Otaku of the world, unite!
"Money, girls, fans, fun, artistic credibility,
international acclaim, superb pot and a working relationship with Radiohead.
What more could a guy want?"
Dai Sato rarely wears suits, but he was wearing a good one, a black salaryman special with a nice white shirt. On him, though, the get-up looked slept-in, dusty and too tight - perfect, in other words, for the occasion: the Tokyo International Anime Fair, the sublimely dorky annual convention for Japanese animation.
As the crown prince of anime screenwriting, Sato, at 36, is a consummate creator of the characters, busty schoolgirls and shaggy-haired heroes, that inspire Asian teenagers to devote their irreplaceable youth to the worship of cartoons.
The vast halls of Tokyo Big Sight - the Death Star-sized convention center that housed the fair, with its sprawling trade show, closed-door industry symposiums and awards ceremony - were decked with images of exuberant, candy-colored anime figures. As they gazed down on the hundred thousand or so fans who ambled among the booths, their googly baby eyes (the centerpiece of the anime aesthetic), seemed to monitor the proceedings.
Under this scrutiny, Sato worked up a peculiar merriment Saturday, hopping around in a boxer’s victory pose and chanting, “Hai, hai, hai.” Yes, yes, yes - as if in assent to all that this trippy universe has offered him so far: money, girls, fans, fun, artistic credibility, international acclaim, superb pot and a working relationship with Radiohead. What more could a guy want?
“My anime has grown up with me,” Sato said. In the past, when he wrote for younger characters, he entertained himself with references for an older generation: The hero of “Eureka seveN,” for example, is Renton, named for a character in “Trainspotting”; his father, Adrock, is named for the Beastie Boy; and a helpful duo named Jobs and Woz are named for Steve Jobs and Stephen Wozniak of Apple.
All of this Sato is willing to explain, and patiently, but he does so somewhat by rote. It is plainly no great pleasure anatomizing anime for people outside otaku culture; the plots and characters sound stupid when you spell them out, and it is much more comfortable for fanboys to be around people who just get it.
Rock on!
Posted: Sun - April 16, 2006 at 11:31 AM