is a Japanese key animator and animation director and one of the co-founders of

Studio Trigger , also known as Studio Trigger, is a Japanese animation studio founded by former Gainax employees Hiroyuki Imaishi and Masahiko Ōtsuka in 2011. It has produced anime works including '' Kill la Kill'' (2013), '' Little Witch Academia'' (short f ...

. His style is marked by fast and frantic animation combined with elaborate storyboarding and punchy direction. Prior to founding Trigger, he was an animator and director at Gainax. His most well-known works include ''

Gurren Lagann ''Gurren Lagann'', known in Japan as , is a Japanese mecha anime, mecha anime television series animated by Gainax and co-produced by Aniplex and Konami. It ran for 27 episodes on TV Tokyo between April and September 2007. It was directe ...

'' (2007), ''

Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt is a Japanese anime television series produced by Gainax, as well as a series of tie-in media developed around it. The series ran from October to December 2010 on BS Nittele (a free-to-air satellite service of Nippon Television). In English- ...

'' (2010), '' Kill la Kill'' (2013), ''

Promare is a 2019 Japanese animated film co-produced by Trigger and XFLAG. It was directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi and written by Kazuki Nakashima. It features character and mecha designs by Shigeto Koyama, 3DCG animation by Sanzigen, and music by H ...

'' (2019), and '' Cyberpunk: Edgerunners'' (2022).

Early career

After drawing the

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

for

doujinshi , also romanized as ', is the Japanese term for self-published print works, such as magazines, manga, and novels. Part of a wider category of ''doujin'' (self-published) works, ''doujinshi'' are often derivative of existing works and created by ...

circle, Imaishi worked as a creator. He worked at Gainax in 1995 as an in-between animator for ''

Neon Genesis Evangelion , also known simply as ''Evangelion'' or ''Eva'', is a Japanese mecha anime television series produced by Gainax and animated by Tatsunoko, directed by Hideaki Anno and broadcast on TV Tokyo from October 1995 to March 1996. ''Evangelion' ...

''. Some of his early works include animation direction, storyboarding and key animation for ''

Kare Kano is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masami Tsuda. It was serialized in ''LaLa'' from 1996 to 2005 and collected in 21 ''tankōbon'' volumes by Hakusensha. It depicts the romance between "perfect" student Yukino Miyazawa an ...

'' (''His and Her Circumstances''), ''

FLCL is an original video animation (OVA) anime series created and directed by Kazuya Tsurumaki, written by Yōji Enokido, and produced by the FLCL Production Committee, which consisted of Gainax, Production I.G, and King Records. ''F ...

'', ''

Diebuster ''Diebuster'', also known as and ''Gunbuster 2'', is a six-episode original video animation series directed by Kazuya Tsurumaki, written by Yōji Enokido and animated by Gainax. It was created to commemorate the studio's 20th anniversary i ...

'', ''Oval X Over'', and the ending animation of ''

Paradise Kiss ''Paradise Kiss'', also abbreviated to ''ParaKiss'', is a josei manga series written and illustrated by Ai Yazawa. It appeared as a serial in the Japanese fashion magazine ''Zipper''. Shodensha collected the chapters into five volumes. Th ...

''. He went on to direct '' Dead Leaves'', a 2004 anime film produced by Production I.G. and the first episode of '' Re: Cutie Honey''.

Director

His series director debut was ''

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann ''Gurren Lagann'', known in Japan as , is a Japanese mecha anime television series animated by Gainax and co-produced by Aniplex and Konami. It ran for 27 episodes on TV Tokyo between April and September 2007. It was directed by Hiroyuki ...

'' (2007)."Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann". (November 2006) ''Newtype USA''. p. 17. The anime received an Excellence Prize at the 2007

Japan Media Arts Festival The Japan Media Arts Festival is an annual festival held since 1997 by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs. The festival begins with an open competition and culminates with the awarding of several prizes and an exhibition. Based on judging by a ...

, and Imaishi himself received an individual award at the twelfth

Animation Kobe The was an event established by Kobe in 1996 to promote anime and other visual media. The were given annually until 2015 by Kobe and the Organising Committee to creators and creations. Event Animation Kobe has been held annually in Kobe since ...

Festival. In 2008, the anime received both "best television production" and "best character design" from the

Tokyo International Anime Fair The Tokyo International Anime Fair also known as was one of the largest anime trade fairs in the world, held annually in Tokyo, Japan. The first event was held in 2002 as "Tokyo International Anime Fair 21". The event was held at Tokyo Big Sigh ...

. Later he went on to work as director in the anime series, ''

Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt is a Japanese anime television series produced by Gainax, as well as a series of tie-in media developed around it. The series ran from October to December 2010 on BS Nittele (a free-to-air satellite service of Nippon Television). In English- ...

