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 and

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a Bass (instrument), bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboar ...

who is known for his work in ''

UFO Baby is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Mika Kawamura. The manga was serialized by Kodansha in ''Nakayoshi'' from February 1998 to March 2002, and the chapters were collected into 9 ''tankōbon'' volumes. It was adapted into ...

'' and the ''

Di Gi Charat is a Japanese manga and anime series created by Koge-Donbo. The series follows a catgirl named Di Gi Charat " Dejiko" who was adopted as the mascot of Broccoli's retail chain store, Gamers. The original anime series and its ...

'' series. He has served as the director for series such as ''

Nanaka 6/17 is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Ken Yagami. The manga was published by Akita Shoten between 2000 and 2003 and the chapters collected into 12 ''tankōbon'' volumes. An anime television series adaptation animated by J.C.S ...

'', ''

Cromartie High School is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Eiji Nonaka and published in Kodansha's ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' from August 2000 to May 2006. It follows the everyday life of Takashi Kamiyama and his odd classmates at Cromartie High ...

'', '' Les Misérables: Shōjo Cosette'', ''

GA Geijutsuka Art Design Class is a Japanese ''seinen'' yonkoma manga series by Satoko Kiyuzuki. The series was serialized in Heiwa Shuppan's moe four-panel manga magazine '' Comic Gyutto!'' from its first issue on July 23, 2004 to its last issue (the third issue). Aft ...

'', ''

Maid Sama! is a Japanese manga series by Hiro Fujiwara. It was serialized in Hakusensha's monthly '' shōjo'' magazine '' LaLa'' from December 2005 to September 2013, with its chapters collected in 18 ''tankōbon'' volumes. A 26-episode anime adaptati ...

'', ''

Nekogami Yaoyorozu , also known as ''Cat God'', is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Flipflops about a cat goddess that lives in an antique shop. An anime television adaptation by AIC PLUS+ aired in Japan between July and September 2011 and ha ...

'', '' Jewelpet Happiness'', '' The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.'', and ''

The Demon Girl Next Door is a Japanese four-panel manga parody series by Izumo Itō, serialized in Houbunsha's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''Manga Time Kirara Carat'' since 2014. It has been collected in six ''tankōbon'' volumes. An anime television series adaptat ...

''. He is married to Sayuri Ōba, an anime screenwriter.

Career

Sakurai was in college for 5 and a half years and spent his time playing in bands and bassist auditions. One day, he suddenly became interested in animation, and after graduating from the department of literature and science at

Nihon University , abbreviated as , is a private university, private research university in Japan. Its predecessor, Nihon Law School (currently the Department of Law), was founded by Yamada Akiyoshi, the Minister of Justice (Japan), Minister of Justice, in 1889. ...

, he worked at Yoyogi Animation Academy and joined Studio World, which was looking for assistant directors, at the age of 25. The first work he was involved in as an assistant director was ''

Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross is a Japanese science fiction mecha anime TV series released in 1984, as the third of the Super Dimension series. It was adapted as "The Masters Saga" or the "Second Generation" of the American TV series ''Robotech''. Plot In the year 2120, ...

'', and the first time his name appeared in the credits was in ''Yoroshiku Mechadock''. When he was in charge of ''Mechadock'',

Masayuki Kojima is a Japanese animator, storyboard artist, and director, best known for directing the acclaimed anime series ''Monster'' and ''Made in Abyss''. He was born on March 11, 1961 in Yamanashi, Yamanashi, Japan. Career Kojima first got his start in the ...

and Ken Baba served as his seniors. In the spring of 1988, Studio World disbanded and Sakurai moved to Film Magic, which was founded by Baba. In the middle of ''

Akazukin Chacha is a Japanese ''shōjo'' manga series by Min Ayahana. It was serialized by Shueisha in the manga magazine '' Ribon'' from 1992 to 2000 and collected in 13 bound volumes. The series is loosely based on the fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood ...

'', Film Magic went bankrupt due to reasons mentioned below, and after that he went freelance.

Style

According to Hatsuki Tsuji, Sakurai is described as someone who has good qualities, but who can be conceited. He often uses voice actors such as

Mika Kanai is a Japanese voice actress and singer. She is attached to Ken Production. She is best known for her roles in '' Idol Tenshi Yokoso Yoko'' (as Yoko Tanaka), ''Tanoshii Moomin Ikka'' (as the Snork Maiden), ''Goldfish Warning!'' (as Wapiko), ''So ...

and

Kaori Nazuka is a Japanese actress, voice actress and singer. She played Nunnally Lamperouge in '' Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion'', the eponymous character in ''Eureka Seven'' and Cosette in '' Les Misérables: Shōjo Cosette''. She announced her ma ...

in his directorial projects. Inspired by the direction of

Akitaro Daichi is a Japanese anime director, producer and photography director. Career Daichi is a native of Gunma Prefecture and a graduate of Tokyo Polytechnic University. He originally aspired to be a stage photographer, but entered the employ of Tokyo A ...

and Tatsuo Sato, who were part of ''Akazukin Chachas rotation of directors, Sakurai was too elaborate in his direction and was unable to adhere to the limited number of sheets, resulting in constant deficits and driving Film Magic into bankruptcy. However, Takaaki Wada, who was in charge of key animation in certain episodes, claims that Sakurai, Wada and the other animators ignored the president's advice and got carried away, and that the bankruptcy was their own fault. Sakurai is known for his love of the

ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...

and for carrying one with him at all times, even to the studios. In addition, the soundtrack for ''

'' features music by the progressive rock band Bi Kyo Ran, who are from the same town as him and of whom he was a fan for many years, and also worked with the band as a bassist, later becoming a full member. He also played bass in the ending song "Dynamite★I-N-G" for TV Tokyo's ''

Di Gi Charat Nyo! is a Japanese anime and an alternate version of ''Di Gi Charat''. The series features Dejiko, and Puchiko, two catgirls who travel to Earth, for princess training, where they are accidentally split up. 104 12-minute episodes were produced b ...

'' and performed a solo part. He stated that he had nine left-handed basses at the time.

Filmography

Anime

Film

References

External links

* Japanese animators Living people 1958 births Japanese film directors Anime directors People from Shizuoka Prefecture {{anime-bio-stub