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Yasuhiro Nakura

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Yasuhiro Nakura
名倉 靖博
Born (1959-01-10) January 10, 1959 (age 66)
Hamakita, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan
NationalityJapanese
Occupation(s)Animator, illustrator, character designer, director
Years active1978–present
EmployerStudio Carpenter (1978~1981)

Yasuhiro Nakura (Japanese: 名倉 靖博, Hepburn: Nakura Yasuhiro) is a Japanese animator, illustrator, character designer, and director.

Early life

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Nakura was born in Hamakita, Shizuoka, Japan, on January 10, 1959.[1] His parents ran a textile shop.[1]

Career

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He enrolled in an animation course offered by Toei Animation that he saw advertised in Manga Shounen [ja] and moved to Tokyo.[1] After completing the course, he joined Studio Carpenter where he debuted as an in-between animator on Starzinger (1978),[1] and later as a key animator on Dotakon (1981). He worked at Studio Carpenter for about three years and then went freelance, mainly for Toei Animation's works.

His character concepts were used for the 1984 television series Little Memole, which he also worked on as an animation director (his debut in the role). The following year, he was the animation director for Mamoru Oshii's film, Angel's Egg, with designs by Yoshitaka Amano, in which he supervised and corrected drawings to follow Amano's original image boards.[2] In 1987, he served as character designer and animation director to another feature film, The Tale of Genji (1987) with director Gisaburō Sugii.[3] In 1990, he participated in Moomin as the animation character designer, having been a fan of the series prior.[4] He also served as the character designer and chief animation director for Rintaro's Metropolis (2001).[5]

At some point in his career, Nakura began to take on more work as an illustrator, rather than an animator or animation director. While he continued to work on animated series and films, his output in either decreased significantly during the 1990s and 2000s. He was the character designer and chief animation director for the Tenshu Monogatari arc of Ayakashi: Samurai Horror Tales and was the animation director for Gothicmade in 2012, but contributed in minor key animation roles between them.

In the early 2010s, Nakura developed a relationship with animation studio Shaft as a key animator and animation director on the Monogatari series.[6] His output in the industry increased during this time as he contributed to other Shaft series like Mekakucity Actors (2014) and contributed as a guest director, designer, and animator for an episode of the Bones series Space Dandy (2014).[7] In 2016, Nakura worked as the main layout artist, layout setting designer, and art setting designer for Shaft's adaptation of March Comes In like a Lion.[8] He also regularly contributed to some of the series' ending animation themes, which he storyboarded, directed, and animated on his own.[9]

Style

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Director and founder of studio Satelight Tsuneo Maeda, who was the animation technical director for The Tale of Genji, described Nakura as an emotional person, which he called rare among key animators, and that he was slow, which was connected to his tenacity and made his work attractive.[10] Maeda also considered Nakura to not be pattern-based, and thus it was always difficult or mysterious as to how his drawings and work would come out.[10] Although he said that it may be difficult for some of his drawings to be used, Maeda lamented that Nakura was able to create cuts of animation that others could never draw as well.[10]

Works

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Teleivison series

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  Highlights main staff roles.

Year Title Director(s) Studio CD[a] CAD[b] AD[c] KA[d] Other roles and notes Ref(s)
1978 Starzinger Yuugo Serikawa Toei Animation No No No No In-between animator [1]
1981 Dotakon Takeshi Shirato Toei Animation No No No Yes
1984 Little Memole Osamu Kasai Toei Animation (Original) No Yes No
1990 Moomin Hiroshi Saitou Visual 80 Yes No No No [4]
1991 Moomin 2 Takeyuki Kanda Visual 80 Yes No No No
1996 Shounen Santa no Daibouken Yuuji Mutou Studio Deen Yes No No No
2006 Ayakashi: Samurai Horror Tales Kouzou Nagayama Toei Animation (Original concept design) Yes No No Tenshuu Monogatari episodes
2012 Nekomonogatari: Black Akiyuki Shinbo
Tomoyuki Itamura 		Shaft No No Yes Yes 2nd key animator [6]
2014 Space Dandy 2 Shinichirō Watanabe
Masaaki Yuasa 		Bones No No No Yes Art setting
Guest character designer
Episode director
Storyboard artist 		[7]
Mekakucity Actors Akiyuki Shinbo
Yuki Yase 		Shaft No No No Yes Picture book animation
Storyboard artist
Hanamonogatari Akiyuki Shinbo
Tomoyuki Itamura 		Shaft No No No Yes Key animator [6]
2016 Flip Flappers Kiyotaka Oshiyama 3Hz No No No Yes Key animator (OP)
March Comes In like a Lion Akiyuki Shinbo
Kenjirou Okada 		Shaft No No No No Art setting
Layout setting
Main layout
ED direction, storyboards, and animation 		[8]
2018 Zoku Owarimonogatari Akiyuki Shinbo Shaft No No No No "Play"
2020 Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story Doroinu Shaft No No No Yes
2021 Pretty Boy Detective Club Akiyuki Shinbo
Hajime Ootani 		Shaft No No No Yes Art setting
Layout supervisor
2022 RWBY: Ice Queendom Toshimasa Suzuki
Kenjirou Okada 		Shaft No No No Yes
2024 Astro Note Shinji Takamatsu
Haruka Kasugamori 		Telecom Animation Film No No No No Layout supervisor [11]

