[Archon_Wing]

Lol, that's amazing

I liked to stay indoors, so I was reading books and playing games all the time. I liked anime too.

Well, at least we have something in common.

Okada - I wrote and dreamed stories like that, and I cried every day. As I was imagining, I was touched.

-- You were touched by your stories?

I'm not sure what to think about this. Either it's "I am a very emotional person who comes up with emotional thoughts" or "My stories are so damned good they want to make me cry too!" Wonder if she laughs at her own jokes a lot too. But... at least it's sincere.

Say, you wouldn't like to go to school if you have a boy that you don't like in your class. I imagined dating with each classmate in Japanese alphabetical order. I fantasized dating with a classmate I really hated, what would happen then, and what I could do to come to like him. I had given myself such an awful training.

-- Is that a training (Laughs)?

Okada - I sure hated him. However I tried to like him in one way or another, made a story and dated with that character within my brain. No, that's himself, not a character. I did it with girls. I developed friendship with them in Japanese alphabetical order.

-- You modelled characters using your classmates.

What a hater. That's pretty petty but hilarious-- wonder if she still does that. *Cough* Jinomaru

It's certainly a very interesting revelation about True Tears. Suddenly half the fans are vindicated.

That's right. I wanted to write people like him. I consider my nature is a supporting cast, I often cast myself as a supporting cast in what I wrote as a kid. Because of that, I'm attracted to supporting casts or "those who are not chosen". Ohana didn't start a journey in order to make her dream come true, but she is "the one who left to gain something". Typically in anime and what not, a protagonist is chosen by something and starts journey, but what about those who were not chosen? Is the place which the protagonist left unattractive? I'm very curious about those things. I wanted to write it.

The voice of the voiceless it seems. Well, it does explain why her anime seems to go around exploring so many things. about the people around, and effectively avoiding main character syndrome.

Okada - P.A.Works is a special company for me. Producer Horikawa[8] says, "I wish you would lose your other work soon."

-- Because if you lost your other work, he could ask you to do more work for him?

Aha, it seems this sentiment is shared by a few.

But I can't say the truth about jobs yet because even we are worried about jobs. I didn't want to say, "This must be my job." You can create events and sparkle no matter where you are and what your job is. Be it Tokyo or Kanazawa. And I had her say, "You can sparkle no matter what your job is, but I want do this."

Well, a commonly stated theme of Hana Saku Iroha was to love your work, even with the difficulties of it. It seems like from the interview that she had to move around a bit without stability, and in times like these messages like that become especially important.