Nobuyuki Takeuchi

Template:Nihongo is a Japanese animator, director, character designer and production designer. His work with directors Akiyuki Shinbo (and more broadly studio Shaft) and Kunihiko Ikuhara have gained noteworthy fame since the late 1990s and especially through the mid-2000s.

Career

Takeuchi was originally from sub-contracting animation studio Dragon Production, which he belonged to sometime during the mid-1980s. His tenure at the company was relatively short-lived as he transferred to Studio Lions, the in-between division to Studio Giants, soon thereafter; and eventually, he became a part of the larger Studio Giants entity. In the early 1990s, however, Takeuchi went freelance. Around 1994, he was offered a seat as a freelancer at Shaft and started to work on a number of their outsource works and eventually made his debut as an animation director on the studio's first original televised work, Juuni Senshi Bakuretsu Eto Ranger (1995).

In 1997, Takeuchi worked as the animation director for Shaft's outsourced episodes of Revolutionary Girl Utena directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara. Takeuchi's work on the series gained particular interest from Ikuhara, who invited him to work on the succeeding movie as an animation director. Also that year, Takeuchi participated as a character designer for Shaft's Sakura Diaries OVA series. The following year, in 1998, studio Radix was set to produce an adaptation of Silent Möbius, but the production ended up being outsourced to Shaft. Chief director Hideki Tonokatsu worked at Shaft, and Shaft became the main production site and also the company responsible for finding the series' staff; and finding interest in Takeuchi's work, saying that Takeuchi had a clear vision and direction, he was given the role of series "animation director" (not referring to the correction of drawings). Takeuchi's work from the series garnered interest from then-managing director of Shaft Mitsutoshi Kubota, who felt that Takeuchi would be a central figure in Shaft's succeeding productions.

For the next several years, Takeuchi continued to freelance as a key animator and animation director across several studios, even doing work for Studio Ghibli, but he gained prominence in 2004 when Shaft teamed up with Akiyuki Shinbo to produce Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase, the start of Shinbo and Shaft's long collaborative history. Shinbo was concerned with having a strong visual foundation for the series, and wanted someone with strong sensibilities for Template:Nihongo material to work with; however, he did not want someone from a background art studio to take on the role, as was traditional. Kubota, who succeeded Shaft founder Hiroshi Wakao as CEO following Wakao's retirement, recommended Takeuchi to Shinbo, who then took on the role of "visual director". Takeuchi's work on the series, which featured cross-sections of buildings to show their insides, almost like a stage production, inspired Shinbo to use similar techniques on his next work, Pani Poni Dash!, despite Takeuchi not working on the series. However, Takeuchi collaborated more with Shaft in large roles as a production and concept designer in several succeeding works. In 2009, he participated again as a visual director on Shinbo and Tatsuya Oishi's adaptation of Bakemonogatari. Although he didn't continue throughout the rest of the franchise as its visual director, his work became a vital part of its production, and he contributed as an art setting or production designer across all other iterations of the series with the exception of the final two parts, Owarimonogatari II and Zoku Owarimonogatari.

Takeuchi did occasional storyboard work and directing work since Silent Möbius. He storyboarded the first five episodes of Bakemonogatari, and also storyboarded, directed, and did key animating work in Penguindrum episode 9 entirely by himself. He was given the opportunity to direct the 2017 anime film adaptation of Shunji Iwai's 1993 live-action film Fireworks, Should We See It from the Side or the Bottom?, under Shinbo's chief direction. Takeuchi and the film's composer, Satoru Kōsaki, were both longtime fans of Iwai's films. The first film Takeuchi had seen from Iwai was Ghost Soup, and Takeuchi thought that it was an impressive film. As the director of Fireworks, he said he was honored to work with Iwai. In 2019, he chief directed Ikuhara's Sarazanmai, and in 2022 contributed to both of Ikuhara's Re:cycle of the Penguindrum movies as their assistant director and Shaft's RWBY: Ice Queendom as its visual director.

Works

Teleivison series

Template:Color box In "Director(s)" column highlights Takeuchi's directorial works.

