Urusei Yatsura Director Guide

August 1, 2006

Written by Harley Acres

The director and the animation director are the key staffers in determining the final appearance of an individual episode. Many significant people such as Mamoru Oshii, Yuji Moriyama, and Akemi Takada all did some of their earliest work on Urusei Yatsura. Other staff members would go on to similar prominence by working on later Takahashi series, such at Atsuko Nakajima, Tsukasa Dokite, and Junji Nishimura. By analyzing the personal styles of these directors we hope to present a better understanding of how much work goes into each series.

Episode Title	Director	Animation Director
1-1. I'm Lum the Notorious!	Mamoru Oshii	Asami Endo
1-2. It's Raining Oil All Over Town	Mamoru Oshii	Asami Endo
2-1. Space Mail Arrival of Ten-chan!	Masuji Harada	Yuji Yatabe
2-2. Mrs. Swallow and Mrs. Penguin	Tamiko Kojima	Asami Endo
3-1. The Metamorphic Handsome Man Rei is Here!	Keiji Hayakawa	Hayao Nobe
3-2.Drop Dead, You Lady-Killer!	Mamoru Oshii	Asami Endo
4-1. Kintaro of the Autumn Sky	Tamiko Kojima	Hayao Nobe
4-2. Live Vigorously!	Masuji Harada	Yuji Yatabe
5-1. The Mysterious Seductive Beauty Sakura	Mamoru Oshii	Hayao Nobe
5-2. Tormenting Virus	Motosuke Takahashi	Asami Endo
6-1. Love Triangle Black Hole	Masuji Harada	Yuji Yatabe
6-2. Hey Hey, It's a Little Demon	Keiji Hayakawa	Hayao Nobe
7-1. The Scary Electric Shock!	Tamiko Kojima	Asami Endo
7-2. The Doll of Ill Will	Tamiko Kojima	Hayao Nobe
8-1. Neptune Beyond the Closet	Mamoru Oshii	Hayao Nobe
8-2. The Confusing Dinosaur Age	Keiji Hayakawa	Asami Endo
9-1. Sleeping Beauty Princess Kurama	Keiji Hayakawa	Asami Endo
9-2. Athletic Woman Hell!	Tameo Kohanawa	Yuji Yatabe
10. Pitter-Patter Christmas Eve	Mamoru Oshii	Asami Endo
11. Ataru Genji Visits Heiankyo	Tamiko Kojima	Hayao Nobe
12-1. Love Battle Royale	Keiji Hayakawa	Asami Endo
12-2. Father, You Were Strong	Motosuke Takahashi	Asami Endo
13-1. Hawaiian Swimsuit Thief	Masuji Harada	Yuji Yatabe
13-2 Full Course from Hell	Tamiko Kojima	Hayao Nobe
14-1. Mendo Arrives With Trouble!	Mamoru Oshii	Asami Endo
14-2. Constellation-Go-Round	Tameo Kohanawa	Yuji Yatabe
15-1. Great Kiss War	Keiji Hayakawa	Hayao Nobe
15-2. The Benten Corps' Return	Keiji Hayakawa	Asami Endo
16-1. Oh, Lonely Teacher! First appearance of Kuribayashi Sensei.	Tamiko Kojima	Asami Endo
16-2. Terrible Inspection Day	Motosuke Takahashi	Asami Endo
17-1. Fourth Dimensional Camera	Masuji Harada	Yuji Yatabe
17-2. Demonic Jogging	Mamoru Oshii	Hayao Nobe
18-1. Girl's Day! Ran-chan's Arrival	Mamoru Oshii	Hayao Nobe
18-2. Ran-chan's Introduction	Keiji Hayakawa	Asami Endo
19-1. Diary of Sorrowful Tomorrows	Tamiko Kojima	Hayao Nobe
19-2. Whose is this Child?	Keiji Hayakawa	Asami Endo
20-1. Sleeping in Class on a Wonderful Spring Day	Mamoru Oshii	Asami Endo
20-2. Peach Blossom Poetry Contest	Keiji Hayakawa	Asami Endo
21-1. Duel! Ataru vs. Ataru	Tamiko Kojima	Hayao Nobe
21-2. Waking to a Nightmare	Tamiko Kojima	Asami Endo
TV Special-Part 1. Urusei Yatsura All-Star Bash	---	---
TV Special-Part 2. Grade School Excursion! Run For It!	Keiji Hayakawa	Hayao Nobe
22. The Great Space Marriage Plan	Mamoru Oshii	Asami Endo
