In
a land where cuteness seems to rule, one of the hot catchphrases in
Japan has been "moe." It's a quality that some see in the artwork of
Kazue Yamamoto, whose designs are seen in the Izumo anime and the
Castle Fantasia game. "It appeals to both boys and girls," said
Yamamoto. "It's a turn on for the character and it makes them more
appealing. The characters are sort of the things that you really want."
Making acute female character follows a simple pattern, Yamamoto said -
"Open the eyes very big, make the face very round." And creating a
character with that "moe" quality isn't necessarily easy or hard, she
said. "You focus on what appeals to people - for girls it's a princess
or a sailor outfit. A lot of times, guys with white or silver
hair have `moe' for girls - it's very appealing to them. And from what
I saw from cosplay in the dealers room, ninjas are very popular," she
said in responding to the number of Naruto costumers at Anime Expo.
"There's actually more Naruto in the dealers room than in Japan -
Americans probably like ninjas."
Yamamoto
was pleased to find that Anime Expo fans knew a lot about her work,
even material that has not been imported to the U.S. As the president
of Studio Ego, she's usually working on several projects at once - a
manga or two, an anime and games. Those complicated branching stories
in games are invented from the inside out, she said. "I take a standard
story and start from the end and go backwards. Instead of asking where
do you want this to go, we ask where do you want this to begin?" On the
other hand, the complexity of anime shows is developing a large number
of characters, she said. Games pivot around one character, used by the
game player, and that character's view is developed more than anything
else. In anime, several characters' stories are told and must be
developed. "In a game the person (player) is making the action. In
anime, the animation is the action."
In
a land where cuteness seems to rule, one of the hot catchphrases in
Japan has been "moe." It's a quality that some see in the artwork of
Kazue Yamamoto, whose designs are seen in the Izumo anime and the
Castle Fantasia game. "It appeals to both boys and girls," said
Yamamoto. "It's a turn on for the character and it makes them more
appealing. The characters are sort of the things that you really want."
Making acute female character follows a simple pattern, Yamamoto said -
"Open the eyes very big, make the face very round." And creating a
character with that "moe" quality isn't necessarily easy or hard, she
said. "You focus on what appeals to people - for girls it's a princess
or a sailor outfit. A lot of times, guys with white or silver
hair have `moe' for girls - it's very appealing to them. And from what
I saw from cosplay in the dealers room, ninjas are very popular," she
said in responding to the number of Naruto costumers at Anime Expo.
"There's actually more Naruto in the dealers room than in Japan -
Americans probably like ninjas."
Yamamoto
was pleased to find that Anime Expo fans knew a lot about her work,
even material that has not been imported to the U.S. As the president
of Studio Ego, she's usually working on several projects at once - a
manga or two, an anime and games. Those complicated branching stories
in games are invented from the inside out, she said. "I take a standard
story and start from the end and go backwards. Instead of asking where
do you want this to go, we ask where do you want this to begin?" On the
other hand, the complexity of anime shows is developing a large number
of characters, she said. Games pivot around one character, used by the
game player, and that character's view is developed more than anything
else. In anime, several characters' stories are told and must be
developed. "In a game the person (player) is making the action. In
anime, the animation is the action."
