Ishihara invades Anime convention

[cstaylor]

The Award for Best Satanic Rabbit Goes to ...

But then Governor Ishihara appeared. He looked tired. Perhaps it was the two days he had just spent talking about the anime industry. Still, he marshaled his dark charm. "This is a place for business," he began. "I've been at the trade show booths, and met people who are doing anime alone. What they do begins as manga, then becomes anime, and each needs our support."

"But too much anime looks alike," he said. It really seemed to bother him. He cautioned anime creators to think about how they're positioning their audience. "Can't you guys work on a story a bit more?"

"I don't play games or watch anime," he continued, gathering momentum. "I saw one or two. Some are interesting, but I'm not going to quit my job to go be an anime creator."

[Mulboyne]

This could just be a late April Fool's joke. But it is Ishihara after all.

UPI: Mickey Mouse denounced at Tokyo anime fair

Tokyo's governor has condemned Mickey Mouse as inferior to Japanese anime, the highly detailed cartoons that feature busty girls with big blue eyes. Shintaro Ishihara made the remark while opening the Tokyo International Anime Fair on Saturday, which saw tens of thousands of fans strolling aisles packed with anime books, art, posters and a myriad of other souvenirs. "I hate Mickey Mouse," Ishihara said. "He has nothing like the unique sensibility that Japan has. The Japanese are inherently skilled at visual expression and detailed work."

Ishihara [U]claims other associations[/U] with the mouse:

Ishihara's famously anti-American politics were formed during the war when he remembers being strafed "for fun" by U.S. planes "with pictures of naked women and Mickey Mouse painted on the fuselage."