Akiharu Ishii was born in Tokushima, Japan in 1966. He graduated from an Anime Institute and turned professional. Currently, he works as a freelance Animator, Character Designer, and Illustrator. He is also a professor at the Japan Electronics College in the Animation Research department.

Ishii has been involved in numerous Anime shows, including Blood, Blood+, Fullmetal Alchemist, Ghost in the Shell, Patlabor, Prince of Tennis, Sakura Wars, and many many others. Most recently, he just finished working on Library War (Toshokan Senso).

This is Ishii’s first ever trip outside Japan! Please extend him a warm welcome and help make his time with us at AnimeFest a memorable event.

Shuhei Morita was born in Nara, Japan in 1978. He graduated from Kyoto University of Art and Design in 2001, and started creating motion pictures while in college. He co-founded the animation company KamiKaze Douga in 1999, and worked for Studio 4C ( Mind Game, Tekkonkinkreet ) as well as KamiKaze Douga for 2 years from 2000.

In 2003 he co-founded YAMATOWORKS with Daisuke Sajiki and created the animation short Kakurenbo, which won the Golden Prize for Best short film category at the 2005 Fantasia Festival in Canada. In 2006 he went on to become the director for Freedom, which garnered the Notable Entry Award at the Tokyo International Anime Fair 2007.

This is Morita’s first time at AnimeFest.

Staff in:
Freedom (OAV): Director, Storyboard (ep 4), CG
KakuRenBo (manga) : Story & Art
Kakurenbo (movie) : Director, Scenario, Storyboard, Producer, CGI, Editing, Original story

Dai Sato was born in Shimane, Japan in 1969. Around the age of 19, he contracted with “Sold Out” and started his career working on broadcast composition and lyric writing. His interests gradually shifted toward the gaming industry and at the age of 23, Sato met Satoshi Tajiri, the game designer that brought the world “Pocket Monsters,” and began working at Game Freak. When Sato completed his contract the following year, he continued with his writing career, but at the same time expanded his reach into Techno and Club music. Soon thereafter, Sato co-founded a Techno music Label (Frogman Records) with Kengo Watanabe. This venture evolved into a planning company (his main forte) called, Frognation. Since then, Sato has independently founded a new company, Story Riders (KK), where he currently serves as President.

Some of Sato’s representative works include TV Anime shows such as “Eternal Family”, “Cowboy Bebop”, Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex”, “Wolf’s Rain”, “Mars Daybreak”, “Samurai Champloo”, “Psalms of Planets: Eureka Seven”, “Ergo Proxy”, “FREEDOM”, “Toward the Terra”, “Battle Spirits: Shonen Toppa Bashin” (2008) and Playstation video games such as “Ace Combat 3 Electrosphere” and more.

In 2006, Sato was awarded for best original screenplay for “Psalms of Planets: Eureka Seven” at the Tokyo Anime Awards.

This is Sato’s second time at AnimeFest.