Kunihiko Ikuhara is best known for his work as a director on the later Sailor Moon TV series, the Utena TV series, and the recent Utena movie. Chiho Saito is best known for being the creator and manga artist of Utena.
Panel Report
Kunihiko Ikuhara has been active in the anime industry for a good
many years now, and his first real break came as the director of
Sailor Moon. However, his stint as director of that show soured him
on female heroines and he said that he did not want to work on any
show involving a female heroine after that. However, he found Chiho
Saito's manga, Shoujo Kakumei Utena, shortly thereafter and immediately
fell in love with her work. So much so, that he asked her to join his
creative group, Be-Papas.
Chiho Saito has been a manga artist for close to twenty years, but
he most sucessful work has been her most recent, Shoujo Kakumei Utena.
Due to Ikuhara's love affair with her work, she was offered a chance
to join his group and bring the story to animation.
What did Ms. Saito think of this offer? "I went to her house. But
she slammed the door in my face," Ikuhara stated. "So I kept going
back."
When Saito had a chance to respond, she simply stated, "He's lying!
I always invite guests in!"
And so it started, with Ikuhara having a rather laid-back attitute
toward questions and frequently answering them with joking remarks.
(One running joke was that he was looking for a girlfriend, and this
carried over into the other panels he was a part of as well.)
Saito mentioned that her works (specifically Utena) have a lot of
strange sexual relationships, including incestuous ones. She stated
that she likes this element, as forbidden relationships intrigue
her.
The Q&A session highlights:
Question: Who are your favorite Utena characters?"
Saito: "Touga, because he has long hair."
Ikuhara: "Anou... Anthy... Utena... Nanami... Juri... sore wa
'nice bust'..."
Question: Why did you choose to end the Utena movie the way you did?
Ikuhara: "I wanted to turn them into cars."
Saito: "I thought his idea was weird at first, but I liked it."
Question: Who's idea was it to come up with Chuchu?
Saito: "Chuchu was... not my fault!"
Question: What is the deal with Miki's stopwatch?
A movie clip that answers all... maybe...
