questions.

Some of the questions were pretty usual, asking about character designs, why there were changes in the movie. There was the ever-popular "what kind of person of the opposite sex do you prefer" to which Mr. Ikuhara replied, "Slim, (Eeeh...) nice bust." (It also became a running joke.) There was a question about who created Chu-Chu, to which Ms. Saito instantly replied, "It's not my fault!" There was a question about why Utena and Anthy looked so different in the movie, to which Mr. Ikuhara answered, "I wanted to change them into cars." (Lots of laughter.) As to the question of what Miki is doing with his stopwatch, Ms. Saito replied, "That's top secret." (I guess we'll never know.) As to the rather strange love relationships in Utena and Ms. Saito's other series, she said she liked forbidden love, and this was often written into her stories. When asked about the movie, Mr. Ikuhara told us he had heard plenty of fan rumors about how the movie would be like - and he wanted to surprise everyone. He said, "I wanted to betray the audience" and this led to the unorthodox but excellent movie ending.

The panel lasted a little over an hour and was funny and interesting. It gave some insight into the creators of Utena. But that wasn't all!

My friends and I saw Mr. Ikuhara several times throughout Expo. He seemed to keep glancing at my friend, who was dressed up in a Deedlit costume. He passed us by one time when we were eating sandwiches for dinner outside, and he glanced back. We passed him a little bit after we'd seen the Utena movie - we got directly back in line to see the Escaflowne movie after the Utena movie had gotten out. There was a special showing and we went in early, and as we walked back inside (we'd left the movie room about 10 minutes earlier) we saw Mr. Ikuhara lounging outside, smoking a cigarette. (He glanced at 'Deedlit' again, there.) But that wasn't all!

After the panel you're given a ticket, and that ticket is entered into a raffle to get a picture or a signing from Ms. Saito and Mr. Ikuhara. And guess what? I won! Boy, was I excited! I even had the Utena movie soundtrack (I bought it Friday with no clue this was going to happen, and boy was I glad!) with me to get signed! Sunday, I went in and waited in yet another line (sigh) and eventually got in and got my CD signed! And I got to see Watase Yuu (Fushigi Yuugi and Ayashi no Ceres creator) in the same room, since they were doing several signings in there! It was so awesome! And here is the proof!:

Now THAT was an AX to remember!

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