Mamoru Oshii(I)

One of the co-founders of Studio Ghibli along with Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata but left over creative differences. Despite this, Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki would later help fund Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (2004), which at the time was one of the most expensive anime films ever made. Oshii maintains skeptical, but respectful, views of both Takahata and Miyazaki's films; he has been critical of Miyazaki's attitude towards his workers, but also claims he would feel "strangely empty" and "it would be boring" if both Miyazaki and Takahata were to retire.

Experiencing a world that is different from reality - somewhere other than here and now as someone who does not exist - is an essential part of living a human life, an essential experience for human beings. It is no exaggeration to say this is the essence of culture and religion. Since prehistoric times, human beings have lived fictions that are not limited to reality, and it is these experiences that have made us human. This is perhaps the only thing that will not change in any given future.