Was learning electrical skills at a vocational school before he signed up for his first job in animation.
He is a member of JAniCA, aka the 'Japanese Animation Creators Association', which is a non-profit organization dedicated to raising the living standards of workers in the anime industry.
On Entertaining Audiences: I would like them (the audience) to cry and
then laugh. I'd like to coax the audience to enjoy the film so much
that their guts have been drained dry. I want it to be a cathartic
experience.
I've been infatuated with making material I enjoy, and I never expected my works to be so appealing to the American audience.