Now an animation veteran, with 17 years in the business, Masaaki Yuasa still looks young enough, acts deferential enough and dresses down enough to be mistaken for a rank-and-filer. Instead, he is a rising industry star hailed for his work on the "Crayon Shinchan" franchise, the nearest Japanese animation has come to "The Simpsons," and his directorial debut, "Mind Game," which is to most Japanese feature animation what extreme skiing is to a schuss down a bunny slope.
In person, Yuasa was comfortable enough with his new role of director, but that of interviewee seemed to strike him as a bit odd -- though maybe that was the fault of his interviewer. He was polite and forthcoming enough -- and relieved when the last question came. (True, I was the last in a day-long media procession.)
You use live actors in certain scenes of the film in a way reminiscent of Richard Linklater's "Waking Life" -- but unlike anything I've seen in Japanese animation.