''. His main influence of being an animator and director are

Yoshinori Kanada was an influential Japanese animator originally from Nara, Japan. He is best known for his popular 1984 work ''Birth'', one of the first (after Dallos) original video animations released in the market. Though he did not create many character des ...

and his works, in which all his anime titles such as '' Dead Leaves'', ''

'' and ''

'' pay special tributes to him and his art. Imaishi left Gainax and established

in 2011. His first directorial work at the studio is '' Kill la Kill''. He directed the opening for season 2 of '' Black Dynamite''.

Notable works

Director

* ''

Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi is a Japanese anime television series created by Gainax, with animation produced by Gainax and Madhouse, and directed by Hiroyuki Yamaga. It was broadcast for thirteen episodes on Kids Station from April to June 2002. The series was licensed ...

'' (2002) (episode 3) * '' Dead Leaves'' (2004) * '' Re: Cutie Honey'' (2004) (episode 1) * ''Oval x Over'' (2005) * ''

'' (2007) * ''

'' (2010) * '' Kill la Kill'' (2013) * ''

Japan Animator Expo is a weekly series of original net animations released as part of a collaboration between Hideaki Anno's Studio Khara and Dwango, consisting of various anime shorts produced by many directors. The project began release from 7 November 2014 ...

'' (2015) (''"Sex & Violence with Machspeed"'') * ''

Space Patrol Luluco is a Japanese anime television series created by Hiroyuki Imaishi and produced by Studio Trigger. It aired from April to June 2016 as part of the Ultra Super Anime Time programming block. Plot Luluco is a normal girl living in the solar sys ...

'' (2016) * ''

'' (2019) * '' Star Wars: Visions'' (2021) (''"The Twins"'') * '' Cyberpunk: Edgerunners'' (2022)

Other

* ''

'' (1995) In-Between Animator * ''

'' (His and Her Circumstances) (1998) Storyboard, Key Animator, Animation Director, Script (ep. 19) * ''

Medabots ''Medabots'', known in Japan as , is a Japanese role-playing video game franchise created by Rin Horuma (Horumarin) and currently owned by Imagineer. The main series of RPGs focus on collecting and battling with the titular robots. The bulk of ...

'' (1999) Animation Director (episode 14), Key Animator * ''

'' (2000) Animation Director (episode 5) *

PaRappa the Rapper is a rhythm video game developed by NanaOn-Sha and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation in Japan in 1996 and worldwide in 1997. Created by music producer Masaya Matsuura in collaboration with artist Rodney Greenblat, t ...

(2001) Ending Animation Director (ED1) * ''

Fullmetal Alchemist is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiromu Arakawa. It was serialized in Square Enix's shōnen manga, ''shōnen'' manga anthology magazine ''Gangan Comics#Monthly Shōnen Gangan, Monthly Shōnen Gangan'' between July 20 ...

'' (2003) Key Animator (episodes 4, 22) * '' Musashi: Samurai Legend'' (2005) *''

Namco × Capcom (pronounced as "Namco Cross Capcom") is a tactical role-playing (RPG) crossover video game developed by Monolith Soft for the PlayStation 2 and published by Namco in 2005. The gameplay combines tactical RPG and action sequences during battles, ...

'' (2005) Animation Supervisor, Storyboard, Animation Producer, Director, Animation Character Design, Art Supervisor, Key Animation * '' Redline'' (2009) Key Animator * ''

Black Rock Shooter is a Japanese media franchise based on characters created by illustrator Ryohei Fuke, also known as Huke. It revolves around its eponymous character, a mysterious black haired girl with a blazing blue eye. The original illustration insp ...

'' (2012) Director (CG Battle) * ''

Inferno Cop is a 13-episode Japanese original net animation in the motion comic style, directed by Akira Amemiya with Hiroyuki Imaishi serving as series production director and produced by Trigger and CoMix Wave. It was streamed via the Anime Bancho Yo ...

'' (2012) Supervisor * ''

Ninja Slayer is a novel series created by American authors Bradley Bond and Philip "Ninj@" Morzez. After they gave permission for Japanese translations to be published via Twitter, Enterbrain published the first translated novel in September 2012, wit ...

'' (2015) Character Designer * '' OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes'' (2017) Storyboard Artist for opening titles *'' BNA: Brand New Animal'' (2020), Storyboard Artist (episode 5)

References

External links

Hiroyuki Imaishi profile & works

Hiroyuki Imaishi interview

) * 1971 births Living people People from Tokyo Anime directors Japanese animators Japanese animated film directors Anime character designers Japanese animated film producers {{Anime-bio-stub