23. The Spring Blossom Picnic	Masuji Harada	Hayao Nobe Yuji Yatabe
24. Beware the Earmuffs!	Tamiko Kojima	Asami Endo
25. Fly, Imo-chan!	Keiji Hayakawa	Hayao Nobe
26. Ten-chan's Love	Mamoru Oshii	Yuichi Endo
27. What a Dracula!	Keiji Hayakawa	Noboru Furuse
28. Lum's Educational Therapy for Little Boys	Tamiko Kojima	Asami Endo
29. From Speechless with Love	Keiji Hayakawa	Asami Endo
30. The Beautiful Maiden Comes with the Rain	Tamiko Kojima	Asami Endo
31. Give Me Back My Horn!	Kazuo Yamazaki	Hayao Nobe
32. All Quiet in the Library!	Naoyuki Yoshinaga	Asami Endo
33. Teacher Hanawa's Arrival! Such is Youth!	Mamoru Oshii	Hayao Nobe
34. Yearning for the Sad Monster	Tamiko Kojima	Asami Endo
35. Darling's Had It This Time!	Kazuo Yamazaki	Kazuo Yamazaki
36. Rei Returns! Crisis in the Classroom	Mamoru Oshii	Hayao Nobe
37. Appearance of the Red Phantom!	Keiji Hayakawa	Asami Endo
38. Steal Darling! The Copy Operation!	Tamiko Kojima	Asami Endo
39. Pitter Patter, Summer Date	Mamoru Oshii	Hayao Nobe
40. So Long, Bye-Bye, Summer Days	Keiji Hayakawa	Hayao Nobe
41. Panic in the Typhoon!	Keiji Hayakawa	Asami Endo
42. Drunken Boogie	Tamiko Kojima	Asami Endo
43. Fear of Meow	Mamoru Oshii	Hayao Nobe
44. After You've Gone	Junji Nishimura	Kazuo Yamazaki
45. Lum-chan's Class Party	Tamiko Kojima	Asami Endo
46. Lunch is a Battlefield!	Keiji Hayakawa	Hayao Nobe
47. Shiver! Mystery in the Odd Fossil Land	Takashi Anou	Asami Endo
48. Princess Kurama's New Challenge	Tamiko Kojima	Asami Endo
49. Terrible Toothache Wars!	Keiji Hayakawa	Hayao Nobe
50. The Mendo Older Brother & Younger Sister!	Keiji Hayakawa	Asami Endo
51. Cat on the Stairway	Junji Nishimura	Junji Nishimura
52. Can the Raccoon Return the Favor?	Mamoru Oshii	Asami Endo
53. Desperate Sub-Space Part-Time Job	Keiji Hayakawa	Hayao Nobe
54. Lum-chan's Great Year-End Celebration!	Keiji Hayakawa	Asami Endo
55. Children in Vain, Musashi, Signs of the Times	Junji Nishimura	Hayao Nobe
56. Risking One's Life in Class	Keiji Hayakawa	Asami Endo
57. Is a Husband & Wife Quarrel Survival of the Fittest?	Junji Nishimura	Kazuo Yamazaki
58. Getting a Kiss from Miss Snow!	Keiji Hayakawa	Yuichi Endo
59. St. Valentine's Day Horror	Junji Nishimura	Asami Endo
60. Love, Love, Catchball!	Keiji Hayakawa	Yuji Moriyama
61. The Mendo Family's Masquerade War	Mamoru Oshii	Asami Endo
62. Space Cold Panic!	Osamu Sekita	Noboru Furuse
63. Ryunosuke Arrives! I Love the Sea!	Mamoru Oshii	Asami Endo
64. Goodbye Season	Mamoru Oshii	Yuji Moriyama
65. Ran-chan's Great Date Plan	Junji Nishimura	Kazuo Yamazaki
66. Happy Birthday My Darling	Norio Kashima	Asami Endo
67. Seeing Shangri-La as a Hell Camp!	Junji Nishimura	Akemi Takada
68. The Groom's Name is Ryunosuke	Mamoru Oshii	Toshihiro Hirano
69. Bottled Letter Seashore Mystery!	Junji Nishimura	Kazuo Yamazaki
70. Dramatic Appearance! Mizunokoji Ton-chan!	Osamu Sekita	Asami Endo
71. Shinobu's Cinderella Story	Junji Nishimura	Asami Endo
72. Lum-chan the Ruthless Rebel	Osamu Sekita	Asami Endo
73. The Big Showdown! Sakura vs. Sakuranbo	Junji Nishimura	Takefumi Hayashi
74. Ghost Story! Old Man Willow!	Naoyuki Yoshinaga	Asami Endo
75. And Then There Were None	Junji Nishimura	Kazuo Yamazaki
