Anno Hideaki
Fukushima Atsuko
Hashimoto Shinji
Imaishi Hiroyuki
Inoue Toshiyuki
Iso Mitsuo
Kanada Yoshinori
Koike Takeshi
Kondo Yoshifumi
Kotabe Yoichi
Matsumoto Norio
Miyazaki Hayao
Mori Yasuji
Morimoto Koji

We all know anime is a collective effort ... but every once in a while an animator comes along who can carry the show by himself (or herself) ... this is a page dedicated to those men & women.

Karisuma comes from charisma. It's the gairaigo for ... auteur.

KA → key animation
AD → animation director
CD → character design
D → director
S → storyboard

Nakamura Takashi
Nishio Tetsuya
Ohashi Manabu
Ohira Shinya
Okiura Hiroyuki
Otsuka Shinji
Otsuka Yasuo
Sueyoshi Yuichiro
Tanabe Osamu
Tanaka Tatsuyuki
Tomonaga Kazuhide
Utsunomiya Satoru
Yamashita Masahito
Yuasa Masaaki

 ANNO Hideaki 庵野秀明

1980s ♦ Opinions may vary about his work as a director, but there's no questioning the quality of his work as an animator of highly detailed and realistic special effects ♦ He got his start with the Daicon III film, next year doing his first professional animation on Macross, where he got to know Itano Ichiro ♦ The next year he met and impressed Miyazaki by showing him the film of Daicon IV he'd made earlier that year, and got the job of animating the God Warrior shooting the beam from its mouth at the end of Nausicaa ♦ Next he produced his most famous work, the battle surrounding the rocket launch at the end of Honneamise, which was probably one of the first totally realistic scenes of its kind in anime and retains all its power to impress almost two decades on
1982 Daicon III [AD]
1983 Macross TV 24, 27 [KA]
Daicon IV [AD]
1984 Nausicaa [KA → God Warrior beam]
Cream Lemon: Pop Chaser [KA]
1987 Wings of Honneamise [AD, special effect artist, production design & layout design]
Metal Skin Panic Madox-01 [OP KA]
1988 Grave of the Fireflies [KA]
2002 Abenobashi Maho Shotengai 12 [KA]

 FUKUSHIMA Atsuko 福島敦子

1980s ♦ Close associate of Nakamura and Morimoto, and wife of Morimoto ♦ Her main contribution is the classic Labyrinth Labyrinthos, which remains a visually rich and warm phantasmagoria unlike any other anime, full of richly detailed animation and distinctively stylised characters ♦ Prior to that she left behind some impressive work in Urashiman and Cobra, usually working closely with Morimoto and Nakamura, as in episode 26 of Urashiman, the first half of which was animated by Fukushima and Morimoto and the second half by Nakamura ♦ Her animation at this time was extremely showy and hyperactive and sleek, more masculine than most men ♦ She later teamed up with with Ohashi Manabu on several occasions as a character designer and animator and produced some of her most distinctive work, like the witch in Golden Bird, created and animated by Fukushima ♦ More recently she had the opportunity to exercise full artistic control of every aspect of Jack and the Beanstalk, leaving behind probably her most personal and idiomatic piece ♦ The latter was an anomaly for Fukushima taken up more as an opportunity to express her artistic side, as she is no longer active as an animator, but now mainly does character designs, like Popolo Crois (the only exceptions being animation she did in a few of her husband's recent films)
1980 Makoto-chan [KA]
Ashita no Joe 2 TV [KA]
1981 Ashita no Joe 2 movie [KA]
1982 Cobra movie [KA]
Space Cobra TV [KA]
1983 Golgo 13 [KA]
Future Police Urashiman 26, 33 [KA]
1984 Lensman [KA]
The Golden Bird [layout, CD & KA of witch]
1985 Blade of Kamui [KA → training, from separation of Jiro and Julie to Hakodate battle, passing by Saigo Takamori]
1987 Hoero Bunbun [KA]
Manie Manie Labyrinth Tales: Labyrinth Labyrinthos [AD, KA]
Robot Carnival: OP & ED [CD, KA]
Plot of the Fuma Clan [KA]
1988 Akira [KA → Yamagata going out of the bar, Tetsuo messing with Kaneda's bike, etc]
1989 Kiki's Delivery Service [KA]
1991 Fly! Peek the Whale [KA]
1993 Art Anime Collection: Jack & the Beanstalk [CD, AD, S]
1995 Extra music clip [KA]
1996 Memories episode 1: Magnetic Rose [KA]
Popolo Crois game I & II & TV [CD]
Open the Door promotional video [KA]
2003 Popolo Crois: Hajimari no Bouken TV [CD, ED drawings]

 HASHIMOTO Shinji 橋本晋治

1990s ♦ One of the major post-Akira realistic animators, Hashimoto comes up with convincingly realistic actions that are both exciting and imaginative, like the superb chase scene in Spriggan or the murder scene in Perfect Blue ♦ Closely associated with Ohira Shinya on many projects, he and Ohira shared credit for "special key animation" in Angel Cop #2 and for animation director in Hakkenden #1 ♦ They reportedly also collaborated on the animated portion of the interactive Captain Power Battle Training VHS game released in 1988 ♦ Hashimoto and Ohira were unique in recent years for using footage of themselves acting out scenes to add more realism to their work ♦ Hashimoto's style is more flexible than Ohira's, as can be seen from the range of his other projects, like Yamada-kun and Spriggan ♦ Unlike Ohira, whose work tends to look nothing like the rest of the film, Hashimoto's animation fits in with the animation surrounding his, and yet manages to remain entirely his own ♦ The Kacho O~ji OP shows Hashimoto at his most idiomatic and imaginative, effectively creating from scratch an MTV-style music video with realistic-looking concert footage and everything ♦ This angle was further developed in Kid's Story, only his fourth job as animation director after Hakkenden and Kacho O~ji ♦ His style is characterized by sketchy but appealing drawings, dynamic camera work, and actions at a uniform frame rate full of realistically superfluous movement ♦ Hashimoto animated the 3-minute promotional video for Yamada-kun (the dorayaki/banana scene), which when shown at a press meeting reportedly so blew away Hayao Miyazaki, who was in attendance, that after the film was over he excitedly grabbed a mic to inquire who animated it ♦ It also had a major influence on the direction of the animation for the rest of the film ♦ Following Hashimoto's lead, every scene in Yamada-kun was drawn entirely by each animator, without inbetweens (and My Neighbors the Yamadas had 173,035 drawings to Mononoke Hime's 144,043)
1987 Kimagure Orange Road [first KA]
City Hunter TV [KA]
The Samurai OVA [KA → protagonist being chased by twins]
1988 Venus Wars [KA]
Akira [KA → near end where Tetsuo passes Kaneda on bike, Kei]
Aim for the Top! OVA 4 [KA]
Dirty Pair OVA 9 [KA]
Patlabor OVA OP [KA]
Dominion Tank Police OVA [KA]
1989 Gosenzosama Banbanzai! OVA 2, 4, 6 [KA]
1990 Fly! Peek the Whale [KA]
Hakkenden OVA 1 [AD (w/Ohira Shinya), KA → general's ghost attacking samurai]
1991 Twilight Theatre: The Antique Shop [KA → part of flashback] Shiryouhan Hyouryuuki [script, D, AD]
Peek the Whale [KA]
1992 Run, Melos! [KA]
1993 Junkers Come Here pilot [KA → cuts 6-8 girl tailing woman]
Junkers Come Here [KA]
1994 Hakkenden OVA 9 [AD] 10 [KA]
Angel Cop OVA 2 [special KA (w/Ohira Shinya) → characters that move like in Akira]
1996 X [KA]
Tenchi Muyo In Love [KA → Ryoko fighting in temple]
Jigoku Doureikai Tsuushin [KA]
1997 Photon OVA 2 [KA]
1998 Spriggan [KA → chase in the bazaar]
Kacho O~ji OP [S, D, AD, KA]
Perfect Blue [KA → killing of Murano]
1999 My Neighbors the Yamadas [KA → dorayaki/banana, father running to work]
2000 Sci-Fi Harry [OP KA → one cut of protagnist holding head]
Blue No. 6 [KA → two cuts of shark dropping protagonist]
2001 Kujiratori [KA]
Metropolis [KA → mostly Hige-oyaji]
Spirited Away [KA]
2002 Ghiblies 2: curry [KA → scarfing down curry]
2003 Animatrix: Detective Story [KA] Kid's Story [AD, KA → kid jumping over desks out window and running to locker]
2004 Tokyo Godfathers [KA → break-in]
Paranoia Agent 10, 12 [KA]
2005 Samurai Champloo 26 [KA]
XXXholic [KA → transformation]

 IMAISHI Hiroyuki 今石洋之

1990s ♦ Skyrocketed into the limelight after his debut in Evangelion with a string of much-talked about TV episodes ♦ From the scandalous paper cut-outs of KareKano to the reckless craziness of Abenobashi to the non-stop action of Yuushi, he creates anarchic, hyperactive, and wildly deformed animation that never sits still ♦ His work is the antithesis of anime where animation plays second fiddle to story, and represents a return to the animator-centric approach and innocent fun of old anime like Dokonjo Gaeru (which is his main influence), in short the animator as god ♦ His style came into full flowering in FLCL, particularly #5 on which he was animation director, an episode he conceived as an homage to 'bullet operas' ♦ The bunny girl scene at the end was added to showcase the talents of animator Yoshinari Yo ♦ His own scenes like the dash down the hallway in #4 and the shoot-out in #5 are packed with so much information that passes by so quickly that you practically have to watch them on slo-mo to understand what's going on ♦ He is also the one who did the 'manga' scenes in #1 and #6 ♦ His slot in the Trava Fist series finally gave him a chance to let loose creatively, and he got his first opportunity to let his imagination rip at full throttle with his directing debut Dead Leaves ♦ He was given an unprecedented 8 credits in KareKano 19: animation director, storyboard, script, key animation, color key, coloring, cutouts, and "gekimator"
1995 Evangelion 22-26 video version [first inbetween] 23 video version [first KA] 11, 14-17, 19, 20 [KA] Death & End [KA]
1998 Kareshi Kanojo no Jijo 1 [S, manga] 3 [AD, KA, S] 11 [AD] 19 [AD, S, script, KA, color key, coloring, cutouts, "gekimator"]
1999 Microman 26, 38 [KA]
Battle Athletes 8, 23 [KA]
Gaogaiga [KA]
Medarot 14 [AD, D, S]
Dai Guard 3 [S]
2001 Mahoromatic 3 [KA → battle with crab robot]
FLCL 1-6 [KA] 1 [manga] 2 [AD] 5 [AD, S, manga]
2002 Abenobashi Maho Shotengai 3 [AD, D, S] 12 [AD, S, layout]
Lupin III: Walther P38 [KA → fight between Lupin & Doctor at end]
2003 Gad Guard 5 [S]
Puchi Puri Yuushi 7 [AD]
Sakigake! Cromartie High OP [S]
Trava Fist Planet episode 1 part 2 [S, KA]
2004 Dead Leaves [D, AD, CD]

