Ryouki Kamitsubo

Ryouki Kamitsubo (Japanese: 上坪 亮樹, Hepburn: Kamitsubo Ryōki) is a Japanese director and storyboard artist best known for co-directing Hidamari Sketch with Akiyuki Shinbo.^[1][2]

Ryouki Kamitsubo 上坪 亮樹
Born	Japan
Other names	Motona Hino (日野基鳴)
Occupation(s)	Director, storyboard artist
Years active	1991–present
Employer(s)	Film Magic (1991~1992) Media Vision (1996~1998) Gonzo (1998~2000)
Known for	Hidamari Sketch Softenni Hen Semi

Career

Kamitsubo began his career in the anime industry as a production manager for Film Magic in the early 90s. He transitioned to digital photography and visual effects work for Media Vision and, later, Gonzo in the mid and late 90s. In the early 2000s, he started doing episode directing and storyboard work. In 2004, he worked under Akiyuki Shinbo on the original anime series Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha,^[3] and the following year was brought into Shaft by Shinbo, where his first project with the company was as an episode director on Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase.^[4] He would later make his series directorial debut with Shinbo and Shaft in 2007 with Hidamari Sketch.^[5] Shinbo considered Kamitsubo, (at the time) setting designer Tatsuya Oishi, and art director Hisaharu Iijima to be the core staff responsible for the foundations of the style and presentation of Hidamari Sketch, even after both Kamitsubo and Oishi had left the series' production in their respective seasons.^[6] Kamitsubo continued working with Shaft for a few years before deciding to base his work mostly out of Xebec, including his own series Softenni and Hen Semi.^[1][2] In 2012, however, he announced that he would be leaving the industry, and his final work would be as a storyboard artist and episode director on the tenth episode of To Love Ru: Darkness under the pseudonym Motona Hino (日野基鳴, Hino Motona).^[5][7] Despite this, Kamitsubo returned to the industry in 2014, acting as a storyboard artist for Xebec's series Argevollen beginning with the 13th episode.^[8] Since 2017, Kamitsubo has mainly worked on series produced by Doga Kobo.

Works

Television series

  In "Director(s)" column highlights Kamitsubi's directorial works.

