The creator of Gundam may consider Hayao Miyazaki his “enemy,” but if you think the director of A Boy and a Heron is no artist, he’ll give you some alternative words.

Mobile Suit Gundam Creator Yoshiyuki Tomino said Miyazaki “has always been my enemy” but he won’t let anyone say he’s not an artist.

Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki has created quite a few works over the years, easily establishing himself as an auteur. In contrast, Gundam creator Yoshiyuki Tomino has mainly stuck to the mecha genre, and he has clearly created one of the most important anime series. However, in a recent interview with FullFrontal, he noted that despite creating so many works, he himself is not an auteur, saying that he “doesn’t have the qualities to be an auteur.”

Tomino said that the mecha genre was not his “original ideal”, but considering his own abilities, “there was no other choice. This is why Director Hayao Miyazaki has always been my enemy: being in the same era as someone I have never surpassed has become my motivation.”

This is obviously a slightly funny remark, but it doesn’t mean Tomino doesn’t respect what his “enemy” does. When FullFrontal suggested that Miyazaki was less an artist and more of a craftsman, Tomino responded bluntly, “You’re wrong.” He went on to say, “If he was a craftsman, he wouldn’t have made a work like The Boy and the Heron. If you say he’s a craftsman, you don’t know anything. He’s an author. You see, he made an animated film without a happy ending. If you do things half-heartedly, it’s impossible. That’s why I don’t think I can be compared to such authors. Maybe Miyazaki would rather be compared to someone like Victor Hugo.”

To be clear, this doesn’t mean Tomino likes any of Miyazaki’s other works, as he did say “That was just for The Boy and the Heron. I’m not a big fan of Miyazaki’s other works anyway.”

The Boy and the Heron won Studio Ghibli’s second Oscar earlier this year, and while it certainly deserved the award, it didn’t really need it.