Neo-Kichijoji

My interview with Tekkon Kinkreet director Michael Arias is one of the feature stories in the second issue of Otaku USA magazine, which (if you're an otaku in the USA, at any rate) should be hitting bookstores and newsstands right about now. Conducted both in Studio 4C and on the mean $treets of Kichijoji, it touches on life, his movie, and, well, everything. Except what the nonsense phrase "tekkon kinkreet" means, that is. (My take? It's a remix of the Japanese words for "reinforced concrete," so I guess a direct translation would be... "conforced reincrete." I suppose that's why they stuck with the original Japanese.)

Arias is one of the few gaijin who've made it to a position of power in the anime industry, and to date the only one who's ever directed his own anime film. The movie itself is spectacular stuff; add the fact that he's incredibly open and insightful, sprinkle with soy sauce and wasabi, and you end up with a juicy material all around. Not to build it all up in your heads or anything. Check it out when you get a chance.