I make films as a business, not as a cultural endeavor.

The villains are all parts of me. For years I've been wondering what it would be like if all those negative elements were forced onto the main character's side. I can understand a character with that kind of anger.

We depict hatred, but it is to depict that there are more important things. We depict a curse, to depict the joy of liberation.

I’d like to see Manhattan underwater. I’d like to see when the human population plummets and there are no more high rises, because nobody’s buying them. I’m excited about that. Money and desire—all that is going to collapse, and wild green grasses are going to take over.

In order to grow your audience, you must betray their expectations.

Almost all Japanese animation is produced with hardly any basis taken from observing real people, you know. It's produced by humans who can't stand looking at other humans. And that's why the industry is full of otaku!

We each need to find our own inspiration. Sometimes it is not easy.