Kunihiko Yuyama
Kunihiko Yuyama (湯山邦彦) (b. 1952) is an anime director who has been involved with many of the products of the Pokémon anime. He is also an illustrator for the TCG.
Yuyama is one of the founding members of OLM, the animation studio that produces the Pokémon anime. He began his career in the 1970s as an in-between artist on the original Space Battleship Yamato (aka Star Blazers in North America) and subsequently became an episode and series director on series for Tatsunoko Productions, Ashi Productions (now Production Reed), and Kaname Productions. Other than Pokémon, his most noteworthy work is likely the original Magical Princess Minky Momo series, on which he worked with original Pokémon anime head writer Takeshi Shudō.
Credits
TV series
- Pocket Monsters (1997) - Executive Director
- Pocket Monsters Advanced Generation - Executive Director
- Pocket Monsters Diamond & Pearl - Executive Director
- Pocket Monsters Best Wishes! - Executive Director
- Pocket Monsters XY - Executive Director
- Pocket Monsters Sun & Moon - Executive Director
- Pocket Monsters (2019) - Creative Supervisor
Movies
- Pocket Monsters: Mewtwo no Gyakushū - Director, Storyboard
- Pocket Monsters: Maboroshi no Pokémon Lugia Bakutan - Director, Storyboard
- Pocket Monsters: Kessho-tō no Teiō - Director, Storyboard
- Pocket Monsters: Celebi Toki o Koeta Deai - Director, Storyboard
- Pocket Monsters: Mizu no Miyako no Mamorigami - Latias to Latios - Director, Storyboard
- Pocket Monsters: Nanayo no Negai-boshi Jirāchi - Director, Storyboard
- Pocket Monsters: Rekkū no Hōmonsha Deoxys - Director, Storyboard
- Pocket Monsters: Mew to Hadō no Yūsha Lucario - Director, Storyboard
Specials
- Pocket Monsters: Mewtwo! Ware wa koko ni ari - Executive Director
- Pocket Monsters Crystal: Raikou Ikazuchi no Densetsu - Director
Cards illustrated
Wizards Black Star Promos
Movie Commemoration Random Pack
Trivia
- His favorite Pokémon is Lapras.
- In This Could be the Start of Something Big!, Ash is shown battling a Trainer resembling Yuyama, who uses a Lapras.
- With the end of Ash's saga in the Pokémon anime, the official Pokémon page on Twitter revealed an art containing the beginning of Ash's journey and his last scene in The Rainbow and the Pokémon Master! signed by Yuyama himself.[1]
Gallery
Kunihiko Yuyama's cameo in This Could be the Start of Something Big!
Ash's farewell from the anime autographed by Kunihiko Yuyama.