 INOUE Toshiyuki 井上俊之

1990s ♦ One of the best current realist animators ♦ Called the "perfect animator" by Oshii Mamoru ♦ Highly articulate advocate of animator history ♦ His animation displays an accurate sense of weight and timing, and an innate grasp of essential details of movement ♦ His drawings are meticulous but not to the point of decadence, clean and somehow perfectly balanced ♦ An animator to the core with no aspirations to directing ♦ Influences around the time of his early work like Gu-Gu Ganmo include Otsuka, Miyazaki and Kotabe, while later on around the time of Akira he discovered Nakamura and Morimoto, finally in the early 90s taking in a bit of Utsunomiya before settling into his mature style starting around the time of his involvement in Peek ♦ His bike chase in Akira is what creates that feeling of speed and adrenaline in Neo Tokyo, and the flying machine scene in Kiki goes even further in this direction, while most recently in Palme no Ki he created a scene where every drawing and movement wonderfully conveys the raw emotion and urgency of the situation ♦ But by his own account the scene he is most satisfied with is the opening of Peek, because it signalled for him a newfound sense of accomplishment and confidence in his abilities for having been able to successfully adapt his style to Utsunomiya's ♦ All of his subsequent work is pure Inoue
1983 Stop!! Hibari-kun [KA]
Iga no Kabamaru [KA]
1984 Cream Lemon: Pop Chaser [KA]
Gu-Gu Ganmo TV 7, 21, 26, 33, 39, 45 [AD, KA]
1985 Gu-Gu Ganmo movie [KA]
Mitsume ga Tooru: Akuma Shima no Princess TV special [KA]
Gegege no Kitaro TV third season 4, 12, 26 [KA]
Time Gal game [KA]
1986 Barefoot Gen 2 [KA]
Sangokushi [KA]
1987 Wings of Honneamise [KA]
1988 Akira [KA → Tetsuo hits a clown with a pipe from his bike, Kaneda approaches Tetsuo lying hurt on the ground, various bike chase scenes, etc]
1989 Kiki's Delivery Service [KA → Kiki getting off train, Tombo's flying machine]
1990 Lodoss Wars [KA]
1991 Fly! Peek the Whale [Co-AD, KA → opening sequence]
Rojin Z [KA]
1995 Ghost in the Shell [KA]
1996 Memories episode 1: Magnetic Rose [CD, AD]
Saber Marionettes [title animation]
1999 Medarot [KA, OP animation KA]
Blue No 6 [KA]
2000 Jin-Roh [second AD, layout check, KA]
Blood the Last Vampire [assistant AD, KA]
2001 Millennium Actress [AD, KA]
2002 Palme no Ki [CD, KA → near end where Palme starts turning into a tree and Popo tries to free him?]
2004 Tokyo Godfathers [KA]
Steam Boy [KA]
Kono Minikumo Utsukushii Sekai 1 [KA]
Paranoia Agent 1, 9 [KA] 8 [KA, AD assistance] 13 [FX AD, KA]

 ISO Mitsuo 磯 光雄

1990s ♦ Flagbearer of the new realism ♦ Iso was one of the first animators in the early 1990s to focus on creating photorealistic animation far removed from the then-dominant cartoon language of Nakamura ♦ His emergence as an important new figure to watch came with the opening battle in Gundam 0080 ♦ Many animators were influenced by the new sensibility and attention to detail he brought to effects animation, such as the way earth being blown up by an explosion is expressed as a single shadowy clump rather than specs of dirt in the first episode of Evangelion ♦ He took this to the next level with ultra-realistic digital effects work in Rahxephon, in episode 15 of which he mounted his directing debut ♦ He created the sinister beast-like animation of Eva in episode 19, and the incredible, photorealistic explosion in the hangar in Blood the Last Vampire ♦ He invented a style of animation he refers to as "full 3-frame", wherein the key animator draws every cel himself to maintain control over the movement, examples of which can be seen in his episode of Peter Pan, the Don Gabacho scene of Omohide Poroporo and his two episodes of Evangelion ♦ In this way he pulled off a quiet revolution, redefining the idea of full animation not as that which moves fluidly at a 1 or 2 cels/frame rate, but that which is through-conceived and animated entirely by the key animator without any inbetweens



1985 Ninja Senshi Tobikage [KA]
1986 Machine Robo: Chronos Strikes Back [KA]
1987 Kiko Senki Dragnar 32, 36, 39 [KA]
Gegege no Kitaro 97, 99, 102, 104 [KA]
1988 Transformers Masterforce 6, 12, 18, 24 [KA]
Majin Eiyuden Wataru 27 [KA]
Gundam: Char's Counterattack [KA]
1989 Explorer Woman Ray 1 [KA uncredited]
Peter Pan 20 [KA uncredited → donning cap]
Gosenzosama Banbanzai! 4 [KA → Muroto Bunmei's long speech] 6 [KA → opening until title]
Gundam 0080 OVA 1 [KA → battle at beginning] 5 [KA]
1990 Like the Wind, Like a Cloud [KA] Hakkenden OVA 1 [KA → flag waving and people lying around starving]
1991 Rojin Z [mechanical design]
Omohide Poroporo [KA → Don Gabacho]
Twilight Theatre: The Antique Shop [KA uncredited → 2 shots in the past]
1992 Hashire Melos [KA → fight with assassins]
Porco Rosso [KA]
1993 Jojo's Bizarre Adventure 6 [KA]
I Can Hear the Sea [KA]
Junkers Come Here [KA → monologue at end]
Kattobase Dreamers! Dreamer's Cup Monogatari [KA uncredited]
1994 Mighty Space Miners 2 [KA]
Giant Robo 5 [KA]
Orguss 02 5 [KA]
Final Fantasy 2 Honoo no Maki [KA uncredited]
1995 Memories episode 1: Magnetic Rose [prop design]
Ghost in the Shell [weapon design, KA]
1996 Evangelion TV 1 [KA → army vs shito] 13 [script, layout assistance] 15 [layout assistance] 19 [KA → beastly eva] 21 video version [KA]
Evangelion Air & Death movies [KA]
Popolo Crois game 1 [KA → monster emerging from globe]
1997 Voogie's Angel 3 [KA]
Rurouni Kenshin OP [KA]
1998 Perfect Blue [KA]
Golden Boy 4 [KA]
1999 Blue No. 6 [KA → gun in water]
Digimon Adventure movie [KA uncredited]
2000 FLCL 6 [KA]
Blood the Last Vampire [KA → explosion in hangar]
2001 Cowboy Bebop: Stairway to Heaven movie [KA uncredited]
2002 Rahxephon [digital work] 2 [KA] 15 [D, S, script, KA] 2, 3 [CGI] Aftereffects [4-10, 12, 14-26]
2003 Kill Bill [KA]
2004 Steam Boy [pre-production conceptual development]

 KANADA Yoshinori 金田伊功

1970s/1980s ♦ The animator who introduced extreme perspective and a loose approach to drawings into anime ♦ His trademark was extreme deformation to express vigorous action, everything looking really shiny, and extreme perspective angle shots ♦ He was the creator of things like the fire dragon in Harmageddon, characteristically full of expressive, wildly undulating lines in constant motion ♦ He was the first to establish a stance towards animation that emphasizes movement rather than individual drawings, and that revels in the intrinsic freedom of the medium of animation rather than attempting to reproduce reality ♦ Kaneda (as his name is often misread) embodies the sheer joy of making things move ♦ Hugely prolific, particularly in giant robot shows of the 1970s, he was also highly imitated throughout the 1980s, and has one of the most recognizable and ubiquitous styles in anime ♦ Among his most famous work as an animator is Zambot, where he did animation in a number of episodes including the infamous "human bomb" episode and the final episode, the opening of Braiger, and Birth, a project hatched specifically for him ♦ He was one of the major figures of the 'karisuma animator' boom in the 80s, when for the first time animators like himself and Umetsu and Kawajiri achieved a degree of recognition and influence comparable to that of famous directors ♦ Kaneda has been active non-stop since 1970, and the list at right covers only about half of his work
1970 Mahou no Mako-chan [inbetweener]
1971 Sarutobi Ecchan [KA, inbetweener]
1972 Akadou Suzunosuke [KA, inbetweener]
Dokonjo Gaeru [KA, inbetweener]
1973 Dororon Enma-kun [KA]
1974 Yamato [KA]
1975 Getter Robo [KA]
1976 Gaiking [AD, KA]
1977 Zambot 3 [KA]
1978 Daitarn 3 [KA, OP]
1979 Josephine the Whale [S, KA]
Galaxy Express 999 movies [KA]
1980 To Terra [KA]
Don De La Mancha [S, KA]
1981 Ginga Kifuu Braigaa OP/ED
1982 Millennium Princess [mechanical AD, KA]
Acrobunch OP [S, KA]
1983 Genma Taisen ["special animation" (KA)]
Kikou Zouseiki Mospeada OP/ED [S, KA]
1984 Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind [KA]
Birth [AD]
1985 The Chocolate Panic Picture Show [S, animation] Laserion [KA]
1986 Laputa ["genga kashira"=head KA]
1987 Space Fantasy 2001 Nights [S, KA]
Gakuen Tokusou Hikarion [KA]
1988 My Neighbor Totoro [KA]
Akira [KA]
1989 Kiki's Delivery Service [KA]
1990 Devilman OVA [KA]
1992 Porco Rosso [KA]
Talking Head [KA]
Download [AD, CD, layout, KA]
2003 Popolo Crois: Hajimari no Bouken TV 6 [S]

