We met with Shimogasa-sensei, her assistant and the interpreter in a private room.

Shimogasa-sensei shared original production sketches and animation cels from Sailor Moon and Cutey Honey Flash with us. We took turns passing them around. To say they were breathtaking is an understatement. Her lines were so clean and precise, it nearly brought tears to our eyes. The cels she owned also had their original backgrounds and were in pristine condition.

Shimogasa-sensei was incredibly sweet, sharing little tidbits and answering our questions while doing autographs. My Japanese isn't the best but it really came through during our conversations! At one point I was even translating for my friend! I told her that I worked on most of the official US releases for Cutie Honey and said that unfortunately Cutey Honey Flash has yet to come over. I was sure to tell her that fans do want it and they especially love her designs. I also gifted her one of my Bancho Honey stickers and she loved it. She kept it stored with her original cel art! I was extremely honored.

Each person at the meet and greet received a mini sketch of their choice plus three autographs. Pretty much everyone requested Sailor Moon characters. I asked Shimogasa-sensei to draw Misty Honey and she got nervous. I felt so bad! She had to look at my Cutey Honey F laserdisc for reference. It came out so adorable! (see above)

Shimogasa-sensei shared a lot of interesting facts:

Misty Honey was modeled after Violence Jack. Or rather, his female form that is known by fans as "Lady Violence Jack." I can't believe I never knew this! My mind was blown.

Shingo Araki did uncredited work on the Cutey Honey Flash opening. Another thing that completely blew my mind! She wasn't sure which parts he worked on.

Shimogasa-sensei is quite proud of her designs for Panther Zora and Sister Jill because they were so close to Go Nagai's style. The Cutey Honey Flash volume 9 laserdisc (pictured above) is her favorite for that very same reason.

While this is a well known fact, she did mention that Scud Panther was modeled after Marquis Janus from Great Mazinger. She also confirmed that Scud Panther was partially inspired by Drill Claw from the original Cutie Honey.

Although she designed all the new outfits in Sailor Moon episode 181, she did not pick out the colors. Shimogasa-sensei didn't seem to know who did. This surprised me!

I asked about these three girls that show up in Sailor Moon episode 187:

I said that they reminded me of Honey, Candy (Candy Candy) and Miki Makimura (Devilman). I asked if this was just a coincidence and she laughed saying "no, it wasn't." How cute!

We got to chat a lot during the convention, I showed off my collection and she was especially surprised to see I owned a copy of a Cutey Honey Flash storyboard. Her reaction was "why do you have this?", which made me sweat. I clarified that I simply had a copy, not the original. At one point she asked if I had any pets and I showed her a photo of Myanmar with my boyfriend. She agreed that they looked alike. Haha.