OVAs/ONAs

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Year Title Director(s) Studio CD[a] CAD[b] AD[c] KA[d] Other roles and notes Ref(s)
1985 Angel's Egg Mamoru Oshii Studio Deen No No Yes Yes [2]
1988 Bride of Deimos Rintaro Madhouse No No No Yes
Donguri to Yamaneko Toshio Hirata Madhouse
Project Team Argos 		Yes No No Yes
2013 Space Battleship Yamato 2199 Akihiro Enomomto
Yutaka Izubuchi 		AIC
XEBEC 		No No Yes No
2022 The Tatami Time Machine Blues Shingo Natsume Science SARU No No Yes No [12]
2024 Monogatari Series: Off & Monster Season Akiyuki Shinbo
Midori Yoshizawa 		Shaft No No No No Art setting

Films

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Year Title Director(s) Studio CD[a] CAD[b] AD[c] KA[d] Other roles and notes Ref(s)
1980 Toward the Terra Hideo Onchi Toei Animation No No No No In-between animator
Cyborg 009: Legend of the Super Galaxy Masayuki Akehi Toei Animation No No No No In-between animator
1982 Future War 198X Toshio Masuda
Tomoharu Katsumata 		Toei Animation No No No No In-between animator
1983 Dr. Slump: The Great Race Around the World Minoru Okazaki Toei Animation No No No Yes
1984 Wata no Kunihoshi Shinichi Tsuji Mushi Production No No No Yes
1985 Night on the Galactic Railroad Gisaburō Sugii Group TAC No No No Yes
1986 Castle in the Sky Hayao Miyazaki Studio Ghibli No No No Yes [13]
1987 The Tale of Genji Gisaburō Sugii Group TAC Yes No Yes No [3]
1994 Rampo Rintaro Mayuzumi
Kazuyoshi Okuyama 		— No No No No Animation (live-action film)
2001 Metropolis Rintaro Madhouse Yes Yes No No [5]
2004 Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence Mamoru Oshii Production I.G No No No Yes
2006 The Girl Who Leapt Through Time Mamoru Hosoda Madhouse No No No No Assistant animation director
2007 Miyori no Mori Nizo Yamamoto Nippon Animation No No No Yes
2009 Summer Wars Mamoru Hosoda Madhouse No No No Yes
2012 Gothicmade Mamoru Nagano Automatic Flowers Studio No No Yes No
2013 Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Rebellion Akiyuki Shinbo
Yukihiro Miyamoto 		Shaft No No No Yes
2016 Kizumonogatari I: Tekketsu-hen Akiyuki Shinbo
Tatsuya Oishi 		Shaft No No No Yes
2017 Fireworks Akiyuki Shinbo
Nobuyuki Takeuchi 		Shaft No No No Yes
Blade Runner: Black Out 2022 Shinichiro Watanabe Cygames Pictures No No No Yes
2022 Inu-Oh Masaaki Yuasa Science SARU No No Yes Yes [12]

Notes

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Book citations

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  • Animage October (1985). Ogata, Hideo (ed.). アニメージュ1985年10月号「『メモル』から『天使のたまご』へ 名倉靖博の世界」 [Animage October 1985, "From 'Memole' to "Angel's Egg', the World of Yasuhiro Nakura"].
  • Animage December (1985). Ogata, Hideo (ed.). アニメージュ1985年12月号 天使のたまご GUIDE BOOK [Animage December 1985, Angel's Egg Guidebook].
  • Kindaeigasha (1986). ジ･アニメ 1986年 06月号 [THE ANIME June 1986]. ASIN B00HYAQ788.
  • Camp, Brian; Davis, Julie (2007). Anime Classics Zettai! 100 Must-See Japanese Animation Masterpieces. Stone Bridge Press. ISBN 978-1-933330-22-8.