76. Firefighter Mommy Visits!	Mamoru Oshii	Yuji Moriyama
77. Darling's Dying!?	Mamoru Oshii	Asami Endo
78. Pitiful! Mother of Love and Banishment!?	Junji Nishimura	Kazuo Yamazaki
79. The Mendo Family's Summer Christmas	Osamu Uemura	Takefumi Hayashi
80. Panic at the Ghost Inn	Junji Nishimura	Kazuo Yamazaki
81. Ah, Mother of My Memory	Osamu Uemura	Yuji Moriyama
82. Plenty of Sun, Plenty of Sickness	Tameo Kohanawa	Katsuhiko Nishijima Asami Endo
83. Big Bang! Ten vs. Ataru	Osamu Uemura	Takefumi Hayashi
84. Horrors! Attack of the Slimy Potatoes!	Osamu Uemura	Motosuke Takahashi
85. Revenge of the Planetary Instructor CAO-2	Osamu Uemura	Toshihiro Hirano
86. Hysterical! The Nasty Brat Shutaro!	Toshiyuki Sakurai	Yuji Moriyama
87. Wonderful! The Magic Mushroom Pot!	Osamu Uemura	Takefumi Hayashi
88. The Wrathful Lum-chan!	Osamu Uemura	Motosuke Takahashi
89. Lum and Ataru, A Night Alone	Osamu Uemura	Noboru Furuse
90. Lady Ryunosuke	Osamu Uemura	Toshihiro Hirano
91. Document: Who Will Be Miss Tomobiki?	Takashi Anou	Motosuke Takahashi
92. Strange! The Wonder Medicine of Selflessness	Osamu Uemura	Takeshi Osaka
93. Shutaro, Miserable Morning	Mamoru Oshii Keiji Hayakawa Osamu Sekita Tamiko Kojima	Asami Endo Hayao Nobe Noboru Furuse
94. Tales of the Wandering Snowman	Osamu Uemura	Takefumi Hayashi
95. Lum-chan's Ancient Japanese Fairy Tales	Tetsurou Amino	Takeshi Osaka
96. Shine! The Blessed Bra!!	Junji Suzuki	Noboru Furuse
97. Duel! Benten vs. the Three Daughters	Osamu Uemura	Takeshi Osaka
98. Plenty of Lum-chans!	Tetsurou Amino	Takeshi Osaka
99. Certain Death! Stand-Up Eating Contest	Junji Suzuki	Noboru Furuse
100. The Great Vault! Courageous Survival!!!	Osamu Uemura	Noboru Furuse
101. Operation; Peek in the Woman's Bath	Junji Suzuki	Motosuke Takahashi
102. Sakura, Sad Years of Youth	Tetsurou Amino	Takeshi Osaka
103. Burning Ran's Emotional Video Mail	Osamu Uemura Mamoru Oshii Keiji Hayakawa Kazuo Yamazaki Tamiko Kojima	Noboru Furuse Kazuo Yamazaki Asami Endo Hayao Nobe
104. Sakura-san of Youth	Mamoru Oshii Keiji Hayakawa Tamiko Kojima Junji Nishimura Osamu Uemura Takashi Anou	Noboru Furuse
105. Scramble! To the Rescue of Lum!	Osamu Uemura	Noboru Furuse
106. A Fight to the Death! Ataru vs. The Mendo Brigade!	Mamoru Oshii Osamu Uemura	Yuji Moriyama
107. Dimensional Switch, Where's Darling?	Kazuo Yamazaki	Yuji Moriyama
108. Crash! Her Ladyship and the Football of Love	Junji Nishimura	Masami Abe
109. Ran-chan, Tasting the Tearful Love of a First Kiss	Naoyuki Yoshinaga	Setsuko Shibui
110. The Indelible Magic Lipstick	Junji Suzuki	Yuichi Endo
111. Deadly Combat! The Mendo Family's Flower Display Death Match	Junji Nishimura	Takefumi Hayashi
112. Benten & Ryunosuke; Run for the Morrow	Kazuo Yamazaki	Masami Abe
113. Great Horrors! Oyuki is Finally Angered!	Junji Nishimura	Yuji Moriyama
114. Ten-chan's Wonderful Love Story	Naoyuki Yoshinaga	Yuichi Endo
115. Haunted House Special! Quest for Mendo Estate Treasure!	Junji Suzuki	Takefumi Hayashi
116. Love and War! Battle of Glove vs. Pants!!	Yumiko Suda	Kyoko Kato
117. Lum-chan's Becoming a Cow?	Junji Suzuki	Setsuko Shibui
118. Great Achievement! The Film of Lum-chan's Youth	Junji Nishimura	Yuichi Endo
