Biography
Early Career and Style
Masaaki Yuasa is an Japanese anime director, writer, and animator recognized for his highly idiosyncratic, fluid, and experimental visual style. Yuasa's approach often defies traditional anime conventions, favoring cartoonish movement, dynamic perspective distortion, and unique color palettes over photorealism. He began his career in 1987 at Ajia-do Animation Works, contributing to long-running children's series such as Crayon Shin-chan and Chibi Maruko-chan, which helped shape his foundational understanding of fluid, expressive animation.
Directorial Output and Science SARU
Yuasa made his directorial debut with the experimental feature film Mind Game (2004), which established his reputation as an auteur. In 2013, he co-founded the animation studio Science SARU with producer Eunyoung Choi, serving as its president until 2020. Under Science SARU, Yuasa directed a string of critically and commercially successful projects. His feature films include The Night Is Short, Walk On Girl (2017), Lu Over the Wall (2017), which won the Cristal for Best Feature Film at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, Ride Your Wave (2020), and Inu-Oh (2021).
Television Series
In addition to his filmography, Yuasa has directed celebrated television series such as The Tatami Galaxy (2010), Ping Pong: The Animation (2014), the Netflix original DEVILMAN crybaby (2018), and Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! (2020). He also notably guest-directed and animated the Food Chain episode of the American animated series Adventure Time (2014). [1] [2] [3] [4]