 KOIKE Takeshi 小池 健

1990s ♦ Koike created a sensation with the opening animation for Party7, which was also his AD/CD debut ♦ Prior to then he was active at Madhouse under Kawajiri Yoshiaki ♦ The Party7 OP color palette is full of sharp contrasts based on style of Frank Miller ♦ Extreme perspective shots and non-stop balletic action create a world of pure kinetic energy unlike anything seen before in anime ♦ The recurring use of fluidly animated slow-mo shots during action sequences gives an impression of constant movement ♦ Wildly exaggerated actions that are very different from the smooth, calculated movements of Kawajiri ♦ Koike has since continued to create highly individual work in this vein with the SMAP concert animation, Trava Fist Planet, and his segment in Animatrix
1989 Midnight Eye Gokuu [KA]
Yawara [KA]
1990 Cyber City Oedo 808 [mecha AD]
The Wind's Name is Amnesia [KA]
1991 Urusei Yatsura: Always My Darling movie [KA]
1992 Giant Robo: The Day the Earth Stood Still [KA]
1993 Jubei Ninpucho [KA]
POPS [KA]
1994 Kujaku-Oh [CD]
Clamp in Wonderland [KA]
DNA2 TV [mechanical design]
1995 DNA2 OVA [mechanical design]
1996 Memories episode 2: Stink Bomb [KA]
X [KA]
Birdy the Mighty [KA]
Aeon Flux CD-ROM advertisement [KA]
1998 Card Captor Sakura TV [KA]
1999 Juubei-chan [AD]
Card Captor Sakura movie [KA]
2000 Kaze Makase Tsukikage Ran [KA]
Hidamari no Ki [KA]
Hajime no Ippo [KA]
Card Captor Sakura: Fuuinsareta Card movie [KA]
Blood the Last Vampire [KA]
Party 7 OP [animation → everything except Otaki (Kawajiri) and dance (Peter Chung)]
SMAP concert animation [AD, CD]
2001 Vampire Hunter D [layout design, KA]
2002 Trava Fist Planet [D, CD, AD, KA?]
2003 Animatrix: World Record [AD]
Texhnolyze #1 [KA]

 KONDO Yoshifumi 近藤喜文

1970s/1980s ♦ One of the true greats of the last 30 years, Kondo left behind an important body of workas an animator, character designer, animation director, and even as a director immediately before his premature death, in a career spanning three decades ♦ He was an immense talent who is sorely missed by Ghibli and the animation world in general ♦ He was involved in all of the Ghibli films in one way or another, contributing greatly to their success ♦ His early work at A Pro in Dokonjo Gaeru set the tone for the dynamic animation that would follow in most of his work as an animator, like the action-packed Sherlock Hound ♦ He was a great draughtsman as well as a great visualizer of movement, able to create unforgettable scenes like Conan's grieving in episode 2 of Future Boy Conan, where wild distortions of Conan's face create a wonderful effect and reveal great depth of feeling for the character despite being somewhat offbeat ♦ All of the best animation in Tom Sawyer comes from his pen, and he was such a master of movement that he often animated scenes entirely by his own hand, without any inbetweeners ♦ The best example is in Sugata Sanshiro, where he drew every drawing for his scene, producing a classic example of a all-key animation (there are several instances in Tom Sawyer, too) ♦ One of Kondo's major achievements was Anne of Green Gables, the sole TV series on which he was animation director ♦ His portrayal of the physical maturation of Anne from start to finish remains unmatched in all of anime ♦ His minutely detailed animation for Anne was one step closer to the documentary realism Takahata had sought from animation director Kotabe Yoichi, first in the idealised realistic world of Heidi and next in the more unrelievedly realistic world of Marco ♦ This would later flower into his work as animation director of now world-famous Ghibli films like Grave of the Fireflies, Omohide Poroporo, and so on, without Kondo of which these films might never have been realized, and certainly would not have been the same ♦ One of his last creations as an animator was the short Sora Iro no Tane, which he directed and animated entirely by himself
1972 Dokonjo Gaeru [KA]
Lupin III first series [KA]
Panda Kopanda 1 [KA → Papanda on the roof almost falling off]
1975 Gamba's Adventures [KA, ED drawings]
1977 Sougen no Ko Tenguri [KA]
1978 Future Boy Conan 2 [KA → Conan grieving and throwing rocks after grampa's death] 3 [KA → first meeting of Conan and Jimsy]
1979 Anne of Green Gables [CD, AD]
1980 Tom Sawyer [KA]
1981 Sugata Sanshiro [KA → from where guy runs into girl to where squid is cooked]
1982 Sherlock Hound [AD of six Miyazaki episodes]
1984 Nemo Pilot [KA]
1986 Little Women [CD]
1988 Grave of the Fireflies [CD, AD]
1989 Kiki's Delivery Service [AD]
1991 Omohide Poroporo [CD, AD]
1992 Porco Rosso [KA → fistfight at end]
Sora Iro no Tane [D, animation]
1993 I Can Hear the Sea [KA]
1994 Heisei Tanuki Gassen Pompoko [KA]
1995 Whisper of the Heart [D]
1997 Mononoke Hime [AD]

 KOTABE Yoichi 小田部羊一

1970s ♦ Specialist at vivid, realistic and joyful animation of children and animals ♦ He started out at Toei Doga around 1959 in time to work on Magic Boy under Kusube Daikichiro, and a few years later moved to Mori's team for Little Prince, where he was given the opportunity to design the horse Amenohayakoma and draw his first key animation ♦ Stylistically, broadly speaking Kotabe is Mori's successor, but his drawings are much freer, more spontaneous and sketch-like than Mori's, which while similarly soft and full of atmosphere are inimitable in the way they are always perfectly penned, with every line in the right place ♦ Kotabe's influences are more diverse, encompassing all of the Toei luminaries, from Otsuka's graphic sense to Miyazaki's dynamism ♦ Almost all of Kotabe's work as an animator was done at this time, some of his best scenes including the wedding dance scene in Hols and the sailing scene in Animal Treasure Island, all of which can be ranked as among the best scenes to grace Toei Doga's films, alongside Otsuka's, Mori's and Miyazaki's ♦ The brilliance he brought to his work, like the depiction of waves lapping on the shore in Wan Wan Chushingura, has been lauded by no less a figure than Inoue Toshiyuki ♦ Next he left Toei to join Miyazaki et al. at A Pro, where Pipi was in planning, and when Pipi got bagged due to Lindgren's 'no' after they had already put so much effort into the preliminary production, they turned out Panda Kopanda in the space of a few months to give vent to all that pent-up creative tension ♦ He then joined Takahata at Zuiyo, where Mori and he had already created a pilot film for Heidi, and due to Mori's ill health at the time wound up taking over as animation director, in which capacity he helped produce one of the greatest masterpieces in anime history, beloved the world over ♦ It was at this time that Kotabe became the first person in Japan to be credited with "character design" (in katakana), a usage coined by Isao Takahata ♦ He was also the first person to be animation director of every episode in a TV series ♦ He and Miyazaki filmed themselves (in the part of Heidi and Peter) doing a ring-around-the-rosie in the Zuiyo parking lot as a reference for that part of the OP, which was animated by Mori ♦ One year later he followed up Heidi with one more term as series animation director in Marco, where Takahata did away with all of the flights of fancy in Heidi, forcing Kotabe to narrow his focus to create a purely realistic animation and characters the likes of which had never been seen before in Japan ♦ His last two major efforts as animation director were Taro the Dragon Boy and Jarinko Chie, both films worthy of the title of minor masterpieces
1959 Magic Boy [inbetweener]
1960 Journey to the West [inbetweener]
1961 Anju & Zushiomaru [second KA]
1962 Sinbad's Adventures [second KA]
1963 Little Prince & the 8-Headed Dragon [assistant KA → romantic scene]
Wan Wan Chushingura [KA → girl saving dog washed up on shore]
Ookami Shonen Ken [AD]
1964 Shonen Ninja Kaze no Fujimaru [KA]
1965 Hustle Punch [AD, animation]
1966 Rainbow Sentai Robin [AD, animation]
Mahoutsukai Sally [AD, animation]
1968 Hols, Prince of the Sun [KA → setting sail, wedding dance, waves]
1969 Puss 'n Boots [KA → Pero playing the guitar while Pierre & Rosa meet, Lucifer waiting for princess then kidnapping her]
Flying Ghost Ship [AD]
1970 Himitsu no Akko-chan [animation]
1971 Animal Treasure Island [KA → setting sail at beginning & storm]
Ali Baba & the 40 Thieves [KA]
Sarutobi Ecchan [animation]
Pippi Longstrump preparation [animation]
1972 Akadou Suzunosuke [AD, KA]
Panda Kopanda 1 [AD, KA]
1973 Panda Kopanda 2 [AD, KA]
Samurai Giants [KA]
1974 Heidi, Girl of the Alps [AD, CD]
1976 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother [AD, CD]
1977 Sougen no Ko Tenguri [KA]
Manga Nihon Emaki 26, 29, 30 [S, AD, KA]
Rascal Racoon [KA]
1979 Taro the Dragon Boy [AD]
1981 Jarinko Chie movie [AD (w/OTSUKA Yasuo)]
Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind [KA]