119. Ghostbusting! Exorcising the Beautiful Sakura!	Naoyuki Yoshinaga	Yuji Moriyama
120. Attack of the Protozoa! Panic at the Poolside	Junji Suzuki	Takefumi Hayashi
121. Here Again! The Hunter of Love, Princess Kurama	Mori Hamazu (Hamatsu)	Tsukasa Dokite
122. The Fox's Unrequited Love	Kazuo Yamazaki	Yuichi Endo
123. Ryunosuke Confused! Solid Rock Mother Cherishes Her Young Pebble!	Junji Nishimura	Takefumi Hayashi
124. The Stairs! Footsteps in the Girls Dorm!!	Junji Suzuki	Yuji Moriyama
125. Pool Spooks! Burning with Forbidden Love	Tomokazu Kougo	Kyoko Kato
126. Ran-chan's Panic: No Tomorrow for Tomobiki	Junji Suzuki	Naoko Yamamoto
127. Where is Love's Home? Kuriko and Chojuro	Naoyuki Yoshinaga	Yuichi Endo
128. Man or Bird? Gokakenran, Champion of Justice!	Junji Nishimura	Takefumi Hayashi
129. Attack your Seniors! Revenge of the Infamous Three Daughters	Norio Kashima	Tsukasa Dokite
130. Blaze, Secret Powers! Stick to the Straight and Narrow Path	Yumiko Suda	Kyoko Kato
131. Don't Die! Ryoko Special Straw Doll	Naoyuki Yoshinaga	Yuichi Endo
132. Hell Encounter! Armored Girl; Beauty or Beast? Part 1	Junji Suzuki	Tsukasa Dokite
133. Love of the Armored Girl! Maidenly Feelings Reeling Part 2	Junji Suzuki	Yuji Moriyama
134. I Dearly Need You! Return of the Honest Fox!	Naoyuki Yoshinaga	Yuichi Endo
135. What Do I Care for Talking Flowers!	Junji Nishimura	Takefumi Hayashi
136. The Birth of Ten-chan's Son? I Didn't Know a Thing	Tomokazu Kougo	Kyoko Kato
137. Lum's Courageous Duel! An Ironic Victory	Junji Suzuki	Yuichi Endo
138. Job Hunting! Sneaky Return of the Reject!	Junji Nishimura	Takefumi Hayashi
139. Tomobiki High School Survival! Who Are the Survivors!	Naoyuki Yoshinaga	Yuichi Endo
140. The Mysterious Giant Cake! Love's Fleeing Panic!!	Yumiko Suda	Kyoko Kato
141. Underground Reincarnation! What's Darling Thinking Of!?	Junji Nishimura	Takefumi Hayashi
142. Snow Panic? The Mendo Family Cherry Blossom Display Banquet!	Junji Suzuki	Yuichi Endo
143. From the Far Spring! The Tale of the Lonely Fairy!	Naoyuki Yoshinaga	Shinkuro Date
144. To Dreamland! Darling Battle Royal Abduction	Tomokazu Kougo	Kyoko Kato
145. Return of the Three Daughters! The Great Scheme to Seduce Darling!	Junji Nishimura	Yuichi Endo
146. The Scampering Kotatsu Cat! Anything to Get Warm	Junji Suzuki	Takefumi Hayashi
147. Ryunosuke's Father's Self Sacrificing Devotion! His Wife is Within Images!	Naoyuki Yoshinaga	Masami Abe
148. Spring Blossom! Frozen by Oyuki's Cold	Junji Nishimura	Hidetoshi Omori
149. Panic Among Friends! I Love to Eat Blowfish	Tomomitsu Mochizuki	Kyoko Kato
150. The Armored Girl Returns! Plenty of Older Brothers	Junji Suzuki	Yuji Moriyama
151. The Boredom Syndrome! Is Tomobiki Wasting Away?	Naoyuki Yoshinaga	Tsukasa Dokite
152. Look Out, Ran! Kotatsu Neko's Primary Love is Oden!?	Naoyuki Yoshinaga	Masami Abe
153. The Armored Girl Returns Again! A Storm Raising Date	Yuji Moriyama	Yuji Moriyama
154. Arrival of the Mysterious Priest! The Bell Battle Royal	Tomomitsu Mochizuki	Kyoko Kato
155. First Love Relived!? A Return to the Past for Lum and Rei	Junji Suzuki	Hidetoshi Omori
156. Appearance of the Youthful Old Man! Shine, Great Teahouse of Dreams!	Yumiko Suda	Masami Abe
