Interview with Takaaki Kidani (Bushiroad), Planner of “Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet” [3/4]

The leader’s importance

Hirasawa: I’d also like to ask some questions about Gargantia. While this anime is partly about work, it is also about social organizations, and in the middle, there is the drama of changing leaders.

Kidani: That’s great!

Hirasawa: Now, could you tell me, from position of unifying and leading an organization, what would you deem important when constructing it, and how would you lead it?

Kidani: I think the most important thing in a leader’s job is making concepts, meaning, to present the idea that “this company goes in this direction, it will be a company like this” to all the employees. Depending on the situation, he might also have to show that to the world, the customers, or business partners. For example, if a war broke out but there was no reason to fight, no one is able to move. The second most important is judgement. You make decisions and judgements, assume leadership, and guide the others. It is summarized mostly in that. Also, speaking of things on-site, HR is very important.

Ishikawa: HR?

Hirasawa: The stationing of personnel. It is extremely important.

Kidani: Even so, there are few leaders in Japan, which is because there is no leadership education here. Going further, it’s because they don’t emphasize the need for a leader and the importance of leadership in our education. Instead, they often tell us to get along with each other.

Hirasawa: They find consensus awfully important.

Kidani: And that’s why i hate the expression“read the air.” I think not being able to read the air, to perceive the mood in itself is a talent, because everyone does that, reading the air. Of course, it is important to learn about leadership, but above that, they should adopt “understanding the importance of leadership” in the curriculum. Even so, no such things are written in Japanese moral textbooks, they’re all about words like commonality and cooperativeness. However, if the leader can’t hold himself together, the organization will fall over, and that’s why I think it’s a wonderful thing that you depicted leadership properly in this anime.

Hirasawa: We are grateful for your words.

Kidani: It’s quite like it is there but isn’t.

Hirasawa: By the way, Gargantia is the story of Ledo growing up. As a leader, you Kidani, also raise people, and you must have encountered those moments numerous times when a person exhibits some unusual abilities. Is there something you do to help their growth?

Kidani: Let’s see...I entrust them with a massive project, and make them do some reckless things.

Ishikawa: Being reckless is important.

Kidani: People can have incredible strength in the face of peril.

Hirasawa: “Please to meet you! I’m Kaito Ishikawa” has a similar aspect, as well (laughs). After all these interviews are over, you will be a completely different Ishikawa! By the way, there are various types of leadership such as performance leadership, where you pull the others after you, and maintenance leadership, where you support your surroundings. When you act as a leader, what things do you pay attention to?

Kidani: From other people’s points of view, I absolutely look like a performance type (laughs). I’m not a show-off, though.

Hirasawa: You also appear in pro wrestling.

Kidani: Well, I like publicity. Having it out can also make it easier most of the time. However, it’s not like I leave everything unseen to people’s imaginations. After all, it’s me who thinks about the concepts. However, that way, all the new works were coming from me. After Bushimo started, a lot of original plans came up, and there is also original content I’m not involved in. This makes me very happy, because there aren’t many people who can do zero-one, as it is very difficult.

Ishikawa: Zero-one?

Kidani: Whether it’s a game or an anime, there are very few people who start up from pure nothing and make that a hit.

Hirasawa: That’s true.

Kidani: People who want to do zero-one are few to begin with. Most people just want to be involved. There really are a lot of people who want to be involved with this industry. However, no one ever came to me saying, “I want to do this kind of project.” Of course, there were simple projects, but no one wanted to do it from scratch, taking all that serious risk.

Ishikawa: My motive also was that I wanted to be involved with the anime and game industry as a voice actor...

Kidani: Motive is okay, but you have to realize what you want to do from then on. Otherwise, it will never be more than a wish.

Ishikawa: I have a lot of things I want to do!

Kidani: Even in the anime industry, maybe there are less people now with a motive like, “I’d be so happy if I could be involved in the production of Gundam”

Hirasawa: In that sense, can we also say that the strong will to do something is one part of being a leader?

Kidani: Yes. Just before, the subject of the aptitude test came up. Let’s say that the horizontal axis is motivation and the ability to take action, and the vertical axis is sense. People who have sense but not a lot of the other two, are critics. People like that understand things, yet won’t operate magnificently. People who have motivation, but are lacking in ideas are the salesman types. If someone learns to think by himself, take action by himself, he will be a manager type, or a leader type, so to speak. What I’ve always had wrong is that I thought I was gaining in the ability to take action and do business, when in reality it was sense that I was growing in. That’s why I decided to employ people with the ability to take action.

Hirasawa: This is intriguing! And also true.

Kidani: Sense means you accumulate the various patterns from past experiences, and the older you get, the more apt you become at picking the suitable pattern. So the reason young people don’t have much sense is because they lack experience. If you become apt at picking, then, for example, when making an original work, you won’t be making it from scratch, because you brought something with you from somewhere. And that way, it looks like you’ve created one from zero. Therefore, you can also pick up sense steadily later.

Ishikawa: I see.

Kidani: I only learned this at the end of last year. It would’ve been better if I’d known it earlier. I’m a little frustrated wondering why I didn’t know it until this year.

Hirasawa: We are very lucky, because here and now, we were able to acquire that knowledge about 15-20 years earlier.

Ishikawa: That’s right. Since I was so lucky to learn this while I’m still young, I will treasure all this experience!

Gargantia x Tokyo Otaku Mode Special Site

Source: Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet Official Site

© Oceanus / Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet Production Committee