 MATSUMOTO Norio 松本憲生

1990s ♦ A relatively new face on the block, Matsumoto is the embodiment of the animator as a self-sufficient, fearless, creative powerhouse ♦ He achieved fame in the 90s for having taken on the challenge of animating entire TV episodes singlehandedly ♦ Eat Man #7 was animated entirely by Matsumoto, and he did most of Naruto #30, Popolo Crois #3 and You're Under Arrest #39, among others ♦ Not only that, but these episodes are generally the best animated in each series, taking for example the eye-popping background animation in You're Under Arrest #39 or the incredible fight scene in Naruto #30 ♦ Highlights of the latter are the challenging medium-distance fixed-camera shot of the two characters fighting, the effective use of blurring during fast movement, and the momentary deformation used when the main character is punched to make it look really painful ♦ Arjuna #4 features his most realistic work to date, with designs and body movement done in a more lifelike style completely contrasting with the rest of the series, revealing him to be one of the major realistic animation directors continuing in the tradition of Hashimoto, Ohira and Hamasu Hideki ♦ Althought not mentioned in the credits, he reportedly did extensive work on episodes 8 and 13 of Haibane Renmei, two of the best animated TV episodes in recent memory



1989 Peter Pan 19, 22, 26, 29, 32, 35, 41 [KA]
Gosenzosama Banbanzai! 5, 6 [KA]
Ranma 1/2 9, Nettohen 8, 16, 19, 24, 28, 30, 31, 35, 50 [KA]
1990 Hakkenden OVA 1 [KA]
Votoms: Kakuyakutaru Itan OVA [KA]
1993 Irresponsible Captain Tylor TV 1, 4, 5, 8, 11, 14, 16, 23, 26 [KA] 2nd season ending [animation → Tylor walking]
1995 Ninku 2 [KA → bad guy blown over by Fusuke]
Evangelion 5, 8 [KA]
H2 23, 38, 39 [KA]
1996 Escaflowne 20 [KA]
Memories episode 2: Stink Bomb [KA]
You're Under Arrest TV 39 [KA → all of the first 10 minutes]
You're Under Arrest OVA 2 [AD] 3 [KA → date scene at end] 4 [KA → kids]
1997 Eat Man 1, 7, 12 [KA]
Popolo Crois 1 [KA → robot transforming & landing] 3 [AD, KA]
Rekka no Honoo 6 [KA → fight in the woods] 22 [KA → fight]
Rurouni Kenshin TV 30, 31, 60, 66, 85 [KA]
Rurouni Kenshin Rememberance OVA 1, 2, 4 [KA → ep 4 part cut & put in comp]
Rurouni Kenshin Seiso OVA 1 [KA → water at beginning] 2 [KA]
1998 Chou Kidou Densetsu Dainagiga [KA]
Tenchi movie 2 [KA]
1999 Neo Ranga 41 [KA]
Medarot 3, 37 [KA]
My Neighbors the Yamadas [KA]
2000 Blood the Last Vampire [KA → examination by nurse]
Hunter x Hunter 11, 17, 22, 28 [KA]
Spring & Chaos [KA → sister]
2001 Earth Girl Arjuna 4 [AD, D, KA] 13 [KA]
2002 Naruto 30 [KA → fight in the first half]
Haibane Renmei 8 [KA → kids running around] 13 [KA]
Shiawase Sou no Okojo-san 51 (final) [KA → early on] Macross Zero 1 [KA]
2003 Naruto 48 [KA]
Overman King Gainer 23 [KA]
Peacemaker Kurogane 1 ["avant genga" = KA before title]
2004 Koikaze OP, 13 [KA]
Tokyo Godfathers [KA]
Naruto 71 [KA]
Paranoia Agent 8 [KA]
Beck 1, 8, 12, 22, 25 [KA]
2005 One Piece: Omatsuri Danshaku to Himitsu no Shima [KA]
Naruto 133 [KA]
Naruto movie 2 [KA]
Noein OP, 7, 12, 17, 21 [KA]
2006 Doraemon: Nobita's Dinosaur 2006 [KA]

 MIYAZAKI Hayao 宮崎 駿

1960s/1970s ♦ A relative latecomer among the generation of animators who entered Toei Doga in the late 50s/early 60s under the tutelage of Mori Yasuji and Daikubara Akira ♦ He and Otsuka Yasuo, who preceded him by several years, were the inventors of the dynamic and action-based sensibility that has come to define Japanese animation, and they are responsible for most of the great action sequences in the old Toei Doga films ♦ Where Otsuka is proto-realistic with regards to visualising movements, Miyazaki is basically intuitive rather than logical ♦ His animation is gravity-defying and exhilirating yet somehow realistic and purposeful ♦ He creates action sequences with a relentless forward drive and has an instinctive feeling for clever Keaton-like rapid-fire physical action ♦ Other characterstics include well-timed character deformation, frame rate modulation, variation of perspective, and use of the entire frame to give the action depth ♦ There are more ideas crammed into the five minute Animal Treasure Island pirate scene by Miyazaki than in an entire film by most others ♦ There's also the famous castle chase of Puss 'n Boots, and the promethean inventiveness he brought to the conceptual designs in the greatest of all Toei Doga films, Hols, Prince of the Sun
1964 Shonen Ninja Kaze no Fujimaru 49, 55, 57, 62, 65 [KA]
1965 Gulliver's Space Travels [KA → boy in box on ship]
Hustle Punch 3, 8, 16, 19, 25 [KA]
1966 Rainbow Sentai Robin 34, 38 [KA]
Mahoutsukai Sally 77, 80, 83, 86 [KA]
1968 Hols, Prince of the Sun [conceptual design, KA → rock man]
1969 Puss 'n Boots [KA → castle chase]
Flying Ghost Ship [KA → golem]
Himitsu no Akko-chan 45, 57, 61 [KA]
Moomin 23 [KA]
1971 Animal Treasure Island ["Idea Man", KA → pirate attack]
Ali Baba & the 40 Thieves [KA → genie chasing Aladdin around castle]
Sarutobi Ecchan 6 [KA]
Lupin III first series 9, 14 [KA]
1972 Panda Kopanda 1 [S, layout, KA]
1973 Panda Kopanda 2 [S, layout, KA]
Wild West Sam 10 [KA] 15, 18 [storyboard cleanup]
Samurai Giants 1 [KA]
1974 Heidi OP [KA → swing]
1975 A Dog of Flanders 15 [KA]
1976 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother 2 [KA]
1977 Rascal Raccoon 4-6, 10, 12-22, 24-28 [KA]

 MORI Yasuji 森 康二

1950s/1960s ♦ One of the key figures in anime history, Mori had a huge influence both direct and indirect on animation in Japan ♦ The powerful sense of presence and depth of feeling he brought to the characters he animated continues to resonate with animators today ♦ He drew his first key animation in 1954 for Nihon Dogasha, became an employee two years later (a few months before the company was acquired by Toei), and directed his first short film there the next year ♦ At this time he worked under the auspices of anime pioneer Masaoka Kenzo, becoming the most important direct heir of the early full-animation techniques ♦ Over the next few years he and Daikubara Akira shaped the generation of animators who came into Toei around the time, such as Otsuka Yasuo, as well as the ones who came in later after seeing Hakujaden, the famed first color anime feature, like Miyazaki Hayao ♦ He created and animated all the animal characters in the early films, including the kitty in the two Koneko films, the animal gang in Hakujaden and the animals in Magic Boy, and he created all the characters in the first two Puss 'n Boots films, on which he was also animation director ♦ It was in 1963, with Little Prince & the 8-Headed Dragon, that he became the first person in Japan to bear the title of "animation director" ♦ Perhaps his most famous character remains Hilda, one of the single most influential characters ever in Japan, to which he brought more emotional depth and psychological complexity than had ever been seen before in a character ♦ Snowstorm scenes were a sort of specialty of his, and he drew three in his career: one in the early short Kuroi Kikori to Shiroi Kikori, a very memorable one of Rin-Rin in Journey to the West, and finally the classic one of Hilda in Hols, Prince of the Sun
1954 Kousagi Monogatari [KA]
1956 Kuroi Kikori to Shiroi Kikori [KA]
1957 Kitty's Graffiti [AD, KA]
1958 Hakujaden [KA → animals]
1959 Kitty's Studio [D, AD, KA]
Magic Boy [KA → animals]
1960 Journey to the West [KA]
1961 Anju & Zushiomaru [KA] The Mouse's Wedding [animation supervisor]
1962 Motoro the Mole [KA]
1963 Little Prince & the 8-Headed Dragon [AD]
Wan Wan Chushingura [KA]
1965 Gulliver's Space Travels [KA]
Hustle Punch [AD, original idea]
1967 Tom Thumb 001/7 [AD]
1968 Hols, Prince of the Sun [KA → Hilda]
1969 Puss 'n Boots [KA]
1970 Remi and his dog Capi [KA]
1971 Animal Treasure Island [AD]
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves [KA]
1972 Meiken Rainer 0011 Henshin Seyo [KA]
Puss 'n Boots II [AD]
Rocky Chuck the Woodchuck [AD]
1973 Panda's Big Adventure [KA]
Heidi, Girl of the Alps pilot film [AD, KA]
1974 Heidi, Girl of the Alps TV [OP KA → ring around the rosies]
1978 Future Boy Conan [KA]
 
