An Interview with Minoru Ota Director of TV Anime Sparks of Tomorrow

Date: 2026 June 20 08:20

Posted by Joe

Anime Limited teamed up with MCM Comic Con London to host the World Premiere of new TV anime Sparks of Tomorrow. Director Minoru Ota and producer Ryona Kuyama of Kyoto Animation were at the premiere to promote it. We were lucky enough to interview Minoru Ota in person at MCM Comic Con London and find more out about the show.

If you want to see the show yourself Sparks of Tomorrow will be on Netflix from Sunday 5th July 2026.

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As the series isn't out yet, how would you explain Sparks of Tomorrow to a new audience?

It's something new, something quite fresh in terms of the visuals and the characters and the story, it's a bit different. It's something I think people won't have seen before. So I'll hope they enjoy it!



Can you tell us more about the 20th Century Electrical Catalog?

So there are secrets in the electrical catalog, but the real role of the catalog is to connect the characters together.


In the past you've worked on many titles as part of KyoAni, now you're a series director for Sparks of Tomorrow, how is the series director different from other roles you've held?

It was really hard! There were a lot more things I had to think about. There was more responsibility. It made me panic a bit at times! I started as an animator and so I understand how creators feel and I speak the same language as them, which means I'm able to communicate with them.

In this series the background art has real impact. It's something quite special. That's something we're able to do because I speak the same language as the creatives.

So I speak the creators language, but it turns out I don't speak the same language as everybody else, producers and the promoters and everyone. Because I try and communicate so much through feelings other than through theory. What was challenging for me with this was trying to learn to communicate with the broader range of people involved in the project.


So you had to be involved more with the business side of things as well as the creative side of things?

It was hard because I was an animator, I was used to just sitting at my desk and drawing, but now I had to learn to communicate with loads of different people.

That was motivating and inspiring in itself. It was something I was able to make use of in the show.



In the past you've been a musical instrument animation director, done prop design too, have you used skills learnt from these roles as a director?

Those roles I thinks taught me attention to detail which was very useful in making a series, be it the world view or the feelings and the performance of the characters. I was able to pay attention to the small details and communicate that with the team.


What aspects were particularly challenging or difficult when adapting the work into animation?

The series is set in a kind of steampunk type world and because the inventions that Kihachi makes in the show like light bulbs are all quite ordinary things, they're normal for us. So I thought to avoid them coming across as boring I wanted to set this in a world where those things are special hence the steampunk world.

But I discovered just setting them in that world wasn't enough, I also had to put a lot of thought into the light bulbs for example or what they looked like, how they were used in this new setting. So that was a challenge.



Were there any aspects of the animation direction or production where you felt a particular sense of creative freedom, or areas where you were able to take on new challenges?

The process of creating the story, there was a lot of back and forth with the script writer and a lot of the ideas I came up with were incorporated into the script.


What would life be like be for you in a world where steam is the dominant utility? Is there anything electrical you would miss?

Well, apparently steam has more possibilities than we tend to think, things like vacuum cleaners, air conditioning, fridges are possible using steam. So I kind of think that in this world where the use of steam is more advanced these things would probably exist, so it probably wouldn't be very inconvenient, but I do think I would miss communication from phones and things.

I think I would quite like and air purifier as well!



Was it challenging designing such a world?

I imagine that I've set it in a steampunk world, but it's not steampunk for the sake of being steampunk. I still want the characters to live in this world, for the drama to play out here. So it's a bit different as I don't have these massive steampunk buildings and I don't have the pipes leading up to the sky, because I think those things I thought would get in the way of the characters and the drama. It still needed to feel real, like they really live in this world, but at the same time having a bit of fun with the steampunk aesthetic. I needed to find that balance.



Were there favourite gadgets or inventions designed for episodes 1 and 2.

Actually, the prop designer really got into it from episode 3 onwards! So there are a lot of fun designs, oriental type designs, fairy tale type designs it gets a lot more visually interesting going forward.

So we'll have to wait and see?

Yep! Exactly.


Which character do you most relate to and why?

That would be Yosuke because he has an obsessive personality and that's like me when I'm working.

Well Yosuke's a bit weird, but I think everyone understands the pain of not getting what you want.




Have you got a message for any new viewers of the series?

Well, it's the kind of story where you never know what's going to happen next and some of things that happen are hard to imagine! So try and imagine what's going to happen next and see if you're right.

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Sparks of Tomorrow will be on Netflix from Sunday 5th July 2026.

Otaku News would like to thank Minoru Ota for giving us such awesome answers to our questions. We'd also like to thank the good folks at Anime Limited and MCM Comic Con London for arranging this interview for us and providing us with the opportunity to meet director Minoru Ota and producer Ryona Kuyama in person in London.

Source: Otaku News