Enthusiastic about her potential, Kon intended to hire her to work on his second feature Millennium Actress, but studio politics eventually caused her to leave the project.
Soon after, she would have her first collaboration with directors Takeshi Koike and Katsuhito Ishii on the original video animation Trava: Fist Planet.
[4] Samurai Champloo also marks the first time she worked with frequent collaborators, director Shinichirō Watanabe and writer Dai Satō.
During her time working on Samurai Champloo at Studio Manglobe, she was offered the chance to direct a project with full creative control.
After a few years of working on storyboards and art for other projects, including movies Redline and Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance, she was approached by a producer to create a new Lupin III series, with full creative control.