» see Yasuji Mori filmography

 MORIMOTO Koji 森本晃司

1980s/1990s ♦ One of the most individual voices active today, Morimoto has left behind a string of brilliant short clips in the last decade that bear comparison with no other anime ♦ He is no longer active purely as an animator as he was in the early '80s, when he left behind a body of work that is among the most interesting of the period ♦ He started out working at animation studio Annapuru, where he worked alongside Akio Sugino on Ashita no Joe, and left Annapuru to become freelance after being struck by Takashi Nakamura's animation in episode 12 of G Lightan ♦ It was at this time that he awoke to his stance as a 'moving' animator in the Toei vein, as opposed to the 'still' style of Sugino in the Tezuka vein ♦ For the next few years he worked alongside Nakamura on projects like Cobra and Urashiman, in which he created some of the most interesting animation of the era ♦ For example, he and Fukushima Atsuko animated the first half of Urashiman episode 26 while Nakamura did the second half, he and Nakamura together animated the bike scene in Bobby's Girl, he and Nakamura and Kawajiri together animated the bike scene in Lensman, etc ♦ His work in this period was realistic and captivating, characterized by attention to small details that no other animator would notice, like the way the flesh of Cobra's hand folds back when he's holding on for dear life in episode 1 of Space Cobra ♦ His style represents the first successful combination of the broad style of Kanada Yoshinori with the fluid action of Nakamura and the realistic detail of Telecom-era Tomonaga ♦ The turning point in his career came with the trio of Manie Manie, Robot Carnival and Akira, after which he started seeing things more as a director than as an animator, ie, he started to feel the animation should be subordinate to the directing and not vice-versa ♦ He was also very critical of the Disney direction Nakamura and Otomo tried to go in with Akira, as well as of the current photorealistic school of Okiura et al. ♦ His recent work is very much at the opposite spectrum of the realistic school, playing rather with symbols that represent reality and focusing on the little details that evoke a feeling of reality, rather than trying to create an impression of reality by cramming in as much 'realistic' detail as possible ♦ His collaboration with individuals like Yuasa Masaaki can be explained by this shared interest in the expression of reality via symbols uniquely possible in the medium of animation
1980 Ashita no Joe 2 TV [KA]
1981 Ashita no Joe 2 movie [KA]
1982 Cobra movie [KA]
Space Cobra TV [KA]
1983 Genma Taisen [KA]
Golgo 13 [KA]
Urashiman 26, 33 [KA]
1984 Lensman movie [mechanic design, KA → snail monster at beginning, chase through waterway]
Macross: Do you Remember Love? [KA]
Lensman TV [OP animation, KA]
Fist of the North Star [KA]
1985 Blade of Kamui [KA → undressing after return from America, fight at end]
Bobby's Girl [KA → pencil bike scene]
1986 Hi no Tori: Hououhen [KA]
Time Stranger [mechanical design]
1987 Dirty Pair movie [OP animation]
Manie Manie Labyrinth Tales: The Order to Stop Construction [KA]
Robot Carnival: Franken's Gears [D, CD, script]
1988 Akira [co-AD]
1989 City Hunter [OP animation]
Gaki Deka 16 [D, S]
Kiki's Delivery Service [KA]
1991 Fly! Peek the Whale [D]
Ai Monogatari: Hero [D, CD]
1993 Anime Art Video Collection: Jack and the Beanstalk [D]
1995 Macross Plus movie [concert animation]
Macross Plus OVA [KA]
Extra video clip [D]
1996 Memories episode 1: Magnetic Rose [D]
KI video clip [D]
Open the Door promotional video [D, AD, CD]
1997 Sound Insect Noiseman [D, AD, CD]
Eternal Family [D, CD]
1998 Hustle!! Tokitama-kun [D]
Four Day Weekend video clip [D, AD, CD]
1999 Tetsu Kon Kin Kreet pilot film [D]
Survival 2.7-D video clip [D, CD, AD]
2000 Blue No. 6 [KA]
2003 Digital Juice: Floating Bar [D]

 NAKAMURA Takashi なかむらたかし

1980s/1990s ♦ A powerhouse animator who revolutionized anime in the early 80s with his more realistic and extremely detailed and fluid style of animation ♦ Nakamura is one of the few animators who has proven that he can successfully take on almost all of the creative burden for a film, as he did in episode 4 of the Hakkenden OVA series, the short film Chicken Man & Red Head in the Robot Carnival anthology, etc ♦ This was first proven in Gold Lightan, in which he directed and animated an episode entirely by himself and handled most of the animation in the other episodes he was involved in ♦ His animation in this series brought a new sense of depth to the screen and feeling of weight to the movement ♦ Afterwards in Urashiman he continued to turn out episodes filled with even more dynamic action and sustained character movement than before ♦ His animation aesthetic found its fullest expression in the classic The Order to Stop Construction, where he created animation both more detailed and with more personality than ever seen before in Japan by having his star key animators (Morimoto & himself) produce key animation of such density as to leave practically nothing to the inbetweeners ♦ This approach reached its nadir in Akira, a film whose sheer scale awakened a monster of animator ego the likes of which had never been seen before, it being the first film in which you could easily identify each of the key animators by their scenes ♦ Nakamura drew the perfectly lip-synchronized scene of Kaneda hitting on Kay at the beginning, the only other person to have done an equally exacting job with the syncing being Hiroyuki Kitakubo, who did Kai talking about Yamagata's death near the end ♦ Akira signalled the end of his main period of activity as an animator as he now moved towards pursuing his creative side, first with the 4th episode of Hakkenden, done largely by himself, and then as the director/writer of films like Catnapped and Palme no Ki
1977 Blocker Gundan: Machine Blaster [KA]
Time Bokan Series: Yattaman [KA]
Manga Nihon Emaki [CD, KA]
1979 Toushi Goldian [AD, KA]
1980 Forever Yamato [assistant AD, KA]
1981 Gold Lightan 6, 22, 30, 48 [AD] 41 [AD, all KA]
1983 Genma Taisen [KA]
Future Police Urashiman [main CD] 13, 33 [AD, KA] 26 [AD, KA, S]
1984 Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind [KA]
Macross: Do you Remember Love? [KA]
1986 Blade of Kamui [KA]
Bobby's Girl [KA]
1987 Red Star Zillion [OP KA]
Manie Manie Labyrinth Tales: The Order to Stop Construction [AD, KA → first entrance of robot into room, last cut of guy going towards robot, etc]
Robot Carnival: Chicken Man and Red Head [D, CD, script]
1988 Akira [AD]
1989 Peter Pan [CD]
1990 Hakkenden OVA 4 [D, CD, AD, KA]
1993 Little Twins [OP KA]
Junkers Come Here [KA]
1995 Catnapped [D, CD, AD, script, original concept]
1997 Hareluya Boy [OP animation]
Mermanoid [OP animation]
1998 Rennyo Monogatari [KA]
Chinese Ghost Story [CD, layout]
2002 Palme no Ki [D, script]

 NISHIO Tetsuya 西尾鉄也

1990s ♦ Creator of vivid movement that is at once orthodox and thrilling ♦ An animator to the core, he is clear-cut about wanting only to animate and having no interest in becoming a director ♦ He is highly susceptible to influences, the major early ones being Gosenzosama Banbanzai! and Hakkenden, both of which show up clearly in his work on Yu-Yu Hakusho and Ninku ♦ The highlight of his early period is the unforgettable animation of the marionette in Ninku #41, which he animated using a real marionette for reference ♦ In general he had a tendency to cram more animation into his episodes than any of the others, eventually hitting a count of 9000 cels for Ninku #50 (3000 being the norm) ♦ Belying his influences, his action in these series is closer to reality and lacks the gaudiness typical of the genre ♦ A first turning point was his stint as animation director of Jin-Roh, to the animation of which he brought a level of scrupulous attention to detail never seen before in an anime film in order to ensure that realism was maintained at every moment ♦ An action recorder was used assiduously throughout the movie to verify the accuracy of key animation, but none of the animation was rotoscoped, and in fact most of the animation is at a rate of 3 frames/cel ♦ A period of searching followed, during which he applied the lessons learned from Jin-Roh to his work, perhaps the most memorable piece from this period being the stylish GTO opening, animated entirely by himself at a rate of 2 frames/cel ♦ He hit another turning point after learning a freer approach from working side by side with the animators of FLCL, resulting in a new willingness to do material unusual for him prior to then, like the SD Mini-Pat series
1990 Yaoyacho Omoteura Keshoushi [KA]
1991 Ore wa Chokkaku [KA]
Shounen Ashibe [KA]
Magical Taru Ruuto Kun [KA]
Fujiko Fujio A no Warau Seerusuman (2nd season) [KA]
Maru de Dameo [KA]
1992 Yu-Yu Hakusho TV 49, 56, 62 [KA]
Sailor Moon PC engine game [AD]
1993 Yu-Yu Hakusho movie [KA]
1994 Hakkenden OVA 9 [KA → Genpachi in the mountains] 12 [KA → battle on castle roof] 13 [KA → boy cutting off warrior's head]
Yu-Yu Hakusho: Meikai Shitouhen movie [KA]
Ninku: Naifu no Kihyou event movie [KA]
1995 Ninku TV [CD, OP KA, ED KA] 13, 41, 48 [KA] 15 [AD] 50 [AD, KA]
Ninku movie [CD, AD]
1996 Midori no Makibao [KA]
Virtua Fighter advertisement [KA]
1998 Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou [OP KA]
1999 GTO [OP animation]
Medarot [KA]
2000 Jin-Roh [AD]
Blood the Last Vampire [KA]
Popolo Crois II game [KA]
FLCL 1 [KA → from Haruko opening letter to horn popping out] 2 [KA → Haruko fighting mecha] 3, 5, 6 [KA]
2001 Tales of Eternia [OP KA]
Cowboy Bebop movie [KA]
Samon Naito 2 [OP KA]
2002 Naruto [CD]
Mini Pato [all animation]
Millenium Actress [KA → ninja fight in the woods]
The Cat Returns [KA → from Haru getting up to being cut off by joggers]
2004 Innocence [AD]
Paranoia Agent 8 [KA]

 OHASHI Manabu 大橋 学

1970s/1980s ♦ A veteran from the early days of anime who is still very active ♦ Entered Toei Doga a few years after Miyazaki et al, but was not involved in any of their films, and eventually went over to Madhouse, the descendant of sorts of Toei Doga arch-rival Mushi Pro ♦ Renowned for his poetic animation of clouds and other natural phenomena ♦ Has a distinctive warm, sketchy, picture book style of drawing ♦ Creates designs that look more western than anime, like the triangular robots in Golden Bird ♦ Ohashi almost single-handedly animated the entire Treasure Island OP & ED ♦ Cloud in Robot Carnival, in which Ohashi did everything from story to design to key animation, is a tour-de-force of pure animation of texture and color ♦ Being essentially poetry in motion, it's a rare example of purely abstract anime ♦ He left behind two little-seen minor masterpieces in The Golden Bird and Bobby's Girl, both featuring a totally original animation style and visual world ♦ Not connecting the lines of the character outlines in Golden Bird to give the pictures a softer touch was one of his ideas which gives these films their unique flavor ♦ Ohashi remains highly prolific, some of his recent work including seemingly uncharacteristic pieces like the kung fu action at the beginning of Chinese Ghost Story, but also the more typical and memorable animation of the city at the end of Junkers Come Here (on which he was aided by one of his daughters, just as in Cloud all the inbetweens were drawn by his daughters, Hatsune and Shiho Ohashi)


