If there's anyone in the Japanese entertainment industry who has never bitten his tongue, it's Hiroshi Matsuyama. The charismatic CEO of CyberConnect2 (the studio behind the legendary Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm saga and the recently announced .hack//Z.E.R.O) has just given an interview where he made it clear that his main creative engine is not money or fame, but pure and genuine indignation. "I'm still angry at the video game industry. I still have a lot of anger inside me," she confessed laughing, but speaking very seriously.
Against
corporate dinosaurs
During his
chat with Denfaminicogamer, Matsuyama pointed his cannons at the
stagnation and near-prehistoric practices that dominate not only video games,
but also anime and film in Japan. For the executive, these industries are
hijacked by traditional rules and business models that are simply not
profitable for the creators at the bottom. He specifically pointed out the
infamous issue of low animator salaries; Although he admitted that
the situation has improved a bit recently, he emphasized that it is only the
tip of the iceberg.
"Quiero cambiar esas cosas que me hacen pensar: '¿Acaso
no están haciendo esto solo para proteger sus propios intereses
creados?'", sentenció Matsuyama. Su frustración con este sistema roto fue
lo que lo motivó a expandir los horizontes de su compañía, fundando recientemente
la división CyberConnect2 Film para irrumpir en el cine, un
medio del cual es un consumidor voraz (ve entre 300 y 350 películas al año).
The
philosophy of Shonen Jump as an engine of life
Where does
he get so much energy and fury to want to change the world at more than 50
years old? The answer is as otaku as it is poetic: from the Weekly
Shonen Jump. Matsuyama revealed that he began reading the magazine in 1977,
at the age of six, after discovering Masami Kurumada's Ring ni Kakero,
and since then he has not missed a single issue in the last 49 years.
For
Matsuyama, Jump is the perfect example of how an industry should evolve instead
of stagnate. He recalled how in the 90s people said that the magazine would die
when giants like Dragon Ball or Slam Dunk were
finished. However, he survived and dominated the market by creating new heroes
and constantly reinventing himself with works such as One Piece, Demon
Slayer, and Jujutsu Kaisen. It's that same mindset of not
giving up, raging at injustice, and always looking for the next big evolution
that he hopes to inject into Japan's stagnant entertainment ecosystem.
