That said, I also imagine that this compulsion of his is something that he's continually compromising, and doing so with increasing regularity as he gets older. It's old news that one of the primary motivators for him coming back to Macross in the 90s was in reaction to Macross II. But one thing he talks about in that interview though, was the fact that in the intervening years, he was actively looking to create projects that weren't mecha-oriented, and that he submitted dozens upon dozens of projects that were either all turned down or nowhere near as successful as Macross. But added that his bosses always said he had an open invite to return to Macross at any time and do whatever he wanted to there. It must suck to be like Kawamori or Tomino and have your ambitions undercut by your successes early in life. At some point, you've probably gotta go back to the old well just to pay your bills/pay for your passion projects.