1964 Kaze no Fujimaru [inbetweener]
1965 Rainbow Sentai Robin [first KA]
1966 Cyborg 009 movie [KA]
1967 Cyborg 009 Kaiju Senso movie [KA]
Cyborg 009 TV [KA]
Pyunpyun Maru [KA]
1968 Faito! da Pyuuta [KA]
1969 Kurenai Sanshiro [KA]
Moomin [KA]
1970 Hakushon Daimao [KA]
Sky Fighter Z [KA]
Inakkape Taisho [KA]
1971 Apacchi Yakkyuugun [KA]
Kunimatsu sama no Otori Dai [KA]
1972 Dokonjo Gaeru [KA]
1973 Jungle Kurobee [KA]
1974 Zero Tester [KA]
The Fire G-Men [KA]
1975 Gamba no Boken [KA]
Ganso Tensai Bakabon #15 part A [KA]
1976 Manga Sekai Mukashibanashi [KA]
1977 3D Animation Ie Naki Ko [KA]
1978 Treasure Island [OP & ED animation]
1979 Aim for the Ace! movie [KA]
Unico [KA]
1980 Peter of Placid Forest [KA]
Bocchan [KA]
The Legend of Sirius [KA]
Ashita no Joe 2 TV [KA]
1981 Ashita no Joe 2 movie [KA]
Cobra pilot [KA]
1982 Cobra movie [KA]
Space Cobra TV [OP & ED KA, KA]
1983 Unico on the Magic Island [KA]
Genma Taisen [KA]
Golgo 13 [KA]
Barefoot Gen [KA]
1984 The Golden Bird [CD, AD, KA]
Blade of Kamui [KA]
Bobby's Girl [AD]
1986 Minna no Uta: Taihen daa [animation]
Manie Manie Labyrinth Tales: Labyrinth Labyrinthos [KA → Sachi & cat playing hide 'n seek, monsters bubbling up]
1987 Robot Carnival: Cloud [D, script, CD, KA]
1988 Hare Tokidoki Buta [KA]
Obakendoukai movie [title animation, KA]
1990 Chibi Neko Tomu no Daibouken [CD, AD]
1991 Brother, Dear Brother [layout]
1992 Sailor Moon [ED KA (27-46)]
1993 Little Twins [KA]
Junkers Come Here pilot [KA → cuts 1-2 dog waking up, 9-10 girl hugging dog & two talking at window)
Junkers Come Here [KA → pastel city animation at end]
1994 The Biography of Budori Gusko [KA]
Popolo Crois pilot movie [KA]
1996 Chinese Ghost Story [KA → kung fu at beginning]
1997 Jareneko CD-ROM [AD, CD, animation]
Jungle Taitei movie [KA]
1998 Renga Monogatari [KA]
Green Valley Monogatari [CD & KA of spring & summer chapters]
2001 Metropolis [KA]
2002 Palme no Ki [KA]

 OHIRA Shinya 大平晋也

1990s ♦ Relentless pursuer of true movement ♦ One of the most easily identifiable animators of recent years, as witness the jarring contrast of his scenes in FLCL #2, Animatrix, Spirited Away, etc ♦ Called a "genius" by Inoue Toshiyuki ♦ Started out influenced by Yamashita and Umezu Yasuomi ♦ Next moved to maniacally detailed special effects phase culminating in the masterful animation of smoke and clouds in Akira and Angel Cop ♦ Drew a record-breaking 1000 drawings for a single cut in A-Ko, with as many as 14 layers, which was rejected as impossible to film ♦ Spent 1 month drawing 300 KA for one 3-second shot of a lazer beam (KA! not inbetweens!) ♦ Next moved towards animating people after participating in Utsunomiya Satoru's Gosenzosama Banbanzai! ♦ His first major breakthrough was the realistic but richly evocative graphic style of Hakkenden #1, in which most of the animators' work went unmodified straight into the film, thus preserving the personality of their drawings ♦ He then spent six months creating 3 minutes of animation for the pilot of the Junkers movie, and was consequently fired ♦ The pilot is a masterpiece full of revolutionary realistic movement and devoid of any trace of anime conventions ♦ The epoch-making Hakkenden #10 took this further, totally ignoring the original character designs and opting for the first-ever totally realistic designs in anime, and preserving the style of individual animators to such an extent that characters look completely different from one animator's scene to the next ♦ Hakkenden #10 is singled out by many in the industry as one of the most important anime films of the 1990s ♦ Currently Ohira appears to be in an expressionistic realism phase in which the body is animated as a special effect, the visceral power of animation being the goal rather than realism, as witness the dance scene in Ghiblies 2 and the skateboard chase in Kid's Story ♦ Generally speaking, Ohira focuses on creating fluid and realistic movement full of superfluous action to the point of relegating shape and character design to jagged, wildly undulating lines ♦ Strongly influenced by early Disney, Ohira is a living contradiction: a full animator in a country of limited animation ♦ He is the most iconoclastic incarnation of the new realism in anime, creating a gritty, sensual realism as opposed to the clean and restrained realism of Omohide Poroporo or Jin-Roh ♦ Close associate of Hashimoto Shinji on many projects ♦ Works from home in the country since 1995
1985 Ninja Senshi Tobikage [KA] Lensman TV series & movie [KA]
1986 Megazone 23 Part II [KA]
Gundam ZZ 25, 29 [KA]
Kikoukai Garian Vol III [KA]
Violence Jack [KA → legs severed & bike rollover]
Machine Robo: Chronos Strikes Back 6 etc [KA]
1987 Gakuen Tokusou Hikarion [KA]
God Bless Dancougar [KA]
Bubblegum Crisis [KA]
Gall Force 2 Destruction [KA → laser beam]
1988 Akira [KA → cut 1271-1279 smoke coming out from elevator, cut 2168 building collapsing, cut 2177 clouds swirling around in sky]
Dragon's Heaven [KA]
Gundam: Char's Counterattack [KA]
1989 Peachboy Legend [KA → henshin bank]
Peter Pan 23, 40 [KA]
Riding Bean [mecha AD]
Kujaku-Oh 2 [KA → Yamabushi & floating in air]
Gosenzosama Banbanzai! 1, 2, 3, 6 [KA]
Angel Cop 2 [Special KA (w/Hashimoto Shinji) → smoke]
1990 Hakkenden OVA 1 [AD, KA → reflection in water & lightning in distance]
1991 Omohide Poroporo [KA → baseball player retreiving ball]
Twilight Theatre: The Antique Shop [AD, CD, D, S, script]
1992 Porco Rosso [KA → testing engine in garage?]
1993 Junkers Come Here Pilot [AD, CD]
Junkers Come Here [KA → closing animation of girl riding bike]
1994 Hakkenden OVA 9 [KA → Genpachi walking along cliffside] 10 [D, S, uncredited assistance as AD, KA → itinerant priests being cut down at beginning]
1999 Slime Boukenki ~Umi da, ie~~ [KA]
My Neighbors the Yamadas [KA → bad guys running away]
2000 Blood the Last Vampire PS2 game [KA → about 100 cuts]
2001 FLCL 2 [KA → just before Canti returns home from shopping]
FLCL 3 [KA → monster spits out girl after eating curry]
Spirited Away [KA → Sen's arrival in boiler room]
2002 Ghiblies 2 [KA → dance]
2003 Animatrix [KA → skateboard chase]
Kill Bill [KA → father fighting thugs]
2004 Innocence [KA]
Portable Airport [KA]
2005 Otogizoushi 6 [KA → tidal wave]
Windy Tales OP, 10, 13 [KA]
XXXholic [KA → bunny]
Tsubasa Chronicle [KA → tidal wave]

 OKIURA Hiroyuki 沖浦啓之

1980s/1990s ♦ Realistic school animator legendary for his maniacally detailed key animation, like the mob scene near the beginning of Akira ♦ More recent work in Memories and Cowboy Bebop confirms him as one of the most technically adept animators active in Japan today alongside Inoue Toshiyuki


1984 Seijuushi Bismarck [KA]
1985 SPT Layzner 12, 16, 20, 26, 33 [KA] 38 [mechanical AD]
Shouwa Aho Zoushi Akanuke Ichiban 19 [KA (uncredited)]
1986 Black Magic M-66 [AD]
1988 Akira [KA → from shooting of agent to beer can crashing after Takashi's scream]
Peter Pan 20, 28 [AD] 8, 16, 20, 22, 37, 41 [KA]
1989 Venus Wars [KA]
Patlabor movie [KA]
1990 Hakkenden OVA 1 [KA]
City Hunter 3 TV 13 [KA]
1991 Rojin Z [KA]
1992 Run, Melos [AD, CD]
1993 Patlabor 2 [KA]
1994 G Gundam [OP & ED KA]
1995 Catnapped [KA]
Ghost in the Shell [CD, AD]
1996 Memories episode 1: Magnetic Rose [KA → eating dinner with the family]
1997 Rurouni Kenshin OP [KA]
1999 Popolo Crois TV 25 [KA]
2000 Jin-Roh [D, CD, layout check]
2001 Cowboy Bebop Door to Heaven [OP KA]
Metropolis [KA]
2004 Innocence [CD]
Paranoia Agent 8, 13 [KA]