157.I Love Darling's Sincerity	Naoyuki Yoshinaga	Tsukasa Dokite
158. The Honest Fox Again! I Love Shinobu	Kazuo Yamazaki	Hidetoshi Omori Masato Sawada
159. I Love the Sea! Prayers for the Thriving Hamachaya!?	Junji Suzuki	Masaaki Kannan
160. Ryunosuke vs. Benten! The Fruitless Duel of Passion	Osamu Sekita	Katsuhiko Nishijima
161. The Magic Bottle! What's to Become of Me?	Junji Suzuki	Masami Abe
162. The Great Devil's Debut! Lum's Dangerous Purchase!	Naoyuki Yoshinaga	Masaaki Kannan
163. Goodness! Words Aren't Getting to Darling	Kazuo Yamazaki	Tsukasa Dokite
164. The Devil's Summer! Ten-chan's Eel Lunch Plot!	Tsuneo Tominaga	Setsuko Shibui
165. Visitation Panic! I Didn't Mean Any Harm	Naoyuki Yoshinaga	Masato Sawada
166. Scary! Is That an Octopus on Shutaro's Head?	Osamu Sekita	Masami Abe
167. Invader From Space! He's After Lum's Lips!	Junji Suzuki	Masaaki Kannan
168. Space Survival! They are the Eaters	Osamu Sekita	Tsukasa Dokite
169. It's a Thrill! The Terrible Overhead Cooler	Naoyuki Yoshinaga	Masami Abe
170. Love Attack! The Romance Never Stops!!	Osamu Sekita	Takefumi Hayashi
171. Rare Form! Worries for Mother the Firefighter!!	Yoshihide Kuriyama	Masaaki Kannan
172. Hardselling Happiness! Out of Focus Bluebird!!	Junji Suzuki	Masato Sawada
173. Great Uproar! Ryunosuke's First Time Wearing a Swimsuit!!	Naoyuki Yoshinaga	Tsukasa Dokite
174. I Want a Bride! The Fox's Love Adventure!	Junji Suzuki	Masaaki Kannan
175. How Persistent! The Three Daughters' Great Animal Plan!	Yoshihide Kuriyama	Takefumi Hayashi
176. Fast Money in Fast Fighting! Hamachaya's Forbidden Business	Osamu Sekita	Masato Sawada
177. Wish Upon a Star! The Winning Family's Consumer Panic	Naoyuki Yoshinaga	Naoyuki Yoshinaga
178. Special Delivery Kiss! Darling's First Jealousy!	Junji Suzuki	Masami Abe
179. Scary Sake! Sakura's Possession a Big Failure	Yoshihide Kuriyama	Taro Chokan
180. It's Strange! Cherry's Yoga School!	Osamu Sekita	Masaaki Kannan
181. Good-bye Onsen-Sensei!? Tearful Good-bye Marathon Banquet!	Junji Suzuki	Masaaki Kannan
182. Pure Love Sakura! The Slippery Soap of Seperation?	Osamu Sekita	Toshiko Sasaki
183. Asuka vs. Older Brother! Battle for Certain Love!	Yoshihide Kuriyama	Tsukasa Dokite
184. Darling's Ill Omen! The Dreaded Shijimoto Oracle!!	Makoto Morikawa	Masaaki Kannan
185. New Years Panic! The Mendo Family's Human Parcheesi Tournament!	Junji Suzuki	Kazuhiro Furuhashi
186. Dreaming Ten-chan! The Great Adventure at the End of the Rainbow!	Osamu Sekita	Masami Abe
187. I Want to Date! Ataru's Test Program!	Tomomasa Yamazaki	Masaaki Kannan
188. Darling Said He Loved Me	Junji Suzuki	Masahiko Imai
189. Death-Defying House Call! A Teacher Life is Dangerous Too	Osamu Sekita	Hidetoshi Omori
190. Total Chaos! Ran-chan's Double Doll!	Tsukasa Abe	Masaaki Kannan
191. Blind Love! You Bet Your Life, Honest Fox	Junichi Sakata	Atsushi Matoba
192. Come Quickly, Darling! Lum's Dangerous Marriage Talk	Junji Suzuki	Atsuko Nakajima
193. It's Unbearable! Ran's Mischief Campaign	Tomomasa Yamazaki	Kazuhiro Furuhashi
194. Urusei Yatsura Pre-Departure Special! Shine!	---	---
195. All-Star Banquet! We Are Immortal!!	Junji Suzuki	Tsukasa Dokite