Year	Title	Director(s)	Studio	SBTemplate:Efn	EDTemplate:Efn	ADTemplate:Efn	KATemplate:Efn	Other roles and notes	Ref(s)
1986	Machine Robo: Revenge of Cronos	Hiroshi Yoshida	Ashi Productions	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	In-between animator
1988	Maison Ikkoku (#92)	Naoyuki Yoshinaga	Studio Deen	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	In-between animator
1994	The Legend of Snow White	Kunitoshi Okajima	Tatsunoko Production	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes
1995	Juuni Senshi Bakuretsu Eto Ranger	Kunitoshi Okajima	Shaft	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
1997	Revolutionary Girl Utena	Kunihiko Ikuhara	J.C. Staff	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes
	Hareluya II Boy	Kiyoshi Egami	Triangle Staff	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes
	Battle Athletes Victory	Katsuhito Akiyama	AIC	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes
	Berserk	Naohito Takahashi	OLM	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes
	Burn-Up Excess	Shinichiro Kimura	Magic Bus	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes
1998	Silent Möbius	Hideki Tonokatsu	Radix (Shaft)	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Series animation director
	Generator Gawl	Seiji Mizushima	Tatsunoko Production	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes
1999	Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventures	Katsuhito Akiyama	AIC	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes
	Magic User's Club	Junichi Sato	Madhouse Triangle Staff	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes
2000	Sakura Wars	Ryūtarō Nakamura	Madhouse	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes
	Android Kikaider: The Animation	Tensai Okamura	Radix Studio OX	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes
2001	Cyborg 009: The Cyborg Soldier	Jun Kawagoe	Japan Vistec	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes
2002	Ai Yori Aoshi	Masami Shimoda	J.C. Staff	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes
	Mahoromatic: Something More Beautiful	Hiroyuki Yamaga	Gainax Shaft	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes
2003	Heat Guy J	Kazuki Akane	Satelight	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes
2004	Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase	Akiyuki Shinbo	Shaft	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes	Visual director
	This Ugly yet Beautiful World	Shouji Saeki	Gainax Shaft	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes
	Uta Kata	Keiji Gotoh	Hal Film Maker	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes
2005	Pani Poni Dash!	Akiyuki Shinbo Template:Small Shin Oonuma	Shaft	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes
	Capeta	Shin Misawa	Studio Comet	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes
	Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's	Keizō Kusakawa	Seven Arcs	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes
2006	Negima!?	Akiyuki Shinbo Shin Oonuma Template:Small	Shaft	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Production designer
	Kaiketsu Zorori (#93)	Tsutomu Shibayama Template:Small Mitsuko Kase	Ajia-do Sunrise	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No
	Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora	Yukihiro Matsushita	Group TAC	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No
	Air Gear	Hajime Kamegaki	Toei Animation	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No
	D.Gray-Man	Osamu Nabeshima	TMS Entertainment	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No
2007	Hidamari Sketch	Akiyuki Shinbo Template:Small Ryouki Kamitsubo Template:Small	Shaft	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes
	Heroic Age	Takashi Noto Template:Small Toshimasa Suzuki	Xebec	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No
	Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Strikers	Keizō Kusakawa	Seven Arcs	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No
2008	Ef: A Tale of Melodies	Shin Oonuma	Shaft	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No
2009	Tears to Tiara	Tomoki Kobayashi	White Fox	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes
	Maria Holic	Akiyuki Shinbo Yukihiro Miyamoto Template:Small	Shaft	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Concept design
	Natsu no Arashi!	Akiyuki Shinbo Shin Oonuma Template:Small	Shaft	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Design works
	Bakemonogatari	Akiyuki Shinbo Tatsuya Oishi Template:Small	Shaft	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Visual director Assistant animation director
2011	Maria Holic Alive	Akiyuki Shinbo Tomokazu Tokoro Template:Small	Shaft	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Concept design
	Penguindrum	Kunihiko Ikuhara	Brain's Base	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Design assistance
2012	Nisemonogatari	Akiyuki Shinbo Tomoyuki Itamura Template:Small	Shaft	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Production designer
	Nekomonogatari: Black	Akiyuki Shinbo Tomoyuki Itamura Template:Small	Shaft	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Production designer
	Hidamari Sketch x Honeycomb	Akiyuki Shinbo Template:Small Yuki Yase	Shaft	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes
2013	Monogatari Series Second Season	Akiyuki Shinbo Template:Small Tomoyuki Itamura Naoyuki Tatsuwa Template:Small Yuki Yase Template:Small	Shaft	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Production designer
2014	Hanamonogatari	Akiyuki Shinbo Template:Small Tomoyuki Itamura	Shaft	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Production designer
	Tsukimonogatari	Akiyuki Shinbo Template:Small Tomoyuki Itamura	Shaft	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Production designer
2015	Owarimonogatari	Akiyuki Shinbo Template:Small Tomoyuki Itamura	Shaft	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Production designer
2018	Fate/Extra Last Encore	Akiyuki Shinbo Template:Small Yukihiro Miyamoto Template:Small	Shaft	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes
2019	Sarazanmai	Template:Yes	Lapin Track MAPPA	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
	The Price of Smiles	Toshimasa Suzuki	Tatsunoko Production	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes
2020	Magia Record	Doroinu Template:Small	Shaft	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes
	Warlords of Sigrdrifa	Hirotaka Tokuda	A-1 Pictures	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes
2022	RWBY: Ice Queendom	Toshimasa Suzuki Kenjirou Okada Template:Small	Shaft	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Visual director
2023	Kawagoe Boys Sing	Jun Matsumoto	evg	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
2024	Shōshimin Series	Mamoru Kanbe	Lapin Track	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	2nd key animator

