is a Japanese director best known for his work on the ''

Pokémon (an abbreviation for in Japan) is a Japanese media franchise managed by The Pokémon Company, founded by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures (company), Creatures, the owners of the trademark and copyright of the franchise. In terms of ...

'' anime franchise. He also directed ''

Magical Princess Minky Momo is a Japanese magical-girl anime franchise by Ashi Productions. The original series ran between 1982 and 1983 on TV Tokyo and inspired three OVAs between 1985 and 1987. A second television series, titled , ran on NTV between 1991 and ...

'', '' Leda: The Fantastic Adventure of Yohko'', ''

The Three Musketeers Anime is a Japanese animated television series based on the ''d'Artagnan Romances'' written by Alexandre Dumas, that ran from October 1987 to February 1989. A feature film sequel, , was released in March 1989. Plot D'Artagnan leaves his hometo ...

'', ''

Ushio and Tora is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kazuhiro Fujita. It was serialized in Shogakukan's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' from January 1990 to October 1996, with its chapters collected in thirty-three '' ...

'', '' Kimagure Orange Road: Summer's Beginning'', ''

Plawres Sanshiro is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Jirō Gyū. It was serialized in the Akita Shoten magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Champion'' from 1982 to 1985. An anime television series adaptation was broadcast from 1983 to 1984. Overview ...

'', ''

Slayers Return , also known as ''Slayers Movie 2 - The Return'', is a 1996 Japanese comic fantasy anime film written by Hajime Kanzaka and directed by Kunihiko Yuyama and Hiroshi Watanabe. It is the second film released in the ''Slayers'' saga and a sequel to ...

'', ''

Slayers Great is a 1997 anime film written by Hajime Kanzaka and directed by Kunihiko Yuyama and Hiroshi Watanabe. It was the third film released in the ''Slayers'' saga and was met with a generally positive reception from Western critics. ''Great'' was foll ...

'', and ''

Wedding Peach is a '' shōjo'' manga written by Sukehiro Tomita and illustrated by Nao Yazawa that was originally serialized in Shogakukan's '' Ciao'' magazine. In North America, it was translated and published by VIZ Media in its entirety, consisting ...

''.

Career

Developing an interest in animation while still at high school, Yuyama worked as an animator's assistant on episodes of ''

Star Blazers ''Star Blazers'' is an American animated television series adaptation of the Japanese anime series . ''Star Blazers'' was first broadcast in the United States in 1979. It was the first popular English-translated anime that had an overarching plo ...

'' and ''

Brave Raideen is a super robot anime series. Produced by Tohokushinsha, Asahi News Agency and Soeisha (later renamed as Sunrise), it aired on Nihon Educational Television (now TV Asahi) from 4 April 1975 to 26 March 1976, with a total of 50 episodes. Th ...

''. He was a sketch artist and storyboard artist on the foreign co-production ''

Barbapapa ''Barbapapa'' is a 1970 children's picture book by the French-American couple Annette Tison and Talus Taylor, who lived in Paris, France. Barbapapa is both the title character and the name of his "species". The book was the first of a series of ...

'' (1973) and joined Aoi Productions in 1978. The same year, he had his directorial debut while working for Aoi on ''

Galaxy Express 999 is a Japanese manga series. It is written and illustrated by Leiji Matsumoto, later adapted into a number of anime films and television series. It is set in a spacefaring, high-tech future in which humans have learned how to transfer ...

'', and soon struck up a successful working partnership with the screenwriter

Takeshi Shudo was a Japanese scriptwriter and novelist. His major works include anime ''Space Warrior Baldios'', the ''Magical Princess Minky Momo'' series, and ''Pokémon'', of which he created the Pokémon Lugia. He had a reputation for his witty dialogue a ...

on ''

GoShogun is a super robot anime series created by Takeshi Shudo. It was produced and aired in 1981 in Japan, with a movie special released in 1982 and a film sequel, ''GoShogun: The Time Étranger'' or ''Time Stranger'', in 1985. Its title has been ...

''. In 1982, he promoted to "chief director", an overseeing role on ''

''. While remaining in TV during the 1980s, he also played a leading role in anime's exodus into video. His work also showed a mastery of elements for a female audience, most obvious in his ''

Three Musketeers 3 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 3, three, or III may also refer to: * AD 3, the third year of the AD era * 3 BC, the third year before the AD era * March, the third month Books * ''Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 n ...

'' spin-off, ''Aramis' Adventure''. After working on ''

'', he gained true fame through his involvement with later works on ''

''.

Filmography

Anime

Live-action

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Yuyama, Kunihiko 1952 births Living people Anime directors Japanese animators Tatsunoko Production people