Inline notes

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  1. ^ a b c Character designer.
  2. ^ a b c Chief animation director.
  3. ^ a b c Animation director.
  4. ^ a b c Key animator.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Kindaeigasha 1986, p. 109-113.
  2. ^ a b Animage December 1985, p. 44.
  3. ^ a b Camp & Davis 2007, p. 368–369.
  4. ^ a b Nakura, Yasuhiro [@nakura26031011] (March 16, 2021). 更に恐縮するもうひと言が…けれどそれは自分の胸の奥にしまっておこうと思います。当時既に巨匠でいらした大塚さんは多くの名作を手掛け旧東京ムービー『ムーミン』のキャラデザインもされました。何十年か後に自分も『楽しいムーミン一家』のキャラを作る事に(つづく)nakura [I was even more afraid of one word... but I'll keep it to myself. Ootsuka, who was already a master at the time, worked don many masterpieces and also designed the characters for the old Tokyo Movie "Moomin." Decades later, I, too, would design the characters for "Moomin". nakura] (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  5. ^ a b "New movie from Katsuhiro Otomo and Rin Taro". Anime News Network. July 29, 2000. Retrieved May 7, 2024.
  6. ^ a b c Osmond, Andrew (October 27, 2018). "March Comes in Like a Lion, Dragon Ball Movies Released Monday". Anime News Network. Retrieved May 7, 2024.
  7. ^ a b Nelkin, Sarah (June 5, 2014). "Space Dandy Anime's 2nd Season's Promo Previews New Characters". Anime News Network. Retrieved May 7, 2024.
  8. ^ a b Cirugeda, Kevin "yuyucow" (November 6, 2017). "Anime Craft Weekly #27: Winter 2017 Opening Festivel". Sakugablog. Retrieved May 7, 2024.
  9. ^ Cirugeda, Kevin "yuyucow" (November 6, 2017). "The Worlds of Fall 2017 Anime". Sakugablog. Retrieved May 7, 2024.
  10. ^ a b c Animage October 1985, p. 6.
  11. ^ Nakura, Yasuhiro [@nakura26031011] (April 3, 2024). 新作アニメ『アストロノオト』が4月5日より放送されます。脚本うえのきみこさんのギャグセンスが光る楽しい作風で、自分はカップヌードルワンピース篇以来の窪之内さんキャラ原案の作品です。今回はレイアウト監修でちょこっと参加させて頂きました(^^)是非ご覧ください。nakura [The new anime "Astro note" will start airing on April 5. Sciptwriter Kimiko Ueno's gag sense shines through in her fun style, and this is my first work with [Eisaku] Kubonouchi's original character designs since the Cup Noodle One Piece arc. I participated a little in this project as a layout supervisor. nakura] (Tweet) (in Japanese) – via Twitter.
  12. ^ a b Nakura, Yasuhiro [@nakura26031011] (September 14, 2022). 『四畳半タイムマシンブルース』今日からディズニープラスで配信開始です。監督は『Sonny Boy』の夏目真悟さん。『スペース⭐︎ダンディ』でご一緒させて頂きました。副監督は『映像研には手を出すな』の山代風我さん。『犬王』でご一緒しました。nakura ["Yojohan Time Machine Blues" will be available on Disney Plus from today. The director is Shingo Natsume of "Sonny Boy." I worked with on "Space Dandy." The assistant direrctor is "Fuuga Yamashiro" of "Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken." I worked with him on "Inu-Oh." nakura] (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  13. ^ Nakura, Yasuhiro [@nakura26031011] (August 18, 2019). ふらっと吉祥寺へ。ふと思い出が蘇りそこへ足を運ぶと、趣きは変われど建物はまだそこに！30数年前こちらの3階でジブリ最初の作品『天空の城ラピュタ』が作られました。参加していた頃自分はまだ20代！アオハル真っ只中です。懐かし過ぎる思い出が頭の中に溢れました。nakura [I popped into Kichioji. My memories suddenly came back to me, and while I was there, I foundt hat although the atmosphere had changed, the building was still there! Thirty years ago, Studio Ghibli's first film, "Castle in the Sky", was made on the third floor here. I was still in my 20s when I was involved! I was in the middle of my youth. Nostalgic memories flooded my mind. nakura] (Tweet) – via Twitter.
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