DMW: Digital Music W...

After a month of gathering my senses and figuring out what to plan for the next several months, I started to reminisce the times I had in Tokyo. Among my most memorable moments was sitting across from Shoji Kawamori, the man responsible for all things mecha design in Macross as well as Transformers. The interview was part of a pilot episode I am currently producing. I can't go into particular details but I can say that you will find snippets of it on Comcast VOD in July.
The offices of Satelight in Asagaya, Japan were really nice and slightly spacious. It was more spacious than Production I.G's offices. The one thing the crew and I noticed about these production offices is that they are in non-descript places, tucked away either on the second floor of a building or quietly residing next to a bake shop.
While setting up for the interview, Stu Levy of Tokyopop was present and helped me put this interview together at the last minute. I ended up asking Stu a few questions about live-action Princess Ai; which will make some sort of appearance at Comic-Con -- keep your eyes peeled on that one.
But back to Kawamori-san, he was a soft-spoken, quiet man who doesn't seem at all like the kind of person who could dream up mecha designs that would influence the world of pop culture. During the interview, I had to keep my geek factor in check -- I kept thinking to myself "this is Shoji Kawamori...the man who did mecha design for Escaflowne and Transformers and Macross and ohhhhhh I'm gonna explode!" At one point during the interview, when I asked Shoji to demonstrate how he comes up with models to create a mecha, he would start off with Lego blocks and create from there. The room was at awe as everyone in the room basically gasped at how this man bascially creates - from scratch - the first "draft" of a mecha. We sat there with jaws agape.
Not to give too much away, you'll have to watch the rest on Comcast's Anime Selects VOD. I run the episode in July, so check your guide (if you have Comcast or Cox).