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 who is known for such series as '' Shaman King'', '' Fullmetal Alchemist'', ''

Mobile Suit Gundam 00 is a Japanese anime television series, the eleventh installment in Sunrise (company), Sunrise studio's long-running ''Gundam'' franchise comprising two seasons. The series is set on a futuristic Earth and is centered on the exploits of the f ...

'', '' Un-Go'', and ''

Concrete Revolutio is a Japanese superhero anime television series created and written by Shō Aikawa, directed by Seiji Mizushima, produced by Bones, and featuring character designs by Yoshiyuki Ito. It began airing in Japan in October 2015. A second sea ...

''. His first directorial film project, '' Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa'', won the 60th Mainichi Film Award for Best Animation Film. In 2015, he won the Individual Award at the 20th

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 1 ...

Awards. His name is occasionally rendered in full

katakana is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji and in some cases the Latin script (known as rōmaji). The word ''katakana'' means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana characters are derived f ...

when he is in charge of episode directing or storyboarding. He is not related to

Tsutomu Mizushima is a Japanese animation and sound director. Career Mizushima was born in Chitose, Hokkaido and raised in Hata, Nagano (now Matsumoto, Nagano). He produced independent films in high school and when he graduated from Nagano Prefectural Matsumoto M ...

, who is also an anime director and shares his surname, but they often jokingly call each other "brother" on Twitter.

Career and style

After graduating from Tokyo Designer Gakuin College (now Tokyo Net Wave), Mizushima joined Tokyo Animation Film. While being involved in the photography of ''

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 its 1,345 individual chapters compiled into 45 ''tankōbon'' volumes and ...

'' and ''Obocchama-kun'', he studied under director of photography Masahiro Kumagai, and then went to work for

Sunrise Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon and its accompanying atmospheric effects. Terminology A ...

as a production assistant, aiming to become a full-fledged director. After leaving the company, he worked on video game cutscenes, and then moved on to animation. For most of his directorial projects, Masafumi Mima serves as the sound director. In addition to Katsuyuki Konishi, who appears in most of his productions, he also actively uses voice actors he first used for his earlier projects in later works. A fan of Puffy AmiYumi, when he asked them to sing a theme song for an anime, they gladly agreed to it, which led them to sing the theme song of ''

Oh! Edo Rocket is a 2001 stage play written for the Gekidan Shinkansen theater troupe by Kazuki Nakashima and directed by Hidenori Inōe, with a novelization released in August of the same year. A manga adaptation illustrated by Una Hamana was serialized i ...

''. In addition, the August 2007 issue of '' Newtype'' featured a photo of Mizushima with a big smile on his face surrounded by Puffy. Mizushima often mentions

Hideaki Anno is a Japanese animator, filmmaker and actor. He is best known for creating the anime series ''Neon Genesis Evangelion'' (1995)''.'' His style is defined by his postmodernist approach and the extensive portrayal of characters' thoughts and emotio ...

as an anime director that he respects, and when he was asked to direct '' Hanamaru Kindergarten'' by

Gainax Gainax Co., Ltd. (stylized as GAINAX; ja, 株式会社ガイナックス, Hepburn: ) is a Japanese anime studio famous for productions such as '' Neon Genesis Evangelion'', '' Royal Space Force'', '' Gunbuster'', '' Nadia: The Secret of Blue Wa ...

, a company that has a close relationship with him, he revealed that he accepted the job because it was a different direction for him and because it was meaningful to him to work with the staff. In addition, he highly praised

Ayahi Takagaki is a Japanese actress and singer. She had her first major voice acting roles in 2007, voicing Jasmine in '' Deltora Quest'' and Lucia Nahashi in ''Venus Versus Virus''. Her career as a musician began with her performance of the opening themes of ...

, who appeared in the ''

'' series, and praised "Kigurumi Planet", which was used as the ending theme for ''Hanamaru Kindergarten'', as a song made possible only by her. In 2011, he participated as a member of the selection and evaluation committee for the "Young Animator Training Project 2011" organized by the Japanese Animation Creators Association. Mizushima has a hobby of

egosurfing Egosurfing (also vanity searching, egosearching, egogoogling, autogoogling, self-googling) is the practice of searching for one's own name, or pseudonym on a popular search engine in order to review the results. Similarly, an egosurfer is one who ...

and has often admitted that he searches for opinions of his work on 2chan, Twitter, blogs, etc.

Works

Anime television series

*''

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 ...

'' (1995–10Generator Gawl'' (1998), director *''

Dai-Guard is an anime television series, produced and animated by XEBEC, and directed by Seiji Mizushima. It aired from October 5, 1999, to March 28, 2000, on TV Tokyo, running for 26 episodes. 6 volumes of videos were released on VHS and DVD. The serie ...

'' (1999), director *'' Shaman King'' (2001), director *'' Fullmetal Alchemist'' (2003), director *''

'' (2007), director *''

'' (2007–2009), director *''Kaitō Reinya'' (2010), sound director *'' Hanamaru Kindergarten'' (2010), director *'' Un-Go'' (2011), director *'' Natsuiro Kiseki'' (2012), director *''

Aikatsu! is an arcade collectible card game in Bandai's ''Data Carddass'' line of machines, which launched in October 2012. The game revolves around using collectible cards featuring various clothes to help aspiring idols pass auditions. An ani ...

'' (2012), supervisor *'' BlazBlue: Alter Memory'' (2013), collaborative director *'' Wooser's Hand-to-Mouth Life: Mugen-hen'' (2015), director *''

'' (2015–2016), director *''

Beatless ''Beatless'' is a Japanese science fiction serial novel written by Satoshi Hase and illustrated by Redjuice. The series has inspired three spin-off manga series and a 24-episode anime television series by Diomedéa, which aired from Janu ...

'' (2018), director *'' D4DJ First Mix'' (2020–2021), director *'' D4DJ All Mix'' (2023), chief director

Original video animation (OVA)

*'' Zaion: I Wish You Were Here'' (2001), director – ONA *''Fullmetal Alchemist: Premium Collection'' (2006), director *''Escha Chron'' (2017), chief director

Anime films

*'' Fullmetal Alchemist: Conqueror of Shamballa'' (2005), director *'' Mobile Suit Gundam 00 the Movie: Awakening of the Trailblazer'' (2010), director *'' Un-Go episode:0'' (2011) *''

Expelled from Paradise is a 2014 Japanese anime science fiction film. The film is directed by Seiji Mizushima, with a screenplay written by Gen Urobuchi. The film was produced by Toei Animation and animated by Graphinica, and was distributed by T-Joy and Toei Company ...

'' (2014) *'' Hula Fulla Dance'' (2021), chief director *'' Eisen Flügel'' (TBA), chief director, screenplay

References

External links

* *
Interview with Amusement Media Academy
(in Japanese)

(in Japanese) {{DEFAULTSORT:Mizushima, Seiji Anime directors 1966 births Living people People from Fuchū, Tokyo Sunrise (company) people