# Naoyuki Tatsuwa

Naoyuki Tatsuwa (Japanese: 龍輪 直征, Hepburn: Tatsuwa Naoyuki, born 1978) is a Japanese animator. He started off as an animator with Studio Lions and its parent company Studio Giants, and then spent 11 years as an animator and director at studio Shaft. Since 2015, he has been freelance.

## Career

Originating from Hokkaido, Tatsuwa joined the sub-contracting animation firm Studio Lions in 2000 (one part of the animation department for Studio Giants), where he mostly worked as a sub-contractor to Xebec. After working at Studio Lions, he worked as a part-time worker at construction sites and built sets for television commercials. At one point, he broke his leg while building one of the sets and couldn't walk for some time. He decided to go back to animation and was interested in joining Shaft because he wanted to work on the studio's adaptation of Pani Poni Dash!. Tatsuwa contacted the studio and asked to join, but didn't get any news, so he asked Zen Nagata, an animator he knew at the company, who put him into contact with Miho Ayabe, another animator at the studio. The same day, Mitsutoshi Kubota, the president of Shaft, called Tatsuwa and told him that he would interview him the next day. During production of Pani Poni Dash, Tatsuwa's desk was next to animator Kazuhiro Oota's and chief director Shin Oonuma's, so he got to see the finished drawings from the other animators and would flip through them, which is when he first gained interest in being a director. During production, Tatsuwa was given more responsibilities for certain things like adding material to the DVD retakes alongside animator Genichirou Abe; and when Oonuma was unable to finish storyboarding the 19th episode, he asked him to storyboard the episode's B-part (second half).
Tatsuwa's early work at the studio led to him being tasked as the "material-adding expert" for Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei under Akiyuki Shinbo's direction, a role which was later changed to simply "assistant director." Despite the name, Tatsuwa didn't attend the scenario meetings or overlook the storyboards prior to Shinbo checking them and was mainly given the responsibility of adding material and checking the layouts across the episodes. Tatsuwa also attended the live-recordings and post-recording sessions as well as things like the animation meetings, where he would generally do what Shinbo asked him to. The sequel series, Zoku Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei and its succeeding incarnations saw Yukihiro Miyamoto join the duo as chief episode director in which he would supervise aspects of all episodes and miscellaneous work like meetings and dubbing sessions when Tatsuwa couldn't attend. Tatsuwa also asked Miyamoto to look over and oversee revisions to his own work at times. Miyamoto and Tatsuwa often worked in tandem and discussed various subjects around the series like how to approach retakes, and considered both of their roles on the series to be like odd jobs.
2011 saw Tatsuwa's debut as a full-fledged series director with Shaft with the original video animation series Katte ni Kaizō under Shinbo's chief direction. Shinbo noted that he worked more as a supervisor for the series and wasn't actively involved in the direction, instead leaving most of the work to Tatsuwa's discretion. Tatsuwa directed two more series with Shaft (Nisekoi and Gourmet Girl Graffiti), and assist Shinbo two other times (And Yet the Town Moves, Sasami-san@Ganbaranai), before leaving the studio in 2015. Tatsuwa has been primarily associated with studio Passione since 2018, where he first acted as chief unit director for Citrus. He also directed Dakaichi at CloverWorks that year, but most of his directing activities have been based around Passione or Liden Films (since 2022).

### Style

Although only a key animator at the time of its production, which was soon after he had joined Shaft, director Shin Oonuma commonly consulted with Tatsuwa about doing parody work on Pani Poni Dash, whom Oonuma said was good with parodies.