Year	Title	Director(s)	Studio	SB[a]	ED[b]	Other roles and notes	Ref(s)
1991	Genji Tsūshin Agedama	Masao Namiki	Studio Gallop	No	No	Production assistant
	Hime-chan's Ribbon	Hatsuki Tsuji	Studio Gallop	No	No	Production assistant
1997	GeGeGe no Kitarō 4th Series	Daisuke Nishio	Toei Animation	No	No	Digital photography
1998	Himitsu no Akko-chan	Hiroki Shibata	Toei Animation	No	No	Digital photography
2000	Gate Keepers	Junichi Sato (chief) Koichi Chigira	Gonzo	No	No	Photography	[9]
2001	Star Ocean EX	Hiroshi Watanabe	Studio Deen	No	Yes		[10]
Hellsing	Umanosuke Iida (chief) Yasunori Urata	Gonzo	Yes	Yes		[11][12]
2003	Bomberman Jetters	Katsuyuki Kodera	Studio Deen	No	Yes		[13]
	Peacemaker Kurogane	Tomohiro Hirata	Gonzo	Yes	Yes	Digital director	[14][15]
	The Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok	Hiroshi Watanabe	Studio Deen	No	No	Opening director Ending director	[16][17]
2004	AM Driver	Isao Torada	Studio Deen	No	Yes		[18]
	Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha	Akiyuki Shinbo	Seven Arcs	No	Yes		[3]
	Yumeria	Keitarō Motonaga	Studio Deen	No	Yes		[19]
2005	Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase	Akiyuki Shinbo	Shaft	No	Yes	Key animator	[4][20]
	Gun x Sword	Gorō Taniguchi	AIC ASTA	No	Yes		[21]
2006	Inukami!	Keizō Kusakawa	Seven Arcs	No	Yes		[22]
	Negima!?	Akiyuki Shinbo Shin Oonuma (chief)	Shaft	Yes	Yes		[23][24]
2007	Ef: A Tale of Memories	Shin Oonuma	Shaft	Yes	Yes		[25][26]
	Hidamari Sketch	Akiyuki Shinbo (chief) Ryouki Kamitsubo (chief)	Shaft	Yes	Yes	Ending director	[5][27][28][29]
	Hidamari Sketch Specials	Akiyuki Shinbo (chief)	Shaft	Yes	Yes		[30]
2008	Dinosaur King: Season 2	Katsuyoshi Yatabe	Sunrise	Yes	No		[31]
	Kyōran Kazoku Nikki	Yasuhiro Kuroda	Nomad	Yes	Yes		[32][33]
	Hidamari Sketch x 365	Akiyuki Shinbo	Shaft	No	No	Ending director	[34]
	Hyakko	Michio Fukuda	Nippon Animation	Yes	Yes		[35][36]
	Kyō no Go no Ni	Tsuyoshi Nagasawa	Xebec	Yes	Yes		[37]
2009	Pandora Hearts	Takao Kato	Xebec	Yes	Yes		[38][39]
	Polyphonica: Crimson S	Toshimasa Suzuki	Diomedéa	Yes	No		[40]
2010	Ladies versus Butlers!	Atsushi Ōtsuki	Xebec	Yes	Yes		[41]
	Durarara!!	Takahiro Omori	Brain's Base	Yes	No		[42]
2011	Softenni	Ryouki Kamitsubo	Xebec	Yes	Yes	Series composition Ending director	[1][43][44][45]
2012	To Love Ru Darkness	Atsushi Ōtsuki	Xebec	Yes	Yes	Credited as Motona Hino	[46][5]
	Lagrange: The Flower of Rin-ne	Tatsuo Satō (chief) Toshimasa Suzuki	Xebec	Yes	Yes		[47][48]
	Saki: Episode of Side A	Manabu Ono	Studio Gokumi	No	Yes		[49]
2014	Argevollen	Atsushi Ōtsuki	Xebec	Yes	No		[8]
	Trinity Seven	Hiroshi Nishikiori	Seven Arcs Pictures	Yes	No		[50]
2015	Kin-iro Mosaic	Tensho	Studio Gokumi	Yes	No		[51]
	Fafner in the Azure: Exodus	Takashi Noto (chief) Nobuyoshi Habara	Xebec Zwei	No	Yes		[52]
	Plastic Memories	Yoshiyuki Fujiwara	Doga Kobo	Yes	No		[53]
	Triage X	Takao Kato Akio Takami	Xebec	Yes	Yes		[54]
2016	Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World	Masaharu Watanabe	White Fox	Yes	No		[55]
	Big Order	Nobuharu Kamanaka	Asread	Yes	Yes		[56]
	New Game!	Yoshiyuki Fujiwara	Doga Kobo	Yes	Yes		[57]
2017	Gabriel DropOut	Masahiko Ohta	Doga Kobo	Yes	Yes		[58]
	Gamers!	Manabu Okamoto	Pine Jam	Yes	Yes		[59]
	Eromanga Sensei	Ryōhei Takeshita	A-1 Pictures	Yes	No		[60]
	Hina Logi ~from Luck & Logic~	Hiroaki Akagi	Doga Kobo	Yes	Yes		[61]
2018	Hozuki's Coolheadedness	Kazuhiro Yoneda	Studio Deen	Yes	No		[62]
	Hinomaru Sumo	Kōnosuke Uda (chief) Yasutaka Yamamoto	Gonzo	Yes	No		[63]
	Uchi no Maid ga Uzasugiru!	Masahiko Ohta	Doga Kobo	Yes	Yes		[64]
	Anima Yell!	Masako Satō	Doga Kobo	Yes}	No		[65]
2019	Wataten!: An Angel Flew Down to Me	Daisuke Hiramaki	Doga Kobo	Yes	Yes		[66]
	The Helpful Fox Senko-san	Tomoaki Koshida	Doga Kobo	Yes	Yes	Ending director and storyboard	[67][68][69]
2020	A3! Season Spring & Summer	Masayuki Sakoi (series) Keisuke Shinohara	P.A.Works Studio 3Hz	Yes	No		[70]
	Diary of Our Days at the Breakwater	Takaharu Ōkuma	Doga Kobo	Yes	Yes		[71]
2021	The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter	Kenta Ōnishi	Okuruto Noboru	No	Yes		[72]
	My Senpai Is Annoying	Ryōta Itō	Doga Kobo	Yes	Yes		[73]
	Amaim Warrior at the Borderline	Nobuyoshi Habara	Sunrise Beyond	Yes	Yes		[74][75]
2022	Don't Hurt Me, My Healer!	Nobuaki Nakanishi	Jumondou	Yes	Yes		[76]
	Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie	Ryōta Itō	Doga Kobo	Yes	Yes		[77]
	Healer Girl	Yasuhiro Irie	3Hz	No	Yes		[78]
2023	Saint Cecilia and Pastor Lawrence	Sumie Noro	Doga Kobo	Yes	Yes		[79]
2025	The Shiunji Family Children	Ryouki Kamitsubo	Doga Kobo	Yes	Yes	Opening director	[80]

OVAs

Year	Title	Director(s)	Studio	SB[a]	ED[b]	Other roles and notes	Ref(s)
1998	Blue Submarine No. 6	Mahiro Maeda	Gonzo	No	No	Visual effects
2000	Melty Lancer	Takeshi Mori	Gonzo	No	No	CG director	[81]
2005	Maria-sama ga Miteru	Yukihiro Matsushita	Studio Deen	No	No	Ending director	[82]
2010	Hen Semi	Ryouki Kamitsubo	Xebec	Yes	Yes	Ending director (uncredited)[83]	[2][84]
2015	Magical Suite Prism Nana: I Want to Fulfill My Dreams!? Hope Advancing (First Half)	Yukihiro Miyamoto	Shaft	Yes	No		[85]
2017	Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato 2202	Nobuyoshi Habara	Xebec	Yes	Yes		[86][87]
2019	Wataten!: An Angel Flew Down to Me	Daisuke Hiramaki	Doga Kobo	No	Yes		[88]

Films

Year	Title	Director(s)	Studio	SB[a]	ED[b]	Other roles and notes	Ref(s)
2020	Kono Sekai no Tanoshimikata: Secret Story Film	Fumie Muroi	CLAP	No	Yes

Notes

General notes

1. Storyboard artist.
2. Episode director, equivalent to unit director.

Works cited

• Kizawa, Yukito, ed. (2013). ひだまりスケッチデイズ -TVアニメ公式ガイドブック- [Hidamari Sketch Days: TV Anime Official Guidebook]. Houbunsha. ISBN 978-4832277403.