is a Japanese

character designer In visual arts, a model sheet, also known as a character board, character sheet, character study or simply a study, is a document used to help standardize the appearance, poses, and gestures of a character in arts such as animation, comics, and v ...

and

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''Di ...

of numerous

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 ...

series and

video games Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

who also goes by the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

. His directorial work includes ''

Parasite Dolls is a three-part original video animation produced by the Anime International Company and IMAGICA Entertainment, and written by Chiaki J. Konaka and Kazuto Nakazawa. The series is set in the ''Bubblegum Crisis'' universe and takes place after ...

'', the anime sequence in '' Kill Bill: Volume 1'', and the Moondrive segment of '' Genius Party Beyond''. He has designed characters for many anime, such as ''

Ashita no Nadja is a romance anime produced by Toei Animation and aired between February 2, 2003 and January 25, 2004 on ANN. In 2009, William Winckler Productions produced two all-new English-dubbed movie versions edited from the original series. Producer W ...

'' and ''

Samurai Champloo is a 2004 Japanese historical adventure anime television series. The debut television production of studio Manglobe, the 26-episode series aired from May 2004 to March 2005. It was first partially broadcast on Fuji TV, then had a complete ai ...

'', for which he also served as

animation director An animation director is either the director in charge of all aspects of the animation process during the production of an animated film or television, and animated segment for a live action film or television show, or the animator in charge of co ...

. In addition to his work with anime, he designed the characters of ''

Tales of Legendia , is an action role-playing game that was developed and published by Namco for the PlayStation 2 as the seventh main title in their '' Tales'' series. Originally released in Japan in August 2005, it was later made available in English in North A ...

'' and was the animation director of ''

Devil Kings ''Devil Kings'', known in Japan as , is a 2005 video game for the PlayStation 2, developed and published by Capcom. It is the first installment in the ''Sengoku Basara'' franchise. The game's theme song for the Japanese version is "Crosswise" by T ...

''. Throughout his career, he has worked also as an

animator An animator is an artist who creates multiple images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video gam ...

, providing key animations to anime such as '' The Animatrix'''s "

Kid's Story is a 2003 adult animated science-fiction anthology film produced by the Wachowskis. The film details through nine animated short films the backstory of ''The Matrix'' film series, including the original war between humanity and machines which l ...

" and "

A Detective Story is a 2003 Adult animation, adult animated science-fiction anthology film produced by the Wachowskis. The film details through nine animated short, animated short films the backstory of The Matrix (franchise), ''The Matrix'' film series, includin ...

". He has made two appearances at

anime convention An anime convention is an event or gathering with a primary focus on anime, manga and Japanese culture. Commonly, anime conventions are multi-day events hosted at convention centers, hotels or college campuses. They feature a wide variety of activ ...

s in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

: at

Otakon Otakon ( ) is an annual three-day anime convention held during July/August. It stands for Otaku Convention. From 1999 to 2016, it took place at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland's Inner Harbor district; in 2017, it moved to ...

in 1999 and 2006. He also animated the

Joe Hahn Joseph Hahn (born March 15, 1977) is an American musician, DJ, director and visual artist best known as the DJ of the American rock band Linkin Park, doing the scratching, turntables, sampling, and programming for all seven of Linkin Park's ...

-directed

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for the

Linkin Park Linkin Park is an American rock band from Agoura Hills, California. The band's current lineup comprises vocalist/rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Mike Shinoda, lead guitarist Brad Delson, bassist Dave Farrell, DJ/turntablist Joe Hahn and drummer ...

song " Breaking the Habit."

Filmography

TV series

*''

El-Hazard is a Japanese anime franchise written by Ryoe Tsukimura and directed by Hiroki Hayashi. The series was animated by AIC and produced by Pioneer LDC. There is also a manga adaptation, which is published in English by VIZ Media. The series ...

'' (1995) – character design, chief animation director *''

Tenchi in Tokyo is a Japanese anime television series animated by AIC and aired on TV Tokyo from April 1 to September 23, 1997. It is the third installation of the ''Tenchi Muyo!'' line of series, preceding ''Tenchi Muyo! GXP'' and succeeding ''Tenchi Univer ...

'' (1997) – character design, chief animation director *''

Black Heaven , also referred to as ''The Legend of Black Heaven'' and ''Kacho-Ōji'', is a Japanese anime television series conceptualized by Hiroki Hayashi and produced by Pioneer Corporation, Pioneer LDC Inc., AIC and A.P.P.P. It is directed by Yasuhito ...

