A protege of Mamoru Oshii, this journeyman animator kicked off his career on Urusei Yatsura in 1981. Moriyama worked as an animator on a large stretch of the mammoth television series along with three of its films, including Beautiful Dreamer. Following Oshii’s departure from Urusei Yatsura, Moriyama left the series himself and started working on the Cream Lemon series. However, one particular Cream Lemon project would morph into a madcap comedy that pulled on Moriyama’s education—Project A-ko.

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He wore just about every hat but the director’s cap on the film, but took over those duties on its sequels. In the years that followed, Moriyama contributed his animation talents to classics such as Gunbuster and Macross Plus. Lately, he’s served as an animator director on Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone and Tower of God along with providing key animation for Pokémon Horizons. With new credits still rolling in, it doesn’t look like Yuuji Moriyama’s ready to stop animating anytime soon.