Shoji Kawamori Interview - Labyrinth
Interview by Jonathan “Joestar” Beltran (The transcribed interview can be seen below.)
Interpretation by Satsuki
Your backdoor anime hangout had the privilege and honor to interview legendary director Shoji Kawamori for his original feature film Labyrinth: a story about Shiori Maezawa who finds herself trapped inside her smartphone and must get out before her social media alter ego takes her body and replaces her. Labyrinth is set for a US theatrical release on 10 and 11 May 2026.
Otaku Hourly (OH): Kawamori-san, it is an honor to have you on to the program, to be one of your promotional avenues to celebrate and spread the excitement for your upcoming original feature film, Labyrinth. I was wondering if you can share with us about you and Taichi Hashimoto-san's journey in creating Labyrinth.
Shoji Kawamori (SK): So, with Mr. Hashimoto, I worked with him on Macross Frontier for Sayonara Motsubasa. Would you know that, Jonathan?
OH: I heard of it, yeah.
SK: So he was a producer on that and that's how we met. I was a director then and when we were talking, we discovered that we both love movies. And then we're saying, “Oh yeah, we would definitely want to work on something original one day.” We developed several pitches, but they really didn't go through. But around six years ago, we decided to get together again and come up with something new. And at that time, I realized I was dropping or breaking my smartphone a lot. At the same time I had a dream when I was sleeping that - it's gonna be a long story if I explain it - basically I picked up a dropped phone on the ground and then I, through the dream, realized the phone is really a part of us.
Like I said before, at that time, I was really losing my phone or breaking my phone a lot. And then I was like, “how could I lose or break such an important part of me?” And then when I was telling that to Hashimoto-san, he was really interested in the story. And that's how we developed the idea for this film.
OH: I found the film so fascinating because Labyrinth uses social media to drive the plot, build the world, and it contains a lot of existentialist motifs where Shiori wants to get back to her home, but her alter ego is just determined to take her body and replace her. What captivated you to explore these messages?
SK: When I was working on Macross Plus, I was really, at the time, interested in the deep psychological stuff. So then I was researching it. And then I was really fascinated with Carl Jung's collective thinking theory. And then I really thought like, that was really connected, like each of us being connected, but also that sort of resonated with the internet exploding, and then the information network just being all meshed together.
OH: And with regards to the psychological elements, I liked how the real Shiori and the alter ego are both fragile in the face of virality. Why this choice?
SK: Yes, I think we live in this era where modern people, including me, [think that] the outside criticism is how we see ourselves. So I often travel to different parts of the world, deep where there's people who are in tribes or where there's wild animals and I call this inspiration hunting. But when I go to these deep travel areas you can see everyone - either humans or the animals - hav[ing] a direct relationship to the world and nature and other humans.
And then for us modern people who live in the city, we're really not directly connected to the world: we go through devices, or not just devices, but even through books or movies or TV shows. Our relation to the world is not physically direct. And I think when you have involvement with other people, it gives you confidence. But because we don't have that, we feel like the outside criticism or outside opinion of people really just affects how we feel about ourselves.
I think nature should really be the closest thing to us, it should be within ourselves. But then because it's not, we tend to look for outside sources of opinions. That's why I wanted to create a film that really just explores that, like the internal and the external.
OH: That's fascinating. And I want to ask, in developing and even after finishing this film, has this film impacted your relationship with social media?
SK: Yes, actually, you know, because our project went through COVID, the project did have to be extended. But during that time we were really thinking about social media and the effects of it.
Because we had the time I would be using devices and technology and it was handy, but then I really did think about the effect on my creativity, my sense of relationships with other people. It was really having to [find a] balance because direct personal relationships are better for my creativity, but then using technology is just more effective and useful.
So then trying to separate “when to use what” was really a theme. And I think that's what I really thought about and employed.
OH: And the last question here has to do with just without giving too much here. I love how you've approached it to the degree that vulnerability is what marries both the real self and then the ideal self to become the authentic self. Like that's just so mind blowing to me. How did you come to that conclusion?
SK: Well instead of thinking things in like “black or white,” “good or not good,” “win or lose,” “enemy or friend,” I think everything needs to be diverse. Ever since I was in my 20s, like in Macross, instead of defeating the enemy with physical power, I really wanted to overcome it with songs or culture. And so even in this film there’s a weak Shiori there’s a strong Shiori; there’s positive and outgoing [Shiori] and an introverted Shiori. It’s not about that she’s one thing, but that she’s very multi-dimensional and that was a really big part in creating this film
OH: And Kawamori-san, I want to thank you, Hashimoto-san, and everyone in the Labyrinth team. Thank you so much for this film. It meant a lot to me. And I hope for the best in the promotion and distribution and success for Labyrinth.
Labyrinth releases in theaters on 10 and 11 May 2026.
Tickets and screenings at GKIDS.com
Many thanks to:
Shoji Kawamori for his time and expertise.
Satsuki-san for her interpretation.
Hannah Mancinelli, Maddux Brown, and Joe Incolingo of 42 West LLC for the interview opportunity.
Music by ShreddyEddy (@shreddy94)
Intro Track: “Rise of Otaku”
Closing Track: “Nightingale”