is a Japanese film director best known for his work on various

anime is hand-drawn and 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 Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

works. A leading director at the

Toei Animation () is a Japanese animation studio primarily controlled by its namesake Toei Company. It has produced numerous series, including ''Sally the Witch,'' '' GeGeGe no Kitarō,'' '' Mazinger Z'', '' Galaxy Express 999'', '' Cutie Honey'', '' Dr. Slu ...

studio during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, Katsumata worked as a director on several of Toei's anime television adaptations of manga by

Go Nagai , better known by the pen name , is a Japanese manga artist and a prolific author of science fiction, fantasy, horror and erotica. He made his professional debut in 1967 with ''Meakashi Polikichi'', but is best known for creating popular 1970s ...

, including ''

Devilman is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Go Nagai. The manga focuses on a high school student named Akira Fudo who absorbs the powers of the demon called " Amon" with help of his friend Ryo Asuka in order to batt ...

'' (1972), ''

Mazinger Z is a Japanese super robot manga series written and illustrated by Go Nagai. The first manga version was serialized in Shueisha's ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from October 1972 to August 1973, and it later was reissued in Kodansha ''TV Magazin ...

'' (1972), ''

Cutey Honey is a Japanese Shōnen manga, shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Go Nagai. First appearing in ''Weekly Shōnen Champions 41st issue of 1973, the series ran until April 1974. It follows an Android (robot), android girl na ...

'' (1973), ''

Great Mazinger is a Japanese manga comic book and anime television series by manga artist Go Nagai. The story is a sequel and direct continuation of '' Mazinger Z'' series after its initial success. The series was aired on Japanese television in 1974, ...

'' (1974), ''UFO Robo

Grendizer , known as '' Grandizer'' in the United States, is a Japanese Super Robot anime television series and manga created by manga artist Go Nagai. It is the third entry in the ''Mazinger'' series, however it is non-canon due to '' Mazinger Z: ...

'' (1975) and ''

Gaiking is a Japanese Super Robot mecha anime series produced by Toei Animation. For distribution purposes, Toei refers to this television series as ''Dino-Mecha Gaiking'' or simply ''Gaiking''. It ran from April 1976 through January 1977 and co ...

'' (1976) (both Grendizer and Gaiking became later part of Jim Terry's ''

Force Five ''Force Five'' is an American adaptation of five different anime television series. In the United States, this series was primarily shown only in New England, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, though it did make brief appearances in other markets, s ...

'' package on U.S. television). Katsumata also directed a TV adaptation of ''

Silver Fang -The Shooting Star Gin- is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yoshihiro Takahashi. It was published by Shueisha in '' Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1983 to 1987, and collected in 18 bound volumes. It received the 1987 Shogakukan Manga Award for best ...

'' in 1986. Katsumata graduated from Nippon University's film school in 1960 and began working with the

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin, Keihanshin metropolitan area along wi ...

division of the

Toei Company () (also styled TOEI) is a Japanese film, television production, and distribution and video game developer and publishing company. Based in Tokyo, Toei owns and operates thirty-four movie theaters across Japan (all but two of them operated by ...

that same year as an assistant director to

Masahiro Makino was a Japanese film director. He directed more than 260 films, primarily in the chanbara and yakuza genres. His real name was , but he took the stage name Masahiro, the kanji for which he changed multiple times (including , , and ). Career Masa ...

Eiichi Kudo was a Japanese film director. Kudo directed 30 films between 1956 and 1998. His notable films are '' 13 Assassins'' (1963) and '' The Great Killing'' (1964). He joined the Toei film company in 1952 and made his film director debut with ''Fukak ...

Tomotaka Tasaka was a Japanese film director. Career Born in Hiroshima Prefecture, he began working at Nikkatsu's Kyoto studio in 1924 and eventually came to prominence for a series of realist, humanist films made at Nikkatsu's Tamagawa studio in the late 193 ...

on his samurai dramas. After a few years, Katsumata moved to Toei Doga (Toei Animation) in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, working as a director on some of Toei's early television series, including '' Ken the Wolf Boy'' (1963), the original ''

Cyborg 009 is a Japanese science fiction manga created by Shotaro Ishinomori. It was serialized in many different Japanese magazines, including '' Monthly Shōnen King'', ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'', '' Shōnen Big Comic'', ''COM'', ' ...

'' anime (1968) and ''

Tiger Mask is a Japanese manga series written by Ikki Kajiwara and illustrated by Naoki Tsuji. The series was first published in Kodansha's ''Bokura Magazine'' from 1968 to 1970 and was later published in ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' from 1970 to ...

'' (1970). Among Katsumata's other credits for Toei as a director include the TV series '' Captain Future'' (1978), ''

Fist of the North Star is a Japanese manga series written by Buronson and illustrated by Tetsuo Hara. It was serialized in Shueisha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' for 245 issues published from 1983 to 1988 and initially collected in 27 ' ...

'' (1984) and OVA series '' Saint Seiya: Hades'' (2005, episodes 14 to 31), and the feature films '' Mazinger Z vs. Devilman'' (1973), ''

The Little Mermaid "The Little Mermaid" ( da, Den lille havfrue) is a literary fairy tale written by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. The story follows the journey of a young mermaid who is willing to give up her life in the sea as a mermaid to gain a ...

'' (''Anderusen Douwa Ningyo Hime'', 1975), and '' Arcadia of My Youth'' (1982). Katsumata also directed ''New Attacker You ''(続・アタッカーYOU　金メダルへの道 Zoku atakkā YOU- kin medaru e no michi?) for

Knack Productions , formerly known as or simply until August 2008, is a Japanese anime and film production company. History Knack Productions was founded on September 25, 1967, by a group of former employees of Toei Animation and Osamu Tezuka's Mushi Production ...

in 2008.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Katsumata, Tomoharu 1938 births Japanese film directors Anime directors Living people Nihon University alumni