 OTSUKA Shinji 大塚伸治

1980s/1990s ♦ The epitome of the versatile animator capable of adapting to any anime to do outstanding work in that style ♦ Otsuka's animation is professional but always full of personality and a special verve ♦ He is one of the pillars of Ghibli's animation ♦ Not confined to the Ghibli style, he has always searched for new means of expression, having done everything from the photorealistic to the cartoonish ♦ The wonderful feeling of weight in the movement of Toshio running around the train station in Omohide Poroporo, the delightful bodyguards in The Cat Returns, the little robot coming out of the water in FLCL #6 - all of these are quintissential Otsuka ♦ None other than the animation director of Tokyo Godfathers has conceded that the film was originally conceived as a project to showcase Otsuka's talents, in the same way Genma Taisen was a vehicle for Kanada Yoshinori ♦ Most of Otsuka's scenes in the film were drawn entirely by himself, with no inbetweens, and his cuts, which were the first finished, had a determining influence on the direction of the animation by the rest of the animators in the same way the dorayaki/banana scene by Hashimoto Shinji had on the animation in Yamada-kun



1980 Tetsuwan Atom 6
1981 Urusei Yatsura TV 70 "Senritsu! Kaseki no hekichi no nazo" [KA → on the bridge]
1982 Space Cobra TV [AD (w/Sugino Akio)]
Cobra movie [animation]
1983 Cat's Eye 10 B part [all KA]
1985 Blade of Kamui [KA → blowdart guys, obi stiffening]
1986 Angel's Egg [KA]
Maison Ikkoku 39 [KA]
Laputa, Castle in the Sky [KA]
1987 Wings of Honneamise [KA]
1988 Akira [KA → Tetsuo morphing into a blob and grabbing Kei with tentacles]
My Neighbor Totoro [KA]
1989 Kiki's Delivery Service [AD]
1991 Omohide Poroporo [animation → Taeko meeting Toshio at the train station]
1992 Porco Rosso [KA]
1994 Heisei Tanuki Gassen Pompoko [S, CD, AD, KA, image building]
1995 Chage & Aska [KA]
Whisper of the Heart [KA → cut 1520A-1541]
1997 Mononoke Hime [KA]
1998 Jin-Roh [KA]
1999 My Neighbors the Yamadas [KA]
FLCL 1 [KA] 2 [KA] 3 [KA → family eating curry] 5 [KA → shootout in the grass] 6 [KA → little robot coming out of water]
2001 Millennium Actress [KA → Chiyoko, Genya and cameraman running towards camera in burning building, etc]
2002 The Cat Returns [KA → the royal entourage visiting Haru]
2004 Tokyo Godfathers [KA → assassin at the wedding, hopping on bike to look for Kiyoko, monologue in hospital corridor]
Portable Airport [KA]

 OTSUKA Yasuo 大塚康生

1960s/1970s ♦ One of the most influential animators of all time in Japan, and in his day probably the best animator of dynamic, fast-paced action sequences ♦ The thrilling battle with the giant fish in Hols remains a classic whose influenced can still be felt thirty years later, with its hardboiled action, rough graphic touch and realistic rendering of weight and balance of bodies in extreme motion ♦ The battle with the dragon at the end of Little Prince is a masterpiece of extended action, with one battle continuing for more than 5 minutes, probably the first of its kind in Japan ♦ Otsuka was the first to render specific vehicles and implements in realistic detail in Lupin III ♦ In Hols he came up with the idea to use a frame rate of 3 frames/cel for the rock man scene to heighten the feeling of massiveness ♦ Later on, in Lupin, Conan and so on, his innovative approach to frame rate modulation, ie, changing the frame rate to heighten the impact of action rather than simply following the standard Disney rule of 1 frame/cel during pans and 2 frames/cel any other time, was so influential that it can be said to have become standard practice in the anime industry
1959 Magic Boy [first KA → fight with newt]
1960 Journey to the West [KA → bullfight at end]
1961 Anju & Zushiomaru [KA]
1962 Little Prince & the 8-Headed Dragon [KA → fight with dragon]
1963 Sinbad's Adventures [KA]
1965 Gulliver's Space Travels [KA]
1968 Hols, Prince of the Sun [AD, storyboard (uncredited), KA → fight with giant fish]
1969 Moomin [AD]
1971 Lupin III 1st series [AD]
1972 Panda Kopanda 1 [AD]
1973 Panda Kopanda 2 [AD]
Samurai Giants [AD]
1977 Sougen no Ko Tenguri [KA]
1978 Lupin III: Lupin vs. the Clones [animation supervisor]
Future Boy Conan [AD]
1979 Lupin III: Cagliostro's Castle [AD]
1981 Jarinko Chie movie [AD (w/Kotabe Yoichi), storyboard (uncredited)] Tokaido Yotsuya Kwaidan [D, AD, all KA]
1986 Lupin III: Plot of the Fuma Clan [animation supervisor]
1990 Tengai Makyou [animation supervisor]

 SUEYOSHI Yuichiro 末吉裕一郎

1990s ♦ A newcomer mainly active in children's shows like Kiteretsu Daihyakka prior to his involvement as an animator and character designer in late Crayon Shin-chan films after Yuasa Masaaki's departure from the show ♦ By all appearances influenced primarily by Yuasa, Sueyoshi patented a new style of animation in the Shin-chan films, and particularly in the animation of Dama in Jungle... #3, wherein the entire screen is animated using loops and characters perform actions within this dynamic, constantly moving background ♦ He and Yuasa teamed up as, respectively, animation director-director for their debut feature Mind Game, which will presumably further develop this style
1998-2003 Crayon Shin-chan movies [CD, KA]
1999 Medarot [OP AD]
2002 Jungle wa Itsumo Hale nochi Guu Deluxe OVA 3 [KA → Dama]
2003 Ashita no Nadja [OP AD]
2004 Mind Game [AD]

 TANABE Osamu 田辺 修

1990s ♦ Animator in all the major Ohira/Hashimoto works, Tanabe creates low-key but sensitive and highly realistic animation without the flashy appeal of an Iso ♦ His unobtrusively realistic scenes convincingly recreate the atmosphere of ordinary everyday situations, like an animated version of cinema veritE♦ They are so natural they tend to pass unnoticed, like the dinner scene in Junkers ♦ His instinct for slow-burn realistic timing and unobtrusive layout helped to create the uncanny sense of realism in My Neighbors the Yamadas in spite of the totally unrealistic, manga-ish character designs ♦ Most recently he animated Takahata's contribution to the Winter Days anthology
1989 Peter Pan 21 [KA]
Gosenzosama Banbanzai! 4, 6 [KA]
1990 Like the Wind, Like a Cloud [KA → girl & old lady walking through tunnel]
Hakkenden OVA 1 [KA → Princess Fuse in cave and walking to river]
1991 Omohide Poroporo [KA]
1993 Junkers Come Here Pilot [KA → cuts 3-5 girl coming out from behind Colonel Sanders, cut 11 dog walking towards girl]
Junkers Come Here [KA → dinner scene near beginning, dog jumping off couch]
1994 Heisei Tanuki Gassen Pompoko [KA]
Hakkenden OVA 10, 13 [KA]
1998 Golden Boy 3 [KA → girl talking about getting married near end]
1999 My Neighbors the Yamadas [D & S of second half]
2001 Nekojiru-So [KA → guy getting cut up with scissors]
Kacho O-ji [OP KA]
2002 Ghiblies 2 [KA]
2003 Winter Days: Hototogisu [animation]

 TANAKA Tatsuyuki 田中達之

1990s ♦ Started out drawing image boards for Nadia, now mostly draws manga ♦ Early on he was influenced by Miyazaki then later Otomo ♦ For what was effectively his first job as key animator he created the impressive morphing of Tetsuo's arm in Akira ♦ The classic cigarette smoke scene in Download is a great example of an animator running wild with a scene, changing the storyboard and adding lots of fun, crazy details like a drug deal in the background, etc ♦ His ideal is to reinvent the old meta language of anime in a modern form, to achieve realism by filtering reality through the imagination first and then drawing what comes out, rather than simply tracing reality like Ohira - manga realism rather than sharp-edged photorealism ♦ The fact that he's more prolific drawing image boards and manga than animating can be seen in the light of his aspiration to create animation where every aspect of the world that a character inhabits - design, animation, backgrounds, mood - fits together perfectly, rather than simply animating a character ♦ Kin Jin Kid currently in production will probably be the first time he has a chance to realize this ideal


1987 Battle Royale High School [first KA → 1 cut of high school exploding]
Bubblegum Crisis OVA 6 [KA]
1988 Akira [KA → Tetsuo gets shot in the arm and the arm morphs]
1989 Venus Wars [KA]
Riding Bean [KA]
Explorer Woman Ray [KA]
Gosenzosama Banbanzai! 1, 2, 3, 6 [KA]
1990 Fushigi no Umi no Nadia TV [image boards]
A.D. Police OVA [image boards]
Maimu (unreleased) [image boards]
1991 Twilight Theatre: The Antique Shop [KA → protagonist pushes away girl]
Fushigi no Umi no Nadia movie [image boards]
Rojin Z [S]
1992 Green Legend Ran [image boards] 1 [KA → shootout]
Download [KA → cigarette smoke scene]
1993 Hakkenden OVA 9 [KA → fight in the dojo]
1994 Tengai Makyou 3 game (unreleased) [image boards]
1996 Linda Cube PC engine Game [CD]
Catnapped [KA → giant dog running around in castle]
1997 Linda Cube Again PC engine game [CD]
Sound Insect Noiseman [KA → underwater scene where boy bites into fruit]
Eternal Family [KA]
1998 Linda Cube Again Complete Version Sega Saturn game [CD]
1999 Popolo Crois TV 24 [KA]
2000 Baseball stadium opening graphics [AD, animation, art]
NTT Higashi Nihon Gacchaman Hen advertisement [S]
2002 Kinjin Kid preview [D]

