Kunihiko Yuyama (湯山 邦彦, Yuyama Kunihiko, born October 15, 1952) is a Japanese director of anime films, television, and video series. His best-known work involves Pokémon productions. Other anime he has directed include Kimagure Orange Road: Summer's Beginning, Plawres Sanshiro, Wedding Peach, and the adult-oriented Weather Report Girl.
Career
Developing an interest in animation while still at high school, Yuyama worked as an animator's assistant on episodes of Star Blazers and Brave Raideen. He was a sketch artist and storyboard artist on the foreign co-production Barbapapa (1973) and joined Aoi Productions in 1978. The same year, he had his directorial debut while working for Aoi on Galaxy Express 999, and soon struck up a successful working partnership with the screenwriter Takeshi Shudo on GoShogun. By 1982 he had been promoted to "chief director", an overseeing role on Magical Princess Minky Momo. While remaining in TV during the 1980s, he also played a leading role in anime's exodus into video. His work also showed a mastery of elements for a female audience, most obvious in his Three Musketeers spin-off, Aramis' Adventure. After working on Ushio and Tora, he gained true fame through his involvement with later works on Pokémon.
External links
- Kunihiko Yuyama at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
- Kunihiko Yuyama at the Internet Movie Database