Anime Director Masaaki Yuasa Reflects on His 20 Year Career

2023 was an eventful year for Science SARU studio founder and film director Masaaki Yuasa. Since stepping down as president of his animation studio, Yuasa's part rock opera, part supportive treatise to artistic outcasts, INU-OH, was nominated for the Best Motion Picture – Animated Golden Globe. It would ultimately bow out to del Toro's Pinocchio, but the director seemed invigorated when he later attended The Landmark Westwood theater in Los Angeles to discuss the film with fans. More recently, he directed and storyboarded the color opening sequence for the latest season of Studio WIT and CloverWorks' Spy×Family.

With time to reflect on his past work and an upcoming five-film box set from GKIDS, we talked with Yuasa about staying true to his artistic outlook when working on corporate projects and how the industry has changed over the course of his career.

Since starting your directorial career, what is the biggest change you've seen in the anime industry? 

Masaaki Yuasa: Moving to digital or incorporating digital and CG was the biggest change. 

Was it a challenge at all to adapt to those changes?

YUASA: Yeah, we had to change a lot of things. We had to adapt to the digital format, but also were able to do new things that weren't able to do before. So, it was a good thing.  Also, I think a big change is that the industry got so big before, there were, like, unified rules on how to approach things. But now that there are just so many different companies, staff, and methods, that is also a big change. 

Of the films in the box set, which one should viewers look to see that change over to digital?

YUASA: I think all of them have elements of that change within them. But for Lu over the wall, that one uses Flash. So I think that's the most avant-garde of the films. Mind Game, you know, was the first that was really in the era when the industry was moving from hand-drawn animation to digital. So we did a lot of different interesting things with the animation in Mind Game. 

Speaking of the films that are in the box set, looking back on it now, how do you feel you've evolved creatively from Mind Game to INU-OH? 

YUASA: In Mind Game, I did what I could do as a new director, and there were also a lot of challenges and hurdles I had to overcome, but then I incorporated that into my next projects. I think the biggest thing that I was able to learn or evolve was how to communicate with the audience through my projects. In the last ten years, I founded the company [Science SARU], and that also had me shift in how I deal with things because I really had to figure out how to allow the staff to grow and incorporate their skill set and pull out new skill sets so that we could make a better project. 

Are there any films that you feel represent a particular time in your life? You look back at that film, and it reminds you of a specific moment that you were living through at that time? 

YUASA: Yes. I think for Mind Game, it was my debut as a director. When I was working on it, I was very easygoing and casual. But then, after it was released, I suddenly felt all the pressure of being a director of this film. So then I actually got sick. That was when I realized, like, "Oh, I was actually nervous." For Lu over the wall, I was able to meet a lot of Flash animators, and with that staff, I went on to found my company. As for Night Is Short, I was able to reunite with the Tatami Galaxy staff, so that was fun. For Ride Your Wave, I was reunited with the Lu over the wall staff. It was nice to reunite with the staff that I worked with years ago. 

I think for Ride Your Wave, that was when I started to think about how audiences would feel when they watched my movie. Then I was able to incorporate more of how to communicate with the audience in INU-OH. I tried to incorporate more of an old animation style. I think that when making INU-OH, I went back to my feelings of when I first worked on Mind Game; how I first felt as a director and was able to work on it. So I think in the different environments, I was able to grow and incorporate what I had learned in the past. 

Have there ever been any struggles to stay true to yourself artistically when creating a commercial work? 

YUASA: I think myself and my staff, we try to do what we can do for a commercial project, but we try to make it concise and easy to understand. But really, that's on the surface. I try to incorporate elements for the audience to think about and something just deep within in the movie so if one looks at it a different way, they'll think they'll know, "Oh, this is about something else." But on the surface, it's easy to understand. 

Is there one film that stands out to you as the most personal or the most representative of your own emotions? 

YUASA: If the film has an original manga or novel, I do try to lean into making it as close as possible to what the original represents. But I do think every piece of work has what I was feeling in the moment incorporated. But for the recent ones, I learned more about how to incorporate my feelings into the movie. So, it's hard to pick one. I think they all have different elements of what represents me. 

GKIDS will release the Masaaki Yuasa: Five Films Collector's Edition box set on December 19. The set includes Mind Game, The Night is Short Walk On, Girl, Lu over the wall, Ride Your Wave, and INU-OH.