OVAs/ONAs

Year	Title	Director(s)	Studio	KATemplate:Efn	Other roles and notes	Ref(s)
1989	Patlabor: Mobile Police (#7)	Naoyuki Yoshinaga	Studio Deen	Template:No	In-between animator
1990	Gdleen	Toyoo Ashida Takao Kato	Ashi Productions	Template:Yes
1992	Sequence	Naohito Takahashi	Ashi Productions	Template:Yes
1993	Moldiver	Hiroyuki Kitazume Youei Fujiwara Template:Small	AIC	Template:Yes
1994	Super Dimension Century Orguss 02	Fumihiko Takayama	J.C. Staff	Template:Yes
	Homeroom Affairs	Osamu Sekita	J.C. Staff	Template:Yes
	Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki	Hiroki Hayashi	AIC	Template:Yes
1995	Future GPX Cyber Formula Zero	Mitsuo Fukuda Template:Small	Sunrise	Template:Yes
	Legend of the Galactic Heroes	Noboru Ishiguro Template:Small Masatoshi Tahara Template:Small Keizo Shimizu Template:Small		Template:Yes
1996	Shin Hurricane Polymar	Akiyuki Shinbo	Tatsunoko Production	Template:Yes
	Legend of Crystania: The Chaos Ring	Ryūtarō Nakamura	Triangle Staff	Template:Yes
1997	Sakura Diaries	Kunitoshi Okajima	Shaft	Template:Yes	Character design Chief animation director Animation director
2008	Mahō Sensei Negima!: Shiroki Tsubasa Ala Alba (#1)	Akiyuki Shinbo Template:Small Hiroaki Tomita	Shaft Studio Pasotral	Template:No	Assistant animation director
2016	Kubikiri Cycle: The Beheading Cycle & The Blue Savant	Akiyuki Shinbo Template:Small Yuki Yase	Shaft	Template:Yes
	Koyomimonogatari	Akiyuki Shinbo Template:Small Tomoyuki Itamura	Shaft	Template:No	Production designer

Films

Year	Title	Director(s)	Studio	SBTemplate:Efn	EDTemplate:Efn	KATemplate:Efn	Other roles and notes	Ref(s)
1998	Spriggan	Hirotsugu Kawasaki	Studio 4°C	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes
1999	Digimon Adventure	Mamoru Hosoda	Toei Animation	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes
	Adolescence of Utena	Kunihiko Ikuhara	J.C. Staff	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Animation director
2000	Digimon Adventure: Our War Game!	Mamoru Hosoda	Toei Animation	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes
2001	Spirited Away	Hayao Miyazaki	Studio Ghibli	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes
2002	The Cat Returns	Hiroyuki Morita	Studio Ghibli	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes
2003	Nasu: Summer in Andalusia	Kitarō Kōsaka	Madhouse	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes
2004	Howl's Moving Castle	Hayao Miyazaki	Studio Ghibli	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes
2006	Tales from Earthsea	Goro Miyazaki	Studio Ghibli	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes
2007	Kino's Journey: Country of Illness -For You-	Ryūtarō Nakamura	Shaft	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Design works
2008	Ponyo	Hayao Miyazaki	Studio Ghibli	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes
2012	Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Eternal	Akiyuki Shinbo Template:Small Yukihiro Miyamoto	Shaft	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes
2016	Kizumonogatari I: Tekketsu	Akiyuki Shinbo Template:Small Tatsuya Oishi	Shaft	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Art setting
	Kizumonogatari II: Nekketsu			Template:No	Template:No	Template:No
2017	Kizumonogatari III: Reiketsu			Template:No	Template:No	Template:No
	Fireworks	Template:Yes	Shaft	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Art setting Key layout
2019	Weathering with You	Makoto Shinkai	CoMix Wave Films	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes
2022	Re:cycle of the Penguindrum	Kunihiko Ikuhara	Lapin Track	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Assistant director Hole in the Sky part design Hole in the Sky part layout composition Hole in the Sky part unit direction
2024	Kizumonogatari: Koyomi Vamp	Tatsuya Oishi	Shaft	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Art setting

Notes

Works cited

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External links

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