 TOMONAGA Kazuhide 友永和秀

1970s/1980s ♦ Tomonaga was one of the first animators in Japan to focus almost exclusively on special effects, and in this domain he was one of the most influential animators of his era ♦ He successfully animated large objects in motion with a convincing sense of scale and mass, like the battleship in 999 ♦ He created the unforgettable catastrophic climaxes at the end of Galaxy Express 999 and Laputa, and he made the defining statement on heart-stopping aerial action in the Nemo Pilot ♦ The ultra-cool action sequences with things exploding into a billion little fragments in the Miyazaki-directed third-series Lupin III episodes, or in Laputa, or in Sherlock Hound - all Tomonaga ♦ He is extremely prolific, and over the last two decades appears to have been involved in a large number of overseas productions like Batman Beyond: The Return of the Joker, Animaniacs, Superman and Cyber Six
1976 Puss 'n Boots: Around the World in 80 Days [KA]
1978 Lupin III: Lupin vs. the Clones [KA]
Future Boy Conan 11, 18-26 [KA]
1979 Galaxy Express 999 movie [KA (w/Kanada Yoshinori) → destruction of planet at climax]
Lupin III: Cagliostro's Castle [KA → car chase at beginning]
Anne of Green Gables 1-12 [KA]
1980 Lupin III third series 4, 8, 14, 20, 25, 31, 63, 92, 98, 143, 151, 155 (final) [KA]
1981 Jarinko Chie [KA]
Sugata Sanshiro [AD]
1982 Sherlock Hound 1-4, 6 [AD]
Nemo Pilot [AD, S, KA]
1984 Nemo [AD]
1986 Laputa [KA]
Lupin III: Plot of the Fuma Clan [AD]
Heisei Tanuki Gassen Pompoko [KA]
2002 Pata Pata Hikosen [layout, mecha design]
The Cat Returns [KA]
Pita Ten 15, 19 [KA]
Sonic X 7 [KA] 2, 5, 9 [S]
Uninhabited Planet Survive 2, 4, 6, 8 [S]

 UTSUNOMIYA Satoru うつのみやさとる

1990s ♦ One of the most influential figures of the generation after Nakamura Takashi ♦ In Gosenzosama Banbanzai! he created an epoch-making joint-based animation style that was very influential in the early 1990s ♦ He developed this further in the extremely fluid and active full animation of Peek ♦ Gosenzo was the first anime to place shadows accurately according to light source and to use blurring during fast action ♦ Way of animating arms hanging loosely was often imitated in the 1990s ♦ Draws movement from memory without external references, unlike Hashimoto and Ohira who often filmed themselves acting out material for reference ♦ Kinetic accuracy is goal but drawings are highly simplified and clean ♦ Current work focuses on the subtle, unconscious movements of everyday actions, omitted as superfluous in supposedly 'realistic' animation ♦ Radically simplified style of animation and minutely detailed action makes his scenes stands out in stark contrast in certain films such as Battle Royale HS ♦ Able to breathe a miraculous amount of life into the simplest of actions such assimply talking while seated ♦ Reportedly storyboarded Hakkenden #9 in widescreen format on his own initiative ♦ Able to create dynamic action at lower frame rates like 3 frames/cel
1983 The Yearling [KA]
1984 Lensman TV series & movie [KA]
1985 Blade of Kamui [KA]
Animal Around the World in 80 Days 8, 13 [KA]
Time Gal game [KA]
1986 Arion [KA, → giant monster]
Windaria [KA → king getting stabbed near end]
Ai City [KA]
Ikkiman [KA]
1987 Battle Royale High School [KA → dojo scene at beginning]
1988 Akira [KA → Kaneda mouthing off to agent, Kaneda and Tetsuo arguing, destruction of baby room]
Mister Ajikko #33 [KA]
1989 Gosenzosama Banbanzai! 1-6 [CD, AD]
1990 Maroko movie [CD, AD]
1991 Peek the Whale [CD, AD]
1992 Run, Melos [KA]
1993 Yadamon 164 [KA]
1994 Hakkenden OVA 9 [D, AD, KA]
Orguss 02 5 [KA]
Ninku movie [KA]
Yugen Kaisha 2 [KA → battle in hospital] 4 [KA → battle on roof]
1996 X [KA]
Popolo Crois game [KA]
1998 4-day Weekend music clip [KA]
1999 Survival music clip [KA]
2002 Ghiblies 2 [AD, KA → on the train]
Macross Zero 2 [KA]
2003 Gad Guard 10 [KA]
2004 Full Metal Alchemist 47 [KA]
Paranoia Agent 8 [D, AD, S]
2005 Beck 22 [KA]
Sousei no Aquarion OP, 2, 25 [KA] 18 [art board, world design, storyboard, animation director, KA]
Eureka 3rd season OP [D, AD, S, KA]

 YAMASHITA Masahito 山下将仁

1980s ♦ Took up where Kanada left off, bending limbs further and using more extreme perspective ♦ Also widely imitated, he influenced Ohira Shinya and probably Peter Chung and many others ♦ Drawing his first key animation at a precocious 18, his earliest work in New Tetsujin 28 and Urusei Yatsura and so on remains his most identifiable and interesting, while his unique approach to action reached a peak of sorts in the first OVA, Dallos, where he reportedly animated more than 250 shots in the last two episodes alone ♦ His approach to action was highly intuitive, so to assure control over his animation he often drew every drawing in a sequence, specifying the duration of each drawing rather than take the chance of that action being messed up by an inbetweener ♦ A famous anecdote tells of how he got in trouble for drawing two minutes' worth of key animation for what was supposed to be a 30 second scene in episode 52 of Urusei Yatsura ♦ The scene in question is a classic example of the 'Yamashita run' that can also be seen elsewhere, like in the haunted school scene of the Beautiful Dreamer movie ♦ The latter was an encore of Yamashita's scene in the "Willow Tree" episode, which apparently so pleased Mamoru Oshii that he wanted it to appear in his film
1980 New Tetsujin 28 [KA]
1981 Urusei Yatsura TV 27 "Mendo brings trouble", 52 "Kuchinashi yori ai wo komete", 55 "Dokkiri toshokan, oshizuka ni!", 97 "Kwaidan! yanagi no ojiji" [KA]
1982 Acrobunch [KA]
1983 Dallos [KA]
Genma Taisen [KA]
Urusei Yatsura 1: Only You movie [mechanical animation drector, KA]
1984 Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer movie [mechanical animation director, KA → haunted school]
Birth [KA]
1985 Ninja Senshi Tobikage 1 etc. [KA] Lazerion [KA]
1986 Machine Robo: Chronos Strikes Back [OP KA]
Maison Ikkoku 29 [KA]
Megazone 23 part II [KA]
1987 Dangaioh OVA [OP KA]
Gakuen Tokusou Hikarion [KA]
1988 Dragon's Heaven [KA]
1989 Gosenzosama Banbanzai! 6 [KA]
1991 Gundam 0083: Stardust Memories [KA]
Saber Kids [KA]
Yu-Yu Hakusho TV 50 [KA]
1992 Tetsujin 28 FX [KA]
1994 Ryuu Knight 14 [KA]
Metal Fighter Miku 5 [KA]
Yu-Yu Hakusho movie [KA]
Hakkenden OVA 8 [KA]
1998 Spriggan [mechanical animation director]

 YUASA Masaaki 湯浅政明

1990s ♦ Throughout the 90s Yuasa was known among hardcore fans as the oddball genius creating wildly unique movement in Crayon Shin-chan ♦ Unsparing about his own drawing skills, he was inspired by the amorphous character designs of the series to turn his deficiency to advantage by focusing on creating a new kind of realistic movement entirely via form, ie, outline, especially after working with Ohira Shinya on Hakkenden, an experience that had a marked influence on him, and clearly shows up in the classic Buriburizaemon episodes he did for the Shin-chan TV series ♦ His earliest work in Chibi Maruko-chan already showed a fully-formed artist at work ♦ He animated two shorts in the film, both like wild and exhilirating animated jam sessions, making nearly nonstop use of animated backrounds (ie drawing the backround moving away rather than just panning out), psychedelic art and tons of interesting ideas ♦ His much-talked-about Shin-chan TV episodes are a totally individual interpretation of the world, full of extreme-angle compositions, a uniquely dark sense of humor, and radically stylized characters moving in incongrously realistic fashion ♦ In the Shin-chan films his unique, assured, quirky design work earned him the credit of "Set Design" ♦ In each film throughout the 1990s he created animated sequences that were the highlight of each film, culminating in the instantly classic chase through the castle in the Henderland movie, an obvious homage to Puss 'n Boots ♦ His work has often been unfairly overlooked in cases where he was responsible for all the major creative aspects of a film except for the directing, as in the case of Nekojiru-so and Noiseman ♦ In Noiseman he was responsible for the designs and animation direction of all the characters that form part of the Noiseman world (including not just the ghosts and Noiseman, but also the mad doctor, the workers at the beginning, and the people in the bar)
♦ In Nekojiru-So, which brought alive the tormented, pessimistic world of manga author and suicide Nekojiru, he was responsible for pretty much everything aside from the directing, from the all-important animation to the brainstorming that filled the film with such wonderfully insane and imaginative ideas, to the equally important storyboard that arranged them all into a compelling and dramatic form ♦ Mind Game, to be released summer 2004 in Japan, will be his feature film directing debut, and promises to be a film that will bring him instant recognition among a wider audience


1990 Chibi Maruko-chan: My Favorite Song movie [KA → car chase & shopping boogie]
Chibi Maruko-chan movie [KA, layout]
1991 Ahoy there, little polar bear [CD, AD, KA]
1992 21-Emon: To Space! The Barefoot Princess [KA]
1992-1998 Crayon Shin-chan TV series [AD, KA, S]
1993-2000 Crayon Shin-chan movies [KA, set design]
1994 Hakkenden OVA 10 [AD]
1995 Ruin Explorers Fam & Ihrie 3 [KA]
1997 Sound Insect Noiseman [AD, CD, layout]
1998 Aika 5 [KA]
1999 My Neighbors the Yamadas [KA]
Nanchatte Vampiyan pilot [D, S, layout]
2001 Nekojiru-So [AD, S, script, planning]
Casmin [set design]
Kujiratori [KA]
2004 Mind Game [D]
 
 » see Masaaki Yuasa filmography

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