Curated category
Anime directors
- Seitarō KitayamaSeitarō Kitayama helped bring Japanese animation into existence at a time when the medium was barely a handful of years old anywhere in the world.
- Hiromasa YonebayashiHiromasa Yonebayashi was, according to producer Toshio Suzuki, the most skilled animator at Studio Ghibli. That is a remarkable thing to say about anyone at…
- Noburō ŌfujiNoburō Ōfuji left behind a legacy so enduring that one of Japan's most prestigious film prizes carries his name. The Mainichi Film Awards' Ōfuji Noburō…
- Hayao MiyazakiHayao Miyazaki was born on the 5th of January 1941 in Akebono-cho, Hongō, Tokyo City, the second of four sons in a family that manufactured rudders for…
- Mitsuyo SeoMitsuyo Seo died on the 24th of August 2010 at the age of 98, outliving nearly the entire world he had helped create. He was a Japanese animator…
- Yoshifumi KondōYoshifumi Kondō died on the 21st of January 1998, at age 47, of an aortic dissection at Tachikawa City Hospital in Tokyo.
- Goro MiyazakiGoro Miyazaki entered his first completed film's premiere on the 28th of June 2006 with the weight of an impossible name.
- Hideaki AnnoHideaki Anno was born in Ube, Yamaguchi, the son of Fumiko and Takuya Anno, and the world of Japanese animation would eventually pivot on decisions he made…
- Katsuhiro OtomoKatsuhiro Otomo was born in Tome, Miyagi Prefecture, in a region so rural that, as a child, he said there was simply nothing to do. So he read manga.
- Yoshiyuki TominoYoshiyuki Tomino was born on the 5th of November 1941 in Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture, into a family shaped by civic power and industrial engineering.
- Hiroyuki MoritaHiroyuki Morita danced the idol choreography himself before drawing a single frame of it into Perfect Blue. That instinct, to get the fundamentals right…
- Tomomi MochizukiTomomi Mochizuki has two professional names. Under one, he directs. Under the other, he writes. He is a director, storyboard artist, and screenwriter whose…
- Osamu DezakiOsamu Dezaki could freeze time. Not literally, but on screen he came as close as anyone in the history of Japanese animation.
- Makoto ShinkaiMakoto Shinkai spent June of 2000 sketching a single image: a girl gripping a mobile phone inside a cockpit. That drawing became the seed of Voices of a…
- Tadahito MochinagaTadahito Mochinaga built the puppets that became Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Working from his MOM Production Studio in Tokyo, he and his team brought the…
- Kenji TeradaKenji Terada wrote the scripts for the first three Final Fantasy games, a trilogy that launched one of the most enduring video game franchises in history.
- Osamu TezukaOsamu Tezuka spent his final hours in a Tokyo hospital bed, drawing. When a nurse tried to take his equipment away, his last words were: "I'm begging you…
- Kihachirō KawamotoKihachirō Kawamoto first walked into the art department of Toho film studio in 1946 as a young production design assistant in his early twenties.
- Go NagaiGo Nagai was born on the 6th of September 1945 in Wajima, a city in Ishikawa Prefecture, just as Japan was emerging from the wreckage of the Second World War.
- Isao TakahataIsao Takahata survived a United States air raid on Okayama City on the 29th of June, 1945. He was nine years old, separated from his parents for two days…
- Shūkō MuraseShūkō Murase entered the animation industry during a period of intense growth for Studio Sunrise. His early career began with work on Yoroiden Samurai…
- Yoshikazu YasuhikoYoshikazu Yasuhiko grew up drawing in a small town in Hokkaido, dreaming of becoming a manga artist. He would eventually become famous for something else…
- Kenji KamiyamaKenji Kamiyama is a Japanese director and writer who began his career not behind a camera but behind a paintbrush. Before he ever wrote a line of dialogue or…