Animator, illustrator, character designer, director
Years active
1978–present
Employer
Studio Carpenter (1978~1981)
Yasuhiro Nakura (Japanese: 名倉 靖博, Hepburn: Nakura Yasuhiro) is a Japanese animator, illustrator, character designer, and director.
Early life
Nakura was born in Hamakita, Shizuoka, Japan, on January 10, 1959.[1] His parents ran a textile shop.[1]
Career
He enrolled in an animation course offered by Toei Animation that he saw advertised in Manga Shounen [ja] and moved to Tokyo.[1] After completing the course, he joined Studio Carpenter where he debuted as an in-between animator on Starzinger (1978),[1] and later as a key animator on Dotakon (1981). He worked at Studio Carpenter for about three years and then went freelance, mainly for Toei Animation's works.
His character concepts were used for the 1984 television series Little Memole, which he also worked on as an animation director (his debut in the role). The following year, he was the animation director for Mamoru Oshii's film, Angel's Egg, with designs by Yoshitaka Amano, in which he supervised and corrected drawings to follow Amano's original image boards.[2] In 1987, he served as character designer and animation director to another feature film, The Tale of Genji (1987) with director Gisaburō Sugii.[3] In 1990, he participated in Moomin as the animation character designer, having been a fan of the series prior.[4] He also served as the character designer and chief animation director for Rintaro's Metropolis (2001).[5]
At some point in his career, Nakura began to take on more work as an illustrator, rather than an animator or animation director. While he continued to work on animated series and films, his output in either decreased significantly during the 1990s and 2000s. He was the character designer and chief animation director for the Tenshu Monogatari arc of Ayakashi: Samurai Horror Tales and was the animation director for Gothicmade in 2012, but contributed in minor key animation roles between them.
In the early 2010s, Nakura developed a relationship with animation studio Shaft as a key animator and animation director on the Monogatari series.[6] His output in the industry increased during this time as he contributed to other Shaft series like Mekakucity Actors (2014) and contributed as a guest director, designer, and animator for an episode of the Bones series Space Dandy (2014).[7] In 2016, Nakura worked as the main layout artist, layout setting designer, and art setting designer for Shaft's adaptation of March Comes In like a Lion.[8] He also regularly contributed to some of the series' ending animation themes, which he storyboarded, directed, and animated on his own.[9]
