Probably one of the best-kept secrets at this year's Comic Con was the appearance of the reclusive manga artists Asamiya Kia. I didn't know he was even going to be there until I wandered by the Viz booth and saw the sign announcing his panel and autograph session. A couple of quick conversations with the folks at the Viz booth, and I knew I'd have more EX work to do.
Since Mr. Asamiya is rather protective of his private life, no pictures of him have ever been published in Japan. And in accordance with his wishes, no photographs were allowed to be taken during his autograph sessions or panels. This desire for anonymity, however, did not prevent him from meeting with his fans and enthusiastically answering their questions.
Aside from appearing in person—a rare gift in itself—Mr. Asamiya also brought the pilot reel for the STEAM DETECTIVES television series, which airs this fall on Japanese television. He eagerly answered all questions thrown at him; below are most of the questions asked during the session.

AK:		Hello, I'm Asamiya Kia. I'm one of those artists who doesn't appear in public very often. I've been a manga artist for over twelve years, and this is only my second public appearance.
Q:		The art style in STEAM DETECTIVES is very different from SILENT MÖBIUS and DARK ANGEL. Why did you make this stylistic change?
AK:		There are several reasons. First, I wanted to direct it to a younger audience than my other manga. Also, I had in mind from the beginning that I wanted it to become a television series, so I used less lines in the drawings. This makes the characters easier to animate. Also, there is a lot of influence from American comics in STEAM DETECTIVES, including some homage characters in the series, such as Knight of Phantom.
Q:		There's one character in STEAM DETECTIVES who looks like he was inspired by Inspector Gadget. Is this true?
AK:		I will deny nothing. You are very sharp. (Laughs) In Japan, INSPECTOR GADGET is not very well-known. But, I worked as an inbetweener on that show.
Q:		What is your involvement with the STEAM DETECTIVES animated series?
AK:		Well, it starts airing on Japanese TV in October. The animation is being done by Xebec, who also did NADESICO. I am deeply involved in character design, mecha design, guest character designs—in all aspects of the show. I brought the "pilot" for it. It's literally just been finished. Not a single Japanese fan has seen this yet, so you are the first group of fans to see this in the entire world. It's only two minutes long, and there's no story. Plus, there's a lot of digital animation, so this is a "test run." In order to finish it in time for the convention, we didn't have time to go back and fix the mistakes, so please forgive that.
Q:		Will STEAM DETECTIVES adapt the manga stories or will the stories be original?
AK:		About 1/3 of the show will adapt the manga storyline; the rest will be original stories.
Q:		Have voice actors been cast yet?
AK:		Not yet. There was a CD drama done a while ago, but the cast will probably change, especially the voice for Narutaki. This time, we will use a real child; on the CD, Narutaki was voiced by Orikasa Ai.
Q:		Were you inspired by TETSUJIN 28?
AK:		(In English): "Yes." STEAM DETECTIVES is packed full of things I saw in movies, anime, and manga when I grew up, not just TETSUJIN 28, but the basic setup is in the same vein as the old TETSUJIN 28 series. Narutaki has a giant robot; in the TV show, everyone will have robots.
Q:		What is your relationship to Kikuchi Michitaka?
AK:		If you cut us, we'll bleed. I am the real Asamiya Kia.
Q:		Was being a manga artist your first career choice?
AK:		It was a fluke that I became a manga artist. A friend asked me to do a couple of pages of simple manga for a dojinshi he was doing. A Kadokawa editor saw it and approached me and said, "How would you like to do a series?" So I said, "Why not?" Since I fell into this, I apologize to all those who are struggling so hard to make it in this industry. But now I'm doing my best.
Q:		Will you be publishing any new manga soon?
AK:		Yes. NADESICO will end by the end of this year, and so will SILENT MÖBIUS. So in spring of next year, two new manga titles will be released, one of which is already scheduled to become a TV anime.