Masami Abe (Episodes directed: 10)

Abe's animation is quite nice and very expressive. It is reminiscent of the second film, Beautiful Dreamer.

Taro Chokan (Episodes directed: 1)

Although he only did one episode, Chokan's animation style stands out as being quite good. His polished, detailed style is very indicative of the high quality of animation Urusei Yatsura had in its stewardship under Kazuo Yamazaki.

Shinkuro Date (Episodes directed: 1)

Another animation director that came to the series later on, his style is very similar to that of Tsukasa Dokite.

Tsukasa Dokite (Episodes directed: 10)

Dokite helped to define the look of the Kazuo Yamazaki era of Urusei Yatsura along with Yuji Moriyama. His designs look extremely different that those of early animation directors such as Asami Endo and Yuji Yatabe. More detailed and sophisticated. Dokite was also one of the crew members that transitioned to Maison Ikkoku after the end of Urusei Yatsura.

Asami Endo (Episodes directed: 50)

She was the first animation director. Her work is simple at beginning at least, but quickly improves with more color and detail. Very colorful by Red Mantle, but character designs are still very simple as are all the other directors. She is responsible for most of the "look" associated with the Mamoru Oshii era of Urusei Yatsura. Her Masked Ball episode is a personal favorite and showcases her impressive skills and designs, especially when you consider that she is able to make an impressive episode while all the characters wear expressionless masks.

Yuichi Endo (Episodes directed: 13)

His work is very similar to early Yuji Yatabe. His direction on "Getting a Kiss From Miss Snow" was a little weak compared to what others were doing around this time and the animation seems too simplistic in certain parts. Overall he's satisfactory but at times he tends to be average.

Kazuhiro Furuhashi (Episodes directed: 2)

Furuhashi is one of the few directors to only tackle two episodes. Furuhashi's work is quite consistent when compared to that of the other animation directors that came onboard after Mamoru Oshii left.

Noboru Furuse (Episodes directed: 10)

Furuse stays very close to early character designs. His work is similar to Yatabe or Nobe, but not quite as sophisticated. Personally I don't think his animation is quite as clean as Motosuke Takahashi, another director that stays close to the set designs. Furuse's work seems anchored in the earlier style of the series.

Takefumi Hayashi (Episodes directed: 16)

His work on episode 73 has some interesting, sparse backgrounds, but I find that his character designs aren't as strong as the other designers at times, and tend to vary in quality throughout the episode. One of his trademarks seems to be rather outrageous expressions on certain characters faces. His interpretations of Ten and Cherry is very odd as well as he tends to give them giant heads. To me Hayashi's style has a very 1980s feel.

Toshihiro Hirano (Episodes directed: 3)

Hirano's animation style is pretty similar to that of Asami Endo and the other early animators. Overall his style is good. He's a mid-tier director. One of his trademarks seems to be somewhat elongated faces.

Masahiko Imai (Episodes directed: 1)

Imai's designs for the one episode he worked on are something of a regression compared to what most of the other animation directors were doing at the time. His work looks too simple and dated when compared to Kannan and other directors who came on later in the series.

Masaaki Kannan (Episodes directed: 10)

Very clean style similar to Chokan or Shibui. He directed quite a few episodes towards the end of the series. Sometimes his work bears a resemblance to that of Atsuko Nakajima. Kannan later went on to be one of the principal animation directors on Maison Ikkoku.

