>>280360738
In an interview to the director, Mamoru Hosoda, this subject is brought with some interesting insights to his way of thinking. Here's some critical tidbits:

>H: That’s really how it is, you know. When I went to Ghibli to make Howl, they were very busy with Sen to Chihiro. So they had no staff to spare to prepare Howl. Because of that, I had to gather the staff myself. For the designs, for the sakuga… Because I was the director, I had no choice but to do it myself. I would have them accept to join by pleading to them: « Please! ». I wasn’t a producer, so I was only appealing to their sympathy. I’d ask someone saying « You’re necessary to this project ». I thought that Howl was an all-out war, so I asked one by one to all the people I thought I couldn’t do without, and had them join. However, for various reasons, the project itself just crashed. When a project collapses, the director isn’t in a position to give any guarantee to the staff. So when this project collapsed, I felt very guilty for all those people. I said to them « We’re gonna make something great! », but I couldn’t fulfill my pledge. In a sense, I had lied to them. I had betrayed them. Now nobody would trust me again. You can’t make a film alone, so I really thought that would be the end for me (laughs). I’m serious. I thought I would just quietly recess into a corner of the industry, just scraping along, without making too much noise. (bitter laugh). While I was thinking that, Seki-san and Igarashi-san[4] gave me a chance with Ojamajo Doremi Dokkaan! 40th episode. On top of that, some very benevolent people told me that «If you’re working on something I want to be a part of it ». That was Sushio-san and Kubota-kun!