## Works
### Television series

In "Director(s)" column highlights Tatsuwa's directorial works.
| Year | Title | Director(s) | Studio | SB | ED | Other roles and notes | Ref(s) |
| 2003 | Stellvia | Tatsuo Satō | Xebec | No | No | In-between animation check Key animator | |
| 2005 | Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase | Akiyuki Shinbo | Shaft | No | No | Key animator | |
| 2005 | Pani Poni Dash! | Akiyuki Shinbo Shin Oonuma (series) | Shaft | No | No | 2nd key animator Key animator Eyecatch animator | |
| 2006 | Rec | Ryūtarō Nakamura | Shaft | No | No | Key animator | |
| 2006 | Negima!? | Akiyuki Shinbo Shin Oonuma (chief) | Shaft | Yes | No | Key animator Animation director Assistant animation director | |
| 2007 | Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei | Akiyuki Shinbo | Shaft | Yes | No | Assistant director Key animator Extra animator Eyecatch Extra animation storyboard artist Opening director | [21][22][23][24] [25][26][27] |
| 2008 | (Zoku) Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei | Akiyuki Shinbo Yukihiro Miyamoto (chief episode) | Shaft | Yes | No | Assistant director Opening director Key animator | |
| 2008 | Hidamari Sketch x 365 | Akiyuki Shinbo | Shaft | No | No | Key animator | |
| 2009 | (Zan) Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei | Akiyuki Shinbo Yukihiro Miyamote (chief episode) | Shaft | Yes | Yes | Assistant director Ending director (ED 1–2) | |
| 2009 | Maria Holic | Akiyuki Shinbo Yukihiro Miyamoto (series) | Shaft | Yes | Yes | Assistant director | |
| 2009 | Natsu no Arashi! Akinai-chū | Akiyuki Shinbo Shin Oonuma (series, #1–7) Kenichi Ishikura (series, #8–13) | Shaft | Yes | Yes | | |
| 2010 | Dance in the Vampire Bund | Akiyuki Shinbo Masahiro Sonoda (series) | Shaft | Yes | Yes | Opening director and storyboard | |
| 2010 | Arakawa Under the Bridge | Akiyuki Shinbo Yukihiro Miyamoto (series) | Shaft | Yes | No | Opening director Ending storyboard | |
| 2010 | And Yet the Town Moves | Akiyuki Shinbo | Shaft | Yes | Yes | Assistant director Key animator Ending director and storyboard | [48][49][50][51] [52][53] |
| 2011 | Puella Magi Madoka Magica | Akiyuki Shinbo Yukihiro Miyamoto (series) | Shaft | No | No | Assistant storyboard artist | |
| 2011 | Maria Holic Alive | Akiyuki Shinbo (chief) Tomokazu Tokoro | Shaft | Yes | Yes | | |
| 2012 | Nisemonogatari | Akiyuki Shinbo Tomoyuki Itamura (series) | Shaft | No | Yes | Opening director and storyboard 2nd key animator Layout supervisor | |
| 2012 | Hidamari Sketch x Honeycomb | Akiyuki Shinbo Yuki Yase (series) | Shaft | Yes | No | | |
| 2013 | Monogatari Series Second Season | Akiyuki Shinbo (chief) Tomoyuki Itamura Naoyuki Tatsuwa (series, #6–9) Yuki Yase (series, #14–17) | Shaft | Yes | Yes | | |
| 2013 | Sasami-san@Ganbaranai | Akiyuki Shinbo | Shaft | Yes | Yes | Assistant director Opening director and storyboard Key animator | [65][66][67][68] [69] |
| 2014 | Nisekoi | Akiyuki Shinbo (chief) Naoyuki Tatsuwa | Shaft | Yes | Yes | Opening director and storyboard | |
| 2014 | Mekakucity Actors | Akiyuki Shinbo (chief) Yuki Yase | Shaft | No | No | Key animator | |
| 2015 | Gourmet Girl Graffiti | Akiyuki Shinbo (chief) Naoyuki Tatsuwa | Shaft | No | Yes | | |
| 2016 | Hitori no Shita: The Outcast | Wang Xin | Pandanium | No | Yes | Chief episode director (two episodes) | |
| 2016 | Qualidea Code | Kenichi Kawamura | A-1 Pictures | No | No | Opening director and storyboard | |
| 2017 | Hinako Note | Takeo Takahashi (chief) Hijiri Sanpei (chief) Tooru Kitahata | Passione | Yes | Yes | | |
| 2017 | King's Game The Animation | Tokihiro Sasaki | Seven | Yes | No | | |
| 2018 | Citrus | Takeo Takahashi Naoyuki Tatsuwa (chief episode) | Passione | No | Yes | | |
| 2018 | Dakaichi | Naoyuki Tatsuwa | CloverWorks | Yes | Yes | Ending director and storyboard | |
| 2019 | Fire Force | Yuki Yase | David Production | No | No | Ending director and storyboard | |
| 2019 | Z/X Code: Reunion | Yoshifumi Sueda | Passione | No | Yes | | |
| 2020 | Interspecies Reviewers | Yūki Ogawa | Passione | No | Yes | | |
| 2020 | Higurashi: When They Cry – Gou | Keiichiro Kawaguchi | Passione | No | Yes | Key animator | |
| 2021 | Higurashi: When They Cry – Sotsu | Keiichiro Kawaguchi | Passione | No | Yes | | |
| 2022 | Smile of the Arsnotoria the Animation | Naoyuki Tatsuwa | Liden Films | Yes | No | Ending director and storyboard | |
| 2022 | Harem in the Labyrinth of Another World | Naoyuki Tatsuwa | Passione | Yes | No | Opening director Ending storyboard | |
| 2025 | Promise of Wizard | Naoyuki Tatsuwa | Liden Films | TBA | TBA | | |

