is a Japanese

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

director. After joining

Shin-Ei Animation is a Japanese animation studio owned by TV Asahi and founded in Tokyo in 1965 as A-Production by Daikichirō Kusube, who was previously an animator for Toei Animation. Shin-Ei is known for being the animation studio behind two of the anime tele ...

, he directed multiple ''

Doraemon ''Doraemon'' ( ja, ドラえもん ) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Fujiko F. Fujio. The manga was first serialized in December 1969, with List of Doraemon chapters, its 1,345 individual chapters compiled into 45 ' ...

'' anime films. As a freelancer, he also worked on numerous anime adaptations such as '' Space Brothers'', '' After the Rain'', and ''

Komi Can't Communicate is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tomohito Oda. It has been serialized in Shogakukan's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' since May 2016, with its chapters collected in twenty-seven ''tankōbon'' volum ...

''.

Biography

Ayumu Watanabe was born in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

on September 3, 1966. He started his career in 1986 when he joined Studio Mates as a key animator. Two years later, Watanabe moved to

, where he worked on the

adaptation of the ''

'' manga series, as well as direct multiple anime films in the franchise. As a freelancer, he also directed numerous anime adaptations such as '' Space Brothers'', '' After the Rain'', and ''

''. He also worked with

Studio 4°C is a Japanese animation studio founded by Eiko Tanaka and Koji Morimoto in 1986. The name comes from the temperature at which water is most dense. History Studio 4 °C has produced numerous feature films, OVAs, and shorts. Early film t ...

on the films '' Children of the Sea'' and '' Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko''.

Works

TV series

* ''

Atashin'chi is a Japanese comedy manga series by Eiko Kera, and an anime adaptation that was produced from 2002 to 2009. It is an episode-based animated sitcom of the daily experiences of a family of four (the Tachibana family). An anime sequel called ...

'' (2002; storyboards) * '' Space Brothers'' (2012–2014; director) * ''

Mysterious Girlfriend X is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Riichi Ueshiba. It was originally published as a One-shot (comics), one-shot story in 2004 before becoming a serialized comic in Kodansha, Kodansha's ''Monthly Afternoon'' magazine in 2006. The ...

'' (2012; director) * ''

Danchi Tomoo is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tobira Oda. An anime adaptation was announced in January 2013 and ran between April 2013 and February 2015. Plot ''Danchi Tomoo'' stars elementary school student Tomoo Kinoshita who lives ...

'' (2013–2015; director) * ''

If Her Flag Breaks , also known as , is a Japanese light novel series written by Tōka Takei, with illustrations by Cuteg. Kodansha has published 16 volumes from December 2011 to September 2016. A manga adaptation and two spin-off series have been serialize ...

'' (2014; director) * ''

Ace Attorney ''Ace Attorney'' is a series of visual novel adventure video games developed by Capcom. With storytelling fashioned after legal dramas, the first entry in the series, ''Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney'', was released in 2001; since then, five f ...

'' (2016–2019; director) * '' After the Rain'' (2018; director) * ''

Gurazeni or ''Money Diamond'', is a Japanese baseball manga series written by Yūji Moritaka and illustrated by Keiji Adachi. The manga was serialized in Kodansha's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''Morning'' and has been followed by four sequels sinc ...

'' (2018; director) * ''

Major 2nd ''Major 2nd'' (stylized as ''MAJOR 2nd'') is a Japanese sports manga series written and illustrated by Takuya Mitsuda. It is a sequel to the original manga series '' Major''. It has been serialized in Shogakukan's ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' s ...

'' (2018–2020; director) * ''

'' (2021–2022; chief director) * '' Summer Time Rendering'' (2022; director)

Films

Feature films

* '' Doraemon: Nobita and the Windmasters'' (2003; chief animation director) * '' Doraemon: Nobita in the Wan-Nyan Spacetime Odyssey'' (2004; assistant director, chief animation director) * '' Doraemon: Nobita's Dinosaur 2006'' (2006; director, screenplay) * '' Doraemon: Nobita and the Green Giant Legend'' (2008; director) * '' Space Brothers #0'' (2014; director) * '' Children of the Sea'' (2019; director) * '' Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko'' (2021; director)

Short films

* ''Doraemon: Doraemon Comes Back'' (1998; director, animation director) * ''Doraemon: Nobita's the Night Before a Wedding'' (1999; director, animation director) * '' Doraemon: A Grandmother's Recollections'' (2000; director, animation director) * ''Doraemon: Ganbare! Gian!!'' (2001; director) * ''Doraemon: Boku no Umareta Hi'' (2002; director) * '' Pa-Pa-Pa the Movie: Perman'' (2003; director, screenplay) * '' Pa-Pa-Pa the Movie: Perman: Tako de Pon! Ashi wa Pon!'' (2004; director) * ''Ōkii Ichinensei to Chiisana Ninensei'' (2014; director)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Watanabe, Ayumu 1966 births Anime directors Anime screenwriters Japanese animated film directors Japanese storyboard artists Japanese television directors Living people People from Tokyo