is a Japanese

animation director An animation director is either the director in charge of all aspects of the animation process during the production of an animated film or television, and animated segment for a live action film or television show, or the animator in charge of c ...

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

, and

storyboard artist A storyboard artist (sometimes called a story artist or visualizer) creates storyboards for advertising agencies and film productions. Work A storyboard artist visualizes stories and sketches frames of the story. Quick pencil drawings and marke ...

. He is director of Contrail Co. Ltd. He has been a part-time lecturer at

Nihon University , abbreviated as , is a private research university in Japan. Its predecessor, Nihon Law School (currently the Department of Law), was founded by Yamada Akiyoshi, the Minister of Justice, in 1889. It is one of Japan's leading private univers ...

College of Art since 2006, and a Project Professor at the college of Art of at the same university since 2018. He has also served as a part-time lecturer at the Graduate School of Tokyo University of the Arts since 2013. He is married to a fellow director of anime Chie Uratani.

Biography

Sunao Katabuchi's Signature on the Film Poster for In This Corner of the World

Katabuchi was born in Hirakata, Osaka in 1960. While studying at

College of Art's Department of Cinema, he participated in the writing team of ''

Sherlock Hound is an anime television series produced by RAI and Tokyo Movie Shinsha. Based on the character Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle, almost all the characters are depicted as anthropomorphic dogs. The show featured regular appearance ...

'' directed by

Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese animator, director, producer, screenwriter, author, and manga artist. A co-founder of Studio Ghibli, he has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and creator of Japanese animated feature films, and is widel ...

. After graduating, he joined Telecom Animation Film. In the same year, Hayao Miyazaki asked him to participate in '' Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind'' as a scriptwriter, but he had to decline for various reasons. He traveled to the U.S. several times to work on '' Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland'', a Japan-U.S. co-production of an animated film produced by Telecom, but decided to leave the company after becoming fed up with the project going astray as it was being pushed around by the American side. Then he started working at

Mushi Production or Mushi Pro for short, is a Japanese animation studio headquartered in Fujimidai, Nerima, Tokyo, Japan. It previously had a headquarters elsewhere in Nerima. The studio was headed by manga artist Osamu Tezuka. Tezuka started it as a rivalry wit ...

. He was seconded to

Studio Ghibli is a Japanese animation studio headquartered in Koganei, Tokyo."Studio Ghibli Collection - Madman Entertainment". ''Studio Ghibli Collection - Madman Entertainment''. Retrieved 2020-12-14. It is best known for its animated feature films, and ...

from Mushi Productions to work as an assistant director for Hayao Miyazaki on ''

Kiki's Delivery Service is a 1989 Japanese animated fantasy film written, produced, and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, adapted from the 1985 novel by Eiko Kadono. It was animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten, Yamato Transport (which licensed the trademark for th ...

'' in 1989. Katabuchi was originally going to direct the film, but when the sponsoring company made it clear that they had no intention of investing in anything other than a film directed by Hayao Miyazaki, Katabuchi stepped aside. Katabuchi joined Studio 4°C in 1992. Around this time, he was asked to train new directors and animators for Studio Ghibli, which had changed from a system of recruiting freelance staff for each production to a proper company structure and began hiring new employees. When he finished his work at Ghibli, they wanted him to stay on, but he refused. He made his directorial debut with the Nippon Animation TV series ''

Famous Dog Lassie is a 1996 Japanese anime television series animated by Nippon Animation as the 22nd entry of the ''World Masterpiece Theater'' staple. The anime is based on the 1940 novel '' Lassie Come-Home'' by Eric Knight and also the second animated Lassi ...

'' in 1996. He made his feature film directorial debut with ''

Princess Arete (also ''Princess Arite'') is a 2001 Japanese animated film written and directed by Sunao Katabuchi, animated and produced by Studio 4°C and distributed by Omega Entertainment. It is based on Diana Coles's 1983 story ''The Clever Princess''. T ...

''. After working on various outside projects, he returned to Studio 4°C and began work on ''Princess Arete'' in 1998. The film was released in 2001 and won Excellent Works of the Year in the Domestic Feature Film Category at

Tokyo International Anime Fair The Tokyo International Anime Fair also known as was one of the largest anime trade fairs in the world, held annually in Tokyo, Japan. The first event was held in 2002 as "Tokyo International Anime Fair 21". The event was held at Tokyo Big Si ...

in 2002. After ''Princess Allyte'', Katabuchi moved his main activities to Madhouse. He directed, composed and wrote the screenplay for ''

Black Lagoon ''Black Lagoon'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Rei Hiroe. It has been published in Shogakukan's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''Monthly Sunday Gene-X'' since April 2002, with its chapters colle ...