### OVAs

| Year | Title | Director(s) | Studio | SB | ED | Other roles and notes |
| 2006 | Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase | Akiyuki Shinbo | Shaft | No | No | Key animator |
| 2006 | Rec | Ryūtarō Nakamura | Shaft | No | No | Key animator |
| 2006 | Negima!? Magister Negi Magi: Spring | Akiyuki Shinbo (chief) Shin Oonuma | Shaft | No | No | Key animator |
| 2008 | (Goku) Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei | Akiyuki Shinbo Yukihiro Miyamoto (chief episode) | Shaft | Yes | No | Ending storyboard Key animator |
| 2009 | (Zan) Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei Bangaichi | Akiyuki Shinbo Yukihiro Miyamoto (chief episode) | Shaft | Yes | Yes | Assistant director Ending director Opening storyboard |
| 2011 | Katte ni Kaizō | Akiyuki Shinbo (chief) Naoyuki Tatsuwa | Shaft | Yes | Yes | Key animator |
| 2012 | Sayonara, Zestsubou-Sensei Special | Akiyuki Shinbo | Shaft | No | No | Assistant director |
| 2014 | Nisekoi | Akiyuki Shinbo (chief) Naoyuki Tatsuwa | Shaft | No | Yes | Opening director and storyboard |
| 2019 | The Island of Giant Insects | Takeo Takahashi (chief) Naoyuki Tatsuwa | Passione | No | Yes | |

### Films

| Year | Title | Director(s) | Studio | SB | ED | Other roles and notes |
| 2012 | Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie: Beginnings | Akiyuki Shinbo (chief) Yukihiro Miyamoto | Shaft | Yes | No | |
| 2016 | Dōkyūsei | Shōko Nakamura | A-1 Pictures | No | No | Key animator |
| 2016 | Your Name | Makoto Shinkai | CoMix Wave Films | No | No | Key animator |
| 2020 | The Island of Giant Insects | Takeo Takahashi (chief) Naoyuki Tatsuwa | Passione | No | Yes | |
| 2021 | Dakaichi: Spain Arc | Naoyuki Tatsuwa | CloverWorks | No | No | |
| 2024 | Ōmuro-ke: Dear Sisters | Naoyuki Tatsuwa | Passione Studio Lings | Yes | No | Opening director and storyboard |
| 2024 | Ōmuro-ke: Dear Friends | Naoyuki Tatsuwa | Passione Studio Lings | Yes | Yes | Opening director and storyboard |