Dark Horse: With more of your work being discovered by an American audience have you had much opportunity to meet with some of your newer American fans?
Amano: This year, I attended three conventions in the US: San Diego Comic-Con, MetroCon in Florida, and OniCon in Texas. So yes, I've met a lot of my fans in the past, but more this year than ever! I don't know if they are my new fans or they've been my fans since long before, but I had a great time seeing every one of them and I'd like to thank them for coming to see me!
DH: You were at the 2006 San Diego Comic-Con for the first time-what did you think of that experience?
Amano: First, I was surprised by the scale of it! So many exhibitors and products! I had fun looking at original works of my favorite characters and artists (I'm a big fan of Batman and Neal Adams). Also, I saw the artists I admire and was able to get their books autographed! So, even though I was invited as one of the guests, I felt that I was able to attend and experience SDCC as a fan like almost everyone else!
DH: Which artists currently working in the fields of fine art and comics are you a fan of?
Amano: In fine art, I like what Jeff Koons is doing. I don't read much American comics these days, but I admire the style of Frank Miller.
DH: How do you approach character design for a project like Vampire Hunter D and Final Fantasy? Does the writer or client supply you with a heavily detailed description of what they are looking for, or are you given a lot of freedom to conceptualize the visuals?
Amano: Usually, they just give me the story or a script and pretty much leave the design to my imagination. Sometimes, I create a character or a monster that wasn't in the material, and they incorporate it into the story if they like it. So yes, I'm given a lot of space to play around.
DH: Do you still find yourself discovering new aspects of Vampire Hunter D after doing illustrations of him and his world for Mr. Kikuchi's works for so many years?
Amano: Yes, I do! You see, since Vampire Hunter D was never done in the graphic novel format, there were many parts that I could and wanted to create more images of, but the page and the layout restrictions wouldn't allow it. Also, my idea of D himself is that he has a beauty which is not completely human, nor completely un-human. It lies somewhere in-between and I find it fascinating to try to capture that quality on a sheet of paper.
DH: Is there anything that you've always wanted to illustrate that you've never gotten a chance to?
Amano: I've always been a fan of Kyoka Izumi stories, especially the ones with fantasy elements. I did some stage and costume designs when some of his stories were produced on the stage. That was fun, so some day, I'd like to do a graphic novel with one of his stories.
DH: Do you perceive a division between the worlds of fine art and commercial art, or do you feel that the divisions are mainly artificial?
Amano: For me, there's only good art and not-so-good art, no matter what the medium is. However, there is a distinctive separation between so-called fine art and commercial art in today's society. They are shown in different venues and acknowledged under different contexts. I wouldn't call the difference totally artificial, but at the same time, I don't consider it as something concrete. The concept of "art" we have today is not that old actually (probably goes back four hundred years or so). With the speed the world is changing today, I honestly don't know how what we consider "art" will be conceived or classified one hundred years from now.