Mitsuo Iso is an animator, director, and screenwriter. Iso has worked as a key animator for many iconic shows and movies including: Porco Rosso, Gundam 0080, FLCL, Neon Genesis Evangelion (co-writer of episode 13), The End of Evangelion, Ghost in the Shell and the animated segment of Kill Bill Vol. 1.
Q: Why did you retire so early?
A: So I have only retired from the animator part of my role, which I have done for approximately 30 years. So I don’t particularly feel like that’s too early. Nowadays I am seeing new blood come into the industry and they are very talented too. I figure I would let them handle the key animation. Now I want to focus more on the director role. So that’s really the reason for the retirement. However, in regards to the works I am going to be directing myself, I would like to be working on the art aspect as well.