'' series since 2006. In 2016, Katabuchi directed '' In This Corner of the World'' produced by

MAPPA is a Japanese animation studio headquartered in Suginami, Tokyo. Founded in 2011 by Madhouse co-founder and producer Masao Maruyama, it has produced anime works including '' Terror in Resonance'', '' Yuri!!! on Ice'', '' In This Corner of t ...

, which was released on November 12, 2016 in Japan, and planned to be released in fifteen countries including UK, France, Germany, Mexico and US.

Awards

*''

'' –

- Excellent works of the year in Domestic Feature Film Category (2002) * ''

Mai Mai Miracle is a Japanese animated film based on Nobuko Takagi's novelization of her autobiography, ''Maimai Shinko''. It was produced by the animation studio Madhouse, distributed by Shochiku, and directed by Sunao Katabuchi. The film debuted at the Locar ...

'' -

Ottawa International Animation Festival The Ottawa International Animation Festival is an annual animated film and media festival that takes place in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The OIAF was founded in 1975, with the first festival held from August 10 to 15 in 1976. Initially organized by ...

- Prize Winning in Feature Film Competition (2009) * ''

'' - the 14th Japan Media Arts Festival - The Excellence Award in the Animation Division (2010) * ''

'' - 29th Brussels Animation Film Festival - Anima 2010 BETV/Audience Awards for Feature Film Competition (2010) * ''

'' - the 20th Cine Junior International Film Festival - the Audience Award * '' In This Corner of the World'' - Hiroshima International Film Festival - The Hiroshima Peace Film Award Winner (2016) * ''In This Corner of the World'' - 90th

Kinema Junpo , commonly called , is Japan's oldest film magazine and began publication in July 1919. It was first published three times a month, using the Japanese ''Jun'' (旬) system of dividing months into three parts, but the postwar ''Kinema Junpō'' ...

Awards - Best Director / Best Japanese Film (2017) * ''In This Corner of the World'' - 71st

Mainichi Film Awards The are a series of annual film awards, sponsored by Mainichi Shinbun (毎日新聞), one of the largest newspaper companies in Japan, since 1946. It is the first film festival in Japan. History The origins of the contest date back to 1935 ...

- Ōfuji Noburō Award (2017) * ''In This Corner of the World'' - 59th

Blue Ribbon Awards The are film-specific prizes awarded solely by movie critics and writers in Tokyo, Japan. The awards were established in 1950 by which is composed of film correspondents from seven Tokyo-based sports newspapers. In 1961, the six major Japane ...

- Best Director (2017) * ''In This Corner of the World'' - 26th Tokyo Sports Film Award -Best Film (2017) * ''In This Corner of the World'' -

40th Japan Academy Prize The is the 40th edition of the '' Japan Academy Film Prize'', an award presented by the Nippon Academy-Sho Association to award excellence in filmmaking. It awarded the best films of 2016 and took place on March 3, 2017 at the Grand Prince Hote ...

- Best Animation of the Year (2017) * ''In This Corner of the World'' - 59th Culture of Child Welfare Award - Film/Media category (2017) * ''In This Corner of the World'' - 67th The Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's Art Encouragement Prize - Film category (2017)

Works

Films

* ''

'' - Assistant Director, 1989 * - Director, 1998 * - Director, Writer, 2001 * - Director, Writer, 2009 * - Director, Writer, 2016 * - Director, Writer, 2019

Television productions

* ''

'' - Writer, 1984-1985 * ''The Blinkins: The Bear And The Blizzard'' - Director, 1986 * ''

'' - Director, 1996 * ''

'' - Director, Writer, 2006 * '' Black Lagoon: The Second Barrage'' - Director, Writer, 2006

OVA

* '' Black Lagoon: Roberta's Blood Trail'' - Director, Writer, 2010

Video games

* '' Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies'' (2001) - Director/writer for side-story movie * '' Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War'' (2004) - Story writer * '' Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown'' (2019) - Story writer

Commercials

Panasonic formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka. It was founded by Kōnosuke Matsushita in 1918 as a lightbulb ...

3CCD lovery size - Animation Director, 2004 *

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

ITS Ha:mo Concept movie ''Road to promise'' - Director, 2012 *

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestri ...

PV of animation version - Director, 2013

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Katabuchi, Sunao Anime directors Japanese film directors Japanese animators Studio Ghibli people Studio 4°C Madhouse (company) people MAPPA Nihon University alumni People from Hirakata Living people 1960 births