When I look back at my career thus far it is hard to imagine myself as someone who has risen to the top of my field. In my mind's eye, I am still a young boy experimenting with animation, drawing, and writing to tell his stories. However, I truly start to understand the depth of my accomplishments when I realize the shockwaves my work has spread across the anime and film industry as well as the world.
Many observers from all over the world point to Evangelion as a definitive landmark, if not the start, of Otaku culture. Even though I find that this group of obsessive adult children troubling and scary it is hard to understate how their dedication has propelled my work forward. Journalists and critics often say that it was the memorable characters and aesthetic of Evangelion that allowed them to latch on. Outside of a terrifying fan base, others have cited Evangelion as a turning point for TV anime. This I did intentionally. At the time any person who had graduated elementary school quickly found the storylines of anime to be childish and their length exhausting with no real progress being made. With Evangelion, I saw a need to change that. I wanted to create a significantly shorter story, put care into each episode and character, perfect each scene, and most importantly tell a story I felt was important and mature. I was just doing what I wanted, what I felt the industry needed, I wasn’t trying to cause a ripple effect, but now it is obvious that anime like Evangelion have taken over the medium. Stories are becoming shorter and significantly more meaningful and due to the international explosion of Evangelion are reaching audiences everywhere.
After the restrictions imposed following the airing of a Pokémon episode in which flashing lights gave children seizures and due to the bullying and obsession of the otaku mob, I decided to stop producing television anime by the turn of the century. However, some of my projects have still managed to achieve influential status. Thus began my re-entry into movies. I worked to portray a grim reality through an artistic lens in Love&Pop which earned me the best director award at the 98th Yokohoma film festival as well as Best Artistic Contribution at the Tokyo International Film Festival. Despite the success of Love&Pop and other live-action work like Shiki-Jitsu and Cutie Honey, my heart remained with animation and with Evangelion. So, I founded studio Khara and began to work on a retelling of Neon Genesis Evangelion titled Rebuild of Evangelion. Fifteen years and four movies later I feel that I was able to truly complete the series, no longer constrained by technology, budget, or time. In between working on Rebuild films, I was tasked with revitalizing a Japanese classic, Godzilla. Shin Godzilla won multiple awards including Picture of the Year at the 40th Japan Academy Awards and Best Film at the 59th Blue Ribbon Awards. I was also able to return to the Yokohoma Film Festival to win the Special Grand Prize.
When I reflect on my eminence, the subject I think about most is the legacy that I will leave behind. It is still incredible for me to imagine that my work could go so many places and take me with it. I hope that the contributions that I made to the industry through Shin Godzilla, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Rebuild of Evangelion are felt and recognized for decades to come. Even when my work fades away there is one reason that I believe I will never be forgotten. During the most difficult time of my life, in the period of extreme depression I faced following Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water’s production, a dear friend of mine immortalized my name. Akimasa Nakamura, a prolific astronomer, named the planet 9081 Hideakianno in 1994. As the end of my career as well as the end of my life comes nearer, I can look to not just my prolific artistic work, but also to the stars as proof of my eminence and how I’ll be remembered forever.