FanimeCon - Day One - Takami Akai and Hiroyuki Yamaga
Through the ups and downs of the Japanese film and game studio known as Gainax, these two men have been through it all since the beginning. Takami Akai (left), best known as a game designer, and Hiroyuki Yamaga (right), writer, producer and director have been part of the studio's best-known projects. Yamaga has been a regular guest at FanimeCon for several year, and in 2000 he brought Akai with him to share the experience - and learn what the American audience wants.
Fans of the Princess Maker series, where players try to raise the perfect teenaged female, applauded when Akai said he was hard at work on Princess Maker 4. "We're trying to rebuild the system from the ground up," said Akai. "Most difficult is that we want to make it simple and fun to play, but detailed and complex. Finding that balance is what we're working on now." Akai added that creating the cute characters for the game is harder than it seems. "If I draw a character five times, two times it's not cute. I have to sit there until I make it my own and it's cute five out of five times."
At first, Yamaga said he was working on a "secret project." Then he said he was trying to write novels, but was having a hard time coming up with a story line that would sell books. "In Japan, what the audience expects is different from what I want to create," he said. That led to a discussion about how Hideaki Anno had done a masterful job of reaching young people worldwide through Neon Genesis Evangelion, and how Yamaga works hard to discover what the youth of Japan - and America - want from their entertainment. "Coming to FanimeCon is a big asset - it provides me with a lot of insight," he said. "Maybe he's done too much data collection," Akai joked, saying that Yamaga is all but trapped in his office by the books he reads. "No, I don't think I do that much," Yamaga replied with a straight face.
Somehow, the coversation turned to the animated films the two created for the Daicon conventions in Japan. Those films are known as the first Gainax films - and remembered for the all-conquering bunny girl character. American fans enjoyed the film's broad parody, but its Japanese creators have fixed feelings. "They're a source of pride and something you want to strangle," said Yamaga, who is more interested in new projects. "I don't want to see them for a long time. Just thinking about them sends shivers down my spine," added Akai, saying that he wants to produce better films than the old ones.

Day One
Day Two
Day Four