Favorite Anime Directors

[Josef K.]

Rarely are they mentioned but they should take the credit for most of the things we watch, what are your favorite anime directors? I have to name the legend here:

Hayao Miyazaki, his works include: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Kiki's Delivery Service, Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, or in other words Studio Ghibli.

Here he is :

[MattC302]

After Miyazaki, the first person that comes to mind is Satoshi Kon. I just recently saw Tokyo Godfathers, and it wasn't just an amazing anime film, but an amazing film in general.

[Josef K.]

Hideaki Anno as well, a great innovator and genius, truly a great artist and film director. I just remembered him, I can not believe I did not mention the creator of Evangelion and Nadia in the opening. Still better late than never.

[naruto-niichan]

After Miyazaki, the first person that comes to mind is Satoshi Kon. I just recently saw Tokyo Godfathers, and it wasn't just an amazing anime film, but an amazing film in general.

Satoshi Kon without a doubt. Did you watch Paprika? Even more special and just awesome~ Going to watch Millenium Actress next and then probably Paranoia Agent. That's how fond I am of his workks now.

[MattC302]

Satoshi Kon without a doubt. Did you watch Paprika? Even more special and just awesome~ Going to watch Millenium Actress next and then probably Paranoia Agent. That's how fond I am of his workks now.

I have seen Paprika. It's hard to explain, but I liked Tokyo Godfathers better. BUT, I liked it better as a film in general, not as an anime film. Sometimes I forgot I was watching an anime while watching Tokyo Godfathers. It may as well been a live action film. Paprika on the other hand, was visually stunning and better than Tokyo Godfathers as an anime. Am I making any sense?

[Josef K.]

Akiyuki Shinbo not that known, but his projects are really awesome, he was involved in so many anime that have been called GREAT or GREATEST over the years, just throwing him out there, he directed: Madoka, Negima, Arakawa, SZS and Pani Poni Dash!

[Galactic Tomahawk]

Apart from Satoshi Kon and Miyazaki...

Kenji Nakamura (Mononoke, Trapeze, [C], Tsuritama)
Mamoru Hosoda ( Digimon Movie 2, One Piece Movie 6, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars)
Yasuhiro Imagawa (Giant Robo, G Gundam, Shin Mazinger Shougeki Z-Hen)

I've also had my eye on Takeshi Koike recently, he directed Redline and did some work on Afro Samurai and the new Lupin III show.

[Crude]

^ You mentioning Hosoda Mamoru just made me realize how large the similarities are between Digimon's 2nd movie and Summer Wars.

[Galactic Tomahawk]

Yeah, I think Summer Wars was basically him wanting to do the story again with an original setting.

Wolf Children (his new movie) came out in theaters a few months ago too IIRC. I've heard good stuff about it so I'm really looking forward to seeing it.

[jakensama]

Hayao Miyasaki and Satoshi Kon are definitely awesome. I also like Mamoru Oshii for Ghost in the Shell and Angel's Egg. Masayuki Kojima for Master Keaton and Monster.

[Doraku]

10 posts already made in this thread but no one mentions Makoto Shinkai? Probably he's the most promising Anime director as of late. The main theme of his movies are tend to be.. homogeneous, but his visual depicting ability is extraordinary.

[naruto-niichan]

10 posts already made in this thread but no one mentions Makoto Shinkai? Probably he's the most promising Anime director as of late. The main theme of his movies are tend to be.. homogeneous, but his visual depicting ability is extraordinary.

Shinkai just isn't that known among western fans, nor is he as appreciated as a lot of other directors. I've watched three of his works, "5 Centimeters per Second", "Voices of a Distant Star" and "She and her Cat", all great by their own means. I planned to watch his first long work "The Place Promised in Our Early Days" and his most recent one "Children who Chase Lost Voices" for a long time, though both are supposedly inferior to 5 Centimeters. You've reminded me of checking out the two movies, I kinda forgot Still some time left until his new work, which looks amazing

I do think he's a great director but he has a pretty unique style which probably isn't appreciated by everyone. Dunno what you mean with as of late, he's in the business for around ten years and his style hasn't changed significantly from what I can tell so he's far from being a newbie

[Doraku]

I do think he's a great director but he has a pretty unique style which probably isn't appreciated by everyone. Dunno what you mean with as of late, he's in the business for around ten years and his style hasn't changed significantly from what I can tell so he's far from being a newbie

I don't think that his style is difficult to be digested thus under appreciated by western fans though. While probably some of his harshest critics said that he's overusing a same theme from time to time, his animation style - in my opinion - is as "friendly" and "warm" as Ghibli movies. I was trying to say that his directorial style is getting better, especially his last three movies. Not like many directors out there who're tend to not improving their capability somehow.