1UP: Hello, please introduce yourself along with your title, if you would. Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions.

Yukie Saeki: I'm Yukie Saeki, and I was the Studio 4C production manager for Shining Force Neo's 2D animation.

1UP: You guys have created some of the most polished animated pieces in history, with contributions to Memories, Spriggan, Animatrix and the lavishly-animated Steamboy. Are there any sort of special considerations you take into account when creating short animated sequences for a video game?

YS: I really wanted to have the huge feel of a motion picture with high dramatic quality, with a little "something new" to give the game that extra something.

1UP: What sort of research did you do to capture the "Shining Force" feeling? Did you work closely with the development team or Sega?

YS: I met with people several times, making sure that I could get a firm grasp on the characters' personalities so that I could portray them appropriately.

1UP: So much of today's anime is filled with static images over which the characters talk, which probably saves on a project's budget a great deal. But Studio 4C works are always fluidly animated. Is this a specific trademark of Studio 4C creations? Does it stem from the work you did when you were at Studio Ghibli?

YS: Like you say, a lot of the time, schedules and budgets force you to take some shortcuts when animating and putting things together. I always try, as much as I can, to make sure that I'm able to convey what it is that needs to be conveyed in the finished product. Having a character moving while speaking, for instance, really makes things look a lot nicer, and I feel that it improves the feel of the animation itself so much, like things are really coming to life.

1UP: Over Studio 4C's many projects you've covered a wide range of visual styles. What sort of staff did you select to match the Shining Force style, and how many people did it take to create the animation in Shining Force Neo?

YS: For the main staff, each part had its own director in charge of overseeing what they were handling, to get each scene right. Also, in order to keep the world view and the characters how they were supposed to be, I made sure we had artists with the best sense of color sense, and the like. In total, we had over 80 people on staff.

1UP: Videogames are close to animated movies in a way, since they're animated, 3-dimensional art. What do you think about videogames as an artform, and do you see the fields of animation and videogames moving closer together?

YS: I think that both of them are very similar in terms of what they aim to express. You want the user to get invested with the right emotions, and when it comes to games, I think that's a great opportunity for the player to really suspend disbelief and feel that sort of thing as if they were there.

1UP: Do you play videogames at all, and if you had the chance, are there any other Sega franchises you would like to create animation for? Like Sonic the Hedgehog, or something like that?

YS: I do play games sometimes. I can be interested in anything so long as the story or the characters really grab me.

1UP: If you had to pick your finest animated work, which one would it be and why? And if you had to name your favorite animation that you didn't work on, what would that be?

YS: The project I'm working on now! [Laughs] Unfortunately, since I can't tell you about that, I'd have to say "Noiseman Sound Insect." That was the first project I was in charge of, and it was a lot of fun to work on and bring to completion. I also really liked the visuals I got for "Kid's Story" in "The Animatrix." My personal favorite animated feature is "BonoBono: The Tree of Kumomo."

1UP: Please tell us an interesting anecdote in the creation of the Shining Force Neo animations.

YS: We were really hard-pressed to get the right art staff and film staff in order to get the animation right for the visual style we needed. It was difficult to make those choices, based on what we knew it was that we needed to accomplish.

1UP: Is it easier to work on short movies like those in Shining Force Neo or the Animatrix, or is it more difficult, because you must tell a story in a very short period of time?

YS: A theatrical release project takes upwards of three years or so, and so it's definitely easier to work on a short movie, at least on the surface. Still, like you say, you do have that difficulty of making sure that you do a good job of getting everything across in a shorter time frame, so you've got your additional challenges there, as well.

1UP: Lastly, what advice would you give to an aspiring 2D animator? The medium is thriving in Japan, but in America they're closing down 2D animation studios left and right (like Disney) and farming a lot of things out to Korea. It's a very difficult time for the industry.

YS: 2D animation, I feel, really fosters a sort of skill and talent for capturing the natural movements and poses of characters, since you have to keep drawing and redrawing things repeatedly. The skills that you learn from 2D animation are essential for 3D animation, though (even here in Japan!), and so I'd love for people to really be ale to polish their 2D animation skills. I think that people should start from the very basics of what "drawing" is all about.

1UP: Thanks again for your participation and good luck on your next projects!