Kyoko Kato (Episodes directed: 8)

Good animation, somewhat similar to Asami Endo, with a more updated look.

Atsushi Matoba (Episodes directed: 1)

Another one time only animation director with a nice style. Matoba worked on one of the Kitsune episodes, which always seem to be showcases for animation directors due to the long silences.

Yuji Moriyama (Episodes directed: 13)

Moriyama's animation showed is a standout of some of the Oshii years, and his fluid movement and well drawn characters are very attractive additions as the shows animation began to become more sophisticated. After Urusei Yatsura, Moriyama went on to work as one of the character designers for Maison Ikkoku and another favorite of mine, Macross Plus. He also served as the animation director for the first three Urusei Yatsura films.

Atsuko Nakajima (Episodes directed: 1)

Atsuko Nakajima only did one episode of Urusei Yatsura, but this was prior to her fame as character designer and one of the primary animation directors on Ranma ½. As you can see her style is very similar to what she later used on Ranma ½. Nakajima also worked on Maison Ikkoku making her one of the only people involved in all three of Takahashi's Kitty era anime television shows.

Junji Nishimura (Episodes directed: 1)

Nishimura served as both an episode director and an animation director, having done both on the "Cat on the Stairway" episode. He also directed "After You've Gone" which was voted the best episode by Japanese fans. Nishimura also became the third overall series director on Ranma ½ as well the director for the Ranma ½ OVA series and later he went on to work on the Mermaid Forest television series. Although his animation work looks very similar to most of the others at the time, his direction is very lively.

Hayao Nobe (Episodes directed: 28)

His style is similar to Asami Endo but with a more expressive use of facial features. He is something of a transition between the two styles that dominated the show, and as other animation directors improved I felt he lagged a bit.

Hidetoshi Omori (Episodes directed: 4)

An interesting style, with unique faces. One characteristic that stands out to me is his thin eyebrows on female characters.

Takeshi Osaka (Episodes directed: 5)

A fairly standard animation director whose work is similar to Asami Endo. In "Lum-chan's Ancient Japanese Fairy Tales" he's pretty weak. Character designs are too simplistic, especially with Ataru and Ten. In "Duel! Benten vs. the Three Daughters" they are a little better, but still not the best.

Toshihiko Sasaki (Episodes directed: 1)

Sasaki only did one episode, and his style was very close to that of Akemi Takada, the character designer.

Masato Sawada (Episodes directed: 4)

Sawada didn't do very many episodes, but what he did do turned out well. He fit very well with the more detail oriented work that was done later in the series, and his work complements that of Masaaki Kannan well.

Setsuko Shibui (Episodes directed: 3)

Her work as animation director is similar to Furuse's. Clean designs, fluid animation and her cute design for Rei and Ran were particularly noticeable.

Akemi Takada (Episodes directed: 1)

She is the character designer for this show, and later Maison Ikkoku. Surprisingly the one episode she directed did not look very different than the work of Asami Endo.

Motosuke Takahashi (Episodes directed: 4)

Pretty standard as an animation director, but he is one of the staff that also worked as an episode director. He was responsible for one of the weirdest episodes (Horrors! Attack of the Slimy Potatoes!). Very clean designs, without deviating much from the standard character designs.

Naoko Yamamoto (Episodes directed: 1)

Judging the quality of her work from a single episode is difficult, but she definitely did a good job on her only outing as an animation director. She stayed very close to Akemi Takada's character designs and turned in a bright and vibrant episode.

Kazuo Yamazaki (Episodes directed: 9)

Kazuo Yamazaki's work featured very clean animation that stays close to the character designs but have his own sensibilities about them. His episode, "After You've Gone" was voted the best episode of Urusei Yatsura by the Japanese fans. After Mamoru Oshii left the show, Kazuo Yamazaki stepped in as the series director and took the show in his own direction while still remaining true to the groundwork Oshii had laid. The fact that he served as series director, animation director, and episode director goes a long way toward showing his immense talents.

Naoyuki Yoshinaga (Episodes directed: 1)

Yoshinaga is interesting in that he worked primarily as an episode director, but served as animation director for only a single episode.

Yuji Yatabe (Episodes directed: 8)

Similar to Asami Endo early on, with a little more detail on close ups.

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