Person
Naoko Yamada
Kyoto, Japan
Naoko Yamada (山田 尚子) is a Japanese animator, television and film director. Working at Kyoto Animation, she directed the K-On! and Tamako Market anime series, and the anime films A…
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Naoko Yamada (山田 尚子) is a Japanese animator, television and film director. Working at Kyoto Animation, she directed the K-On! and Tamako Market anime series, and the anime films A Silent Voice and Liz and the Blue Bird. Yamada intended to work in film after university, but she decided to join Kyoto Animation after seeing an advertisement. Her first assignment at KyoAni was drawing inbetween frames for Inuyasha. She was eventually promoted to a key animator for Air. After working as an episode director of Clannad, she was asked to make her chief directorial debut with K-On!, an adaptation of a slice-of-life manga. The series was very successful, spurring a second season and a film. In 2013, she directed Tamako Market, and followed it with the film Tamako Love Story in 2014. For Tamako Love Story, she was awarded the New Face Award at the Japan Media Arts Festival. She storyboarded the entire film herself, and also wrote the lyrics for the opening theme song, Everybody Loves Somebody. Yamada's next project was the feature film A Silent Voice, an adaptation of the manga of the same name, that reflected on elements of bullying and physical impairment in Japan. The film opened at #2 in the Japanese Box Office and grossed a total of ¥2.3 billion, the 19th highest-grossing film in Japan in 2016. The film also received multiple award nominations, including Best Animation Film in the Mainichi Film Awards and the Excellent Animation of the Year in the Japan Academy Prize. For Yamada, the most important part of being a director is to observe people. She describes herself as a "method" director, emphasizing the minds of the characters. On July 18, 2019, a man started a fire at the main studio of Kyoto Animation, killing 36 of Yamada's colleagues and wounding 33 others. Yamada was reported not to have been hurt in the fire. In 2020, Yamada left KyoAni to join Science SARU, where she directed 2021's The Heike Story. Source: Wikipedia
Filmography
Movies and shows, newest first
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2026
Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia
TV show Other
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2024
The Colors Within
Movie Director
-
2022
Garden of Remembrance
Movie Director
-
2022
Modern Love Tokyo
TV show Storyboard Artist
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2022
Modern Love Tokyo: He's Playing Our Song
Movie Director
-
2022
The Heike Story
TV show Storyboard Artist
-
2021
Visual Prison
TV show Opening/Ending Animation
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2019
Violet Evergarden: Eternity and the Auto Memory Doll
Movie Second Unit Director
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2019
Sound! Euphonium the Movie - Our Promise: A Brand New Day
Movie Key Animation
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2019
Kaguya-sama: Love Is War
TV show Opening/Ending Animation
-
2018
Tsurune
TV show Director
-
2018
Liz and the Blue Bird
Movie Second Unit Director
-
2018
Violet Evergarden
TV show Storyboard Artist
-
2017
Sound! Euphonium The Movie: May the Melody Reach You!
Movie Series Director
-
2017
Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid
TV show Director
-
2016
A Silent Voice: The Movie
Movie Storyboard Artist
More credits
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2016
Sound! Euphonium The Movie: Welcome to the Kitauji High School Concert Band
Movie Series Director
-
2016
Myriad Colors Phantom World
TV show Storyboard Artist
-
2015
Sound! Euphonium
TV show Series Director
-
2014
Tamako Love Story
Movie Second Unit Director
-
2013
Beyond the Boundary
TV show Director
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2013
Free!
TV show Opening/Ending Animation
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2013
Tamako Market
TV show Series Director
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2012
Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions!
TV show Storyboard Artist
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2012
Hyouka
TV show Storyboard Artist
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2011
K-ON! The Movie
Movie Director
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2011
Nichijou: My Ordinary Life
TV show Director
-
2010
轻音少女番外篇：访问
Movie 导演
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2010
The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya
Movie Second Unit Director
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2009
The Last War of the Heavenliods and Akutoliods
Movie Key Animation
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2009
K-ON!
TV show Series Director
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2007
Clannad
TV show Director
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2007
Lucky Star
TV show Key Animation
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2006
Kanon
TV show Key Animation
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2006
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
TV show Director
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2005
Munto 2: Beyond the Walls of Time
Movie Animation
