A Bit Late, But...

Last month Yoshiyuki Tomino came to town: Chicago, to appear as part of the Chicago International Film Festival and screen the trilogy of Z Gundam movies.

Tomino himself is bald, with black bushy eyebrows, and resembled the dust jacket photos of Zen monk D.T. Suzuki. When he spoke through an interpreter, it seemed at times as if he finally had a chance to get stuff off of his chest; at other times, he held back, although hinting at his opinions. He said, for example, that he didn't want to say anything about Dr. Osamu Tezuka, his first employer and mentor; later, though, he allowed that Tezuka's consistent optimism was a problem for him. (Of course, Tezuka himself gave up that optimism later in life, but that's beside the point.)

No earth-shaking revelations, except at the post-panel-discussion dinner at Lawry's. (Can someone tell me what's supposed to be so great about prime rib? Fish is fish and cow is cow, to me...) He finished off his remarks by saying "I hope the three great religions of the world can come together in peace. Of course, that may all be science fiction." As one of the major creators of 20th century sci-fi, I guess he'd know.