Returning for Otakon 2005 was animation director and character designer Kawamoto Toshihiro. For years now a mainstay at anime conventions across North America, Kawamoto remains a strong, popular draw because of his inspiring character designs in some of the most popular anime in recent history. Among his most famous works include Cowboy Bebop, Golden Boy, several Gundam anime (War in the Pocket, Stardust Memory, 08th MS Team) and Wolf's Rain.

We sat down with Kawamoto Toshihiro in the Hyatt Hotel in Baltimore, Maryland in a spacious room designated for Guests of Honor. Due to the new interview format implemented this year at Otakon 2005, representatives from Anime Web Turnpike and Clear Channel were also present to engage in a round-robin Q&A session with both Kawamoto and fellow character designer Kanemori Yoshinori (X, X/1999, Rail of the Star).

AA: Welcome back to Otakon, and thank you for sitting with us today. You're a frequent guest at anime conventions in the United States. What motivates you to visit American anime fans year after year?

KT: Quite often in my work, it's very hard to get set vacation time, so when I say I'm going to a convention, it would be a great explanation for taking off. Otherwise, they wouldn't even let me go!

Of course, personally coming abroad is very refreshing for myself. And to hear all the fans, directly from the fans, about how they came about my work, it really energizes and refreshes me. So as much as I can, I would like to come and visit.

AA: What exactly is it about the Gundam universe that attracts you to it?

KT: First of all, how I got attracted to Gundam was not from the Gundam world, but from the creator and artist, Mr. Yasuhiko Yoshikazu. His art style was what really caught my attention from the beginning. Adding to that, of course, was the director, Mr. Tomino Yoshiyuki. When I was still a high school student, in those days his works were superbly realistic as animation, and that's how I got attracted to the Gundam world.

AA: How has the universal success of Cowboy Bebop affected your life personally and professionally?

KT: It has made a big... great... difference. When we first start making Cowboy Bebop, we never thought about it being this greatly found by fans in the States. Work-wise, after the Cowboy Bebop success, it gave us the opportunity to make Wolf's Rain and other such works. But on the other hand, because of the success of Cowboy Bebop, it may have tended to lock our hands into a certain direction, and we have to renew ourselves to indicate that we can do totally different types of work, as well... so it's both good and bad, work-wise. Because of the such huge popularity of Cowboy Bebop, we had to purposely change and differentiate the characters of Wolf's Rain to make sure they don't get mixed up or confused... or at least I so intended!

AA: Your character designs are very stylized and easily recognizable to your fans. Are there particular techniques or looks that you tend to reuse?

KT: Wow, that's something new to me. Quite often I was told that since I draw such a different style from work to work, many people told me that they cannot distinguish which work is mine, so that is something new to me. Because Golden Boy originally had the artwork of Mr. Egawa Tatsuya, I tried to make the animation true to that character. But, while these works were all of the similar time frame, maybe the effects of the Golden Boy character design might have affected me in designing 0083 and Cowboy Bebop. That might be the reason you have the impression that my works are easy to recognize, but that is only for those three.

I also worked... I don't know if you know this... but I also worked on Shiro Masamune's Ghost in the Shell and on Matsumoto Leiji's The Cockpit series. And in each case, I tried to be true to the original artwork. So if you were able to tell my work, even if I made an adaptation to hold true to those works, then I admire your eyes for noticing.

In many times, my fans can't believe that both the 0083 and Cowboy Bebop characters were drawn by me because there was such a big difference. And there were those fans who didn't recognize that the Cowboy Bebop character designer is the same person who designed Wolf's Rain, as well. Those titles that I just mentioned, did you get to recognize me?

AA: Personally, I have taken many art classes, so I can see certain characteristics in following your work throughout the years.

KT: I am very impressed that there are people who looked that deeply into the characters.

AA: You tend to take on anime that have mature themes. Were your choices in those projects intentional to match your artistic style?

KT: Not in particular. More often in my case, it's them bringing me in and asking me to work for them, and it tends to be in that category. I don't particularly choose in that way, it just happens to be when they ask me, that's what they have in their minds.

AA: Then do you believe that the people who do assign you which projects you work on, know what style you use, so they assign these particular projects for you?

KT: Regardless of whether they truly understand me or my style, the fact that they watched my past work and they thought that I am reliable enough to work with together is a great honor for me. For their trust, I would like to do my best and come up to the standard they expect of me. So, whether they truly understand me or not, that does not really much of a make difference for me. The fact that they trust me that much is a really big thing for me.

One of the problems is sometimes when they come to me and say, "Well, it's Kawamoto-san! He can do it." That kind of an over-expectation is a little too much for me. That kind of makes my heart beat a little too high for me, maybe.

AA: Have you ever watched an anime that you were involved with and said to yourself, "I should have done this" or "I should've done that differently?"

KT: All works, every time. Unfortunately, being the nature of commercial animation, we always have to work with the regret that what we have originally visualized in our minds would never actually come out on the film due to the unfortunate commercializing mishaps that happen, such as delaying the schedule, not being able to assemble the team of people wanted to originally to do the work or just simply not putting in enough time to create those works. We're constantly regretting that it's not our best work, but to show it to the public is one of the techniques as an animation director I have to be able to bring it up to standard. Even though it may not be in our original image that we have visualized, it still is at an acceptable level for commercializing. Therefore we're constantly regretting... that is the nature of the work.

AA: How important is it to you while producing an anime to also be an anime fan?

KT: Speaking as an anime fan, as a person who watches it, I don't particularly watch anime all by itself. I also watch the History Channel, many movies and other stuff; anime just happens to be one of the genre that I watch. However, there are people that I look up to that I'm fond of. By doing anime work, if I get the opportunity to work with them or when they recognize my name as a workmate, that would be great. I don't think that's the professional mentality but a very anime fan-like mentality, and that still carries me working on anime as a professional.

AA: Arigato gozaimasu.