'' (1999) – character design *'' Final Fantasy: Unlimited'' (2001) – character design *''

'' (2003) – character design *''

'' (2004) – character design, screenplay & storyboard & chief animation director (ep 15) *'' Yurururu ~Nichijou Hen~'' (2007) – director *''

House of Five Leaves is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Natsume Ono. It was serialized in Shogakukan's manga magazine ''Monthly Ikki'' from November 2005 to July 2010, with its chapters published in eight volumes under the Ikki Comix imprin ...

'' (2010) – character design, chief animation director (ep 4) *''

Terror in Resonance , also known as ''Terror in Tokyo'', is a Japanese anime television series produced by MAPPA. The anime was created and directed by Shinichirō Watanabe, with character designs by Kazuto Nakazawa and music by Yoko Kanno. The anime began airing ...

'' (2014) – character design, chief animation director (ep 1-7) *''

Days A day is the time period of a full rotation of the Earth with respect to the Sun. On average, this is 24 hours, 1440 minutes, or 86,400 seconds. In everyday life, the word "day" often refers to a solar day, which is the length between two solar ...

'' (2016) – character design *'' B:The Beginning'' (2018) - character design, key animation supervisor, creator, director *'' Fena: Pirate Princess'' (2021) – creator, director

Films

*''

Hells Angels The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) is a worldwide outlaw motorcycle club whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. In the United States and Canada, the Hells Angels are incorporated as the Hells Angels Motorcycle Corporatio ...

'' (2008) – character design *'' Genius Party Beyond: Moondrive'' (2008) – director, character design *''Musashi: The Dream of the Last Samurai'' (2009) – character design *'' COMEDY SKIT (Hitman) 1989'' (2015) – director

OVAs/ONAs

*'' El Hazard: The Magnificent World'' (1995) – character design *''

Starship Girl Yamamoto Yohko is a Japanese anime series based on a novel by Takashi Shōji. It consists of two 3-episode OVA sets and a 26-episode television series animated by J.C.Staff and directed by Akiyuki Shinbo. The series was released in the United States by ...

'' (1996) – character design *''

Battle Arena Toshinden is a weapons-based fighting game developed by Tamsoft and published by Takara and Sony Computer Entertainment in 1995 for the PlayStation, followed by 1996 ports for the Sega Saturn, Game Boy and MS-DOS. It was one of the first fighting games to ...

'' (1996) – character design *'' Starship Girl Yamamoto Yohko II'' (1997) – character design *'' El Hazard 2: The Magnificent World'' (1997) – character design *''COMEDY'' (2002) – director *''

'' (2003) – director *''

Vassalord is a josei manga series written and illustrated by Nanae Chrono. It was serialized in ''Comic Blade Avarus'' from March 30, 2006 until its conclusion on February 15, 2013. The individual chapters were collected and published in 7 bound volume ...

'' (2013) – director *'' B: The Beginning'' (2018) – creator, director, character design, chief animation director *'' B: The Beginning – Succession'' (2021) – creator, chief director, character design, series composition

Video games

*''Le Roman de la Reine'' (1998) – character design *''

'' (2005) – character design *''

Asura's Wrath is an action video game developed by CyberConnect2 and published by Capcom. It was first announced at the Tokyo Game Show in 2010, and was released worldwide in February 2012. The game was released on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The game follows ...

'' (2012) – director & main character design (ep 15.5)

Music videos

*''

- Breaking the Habit'' (2004) – director *''

ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION (stylized as ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION) is a Japanese alternative rock band formed in Yokohama in 1996. For its entire career, the band has consisted of vocalist Masafumi Gotoh, guitarist Kensuke Kita, bassist Takahiro Yamada, and drummer Kiyosh ...

- Atarashii Sekai'' (2008) – director *''

supercell A supercell is a thunderstorm characterized by the presence of a mesocyclone: a deep, persistently rotating updraft. Due to this, these storms are sometimes referred to as rotating thunderstorms. Of the four classifications of thunderstorms (s ...

- Utakata Hanabi'' (2010) – director

References

External links

* *
Production IG Interview: "The Making of Asience 5"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nakazawa, Kazuto Japanese animators Japanese animated film directors Japanese music video directors Anime directors Anime character designers Living people 1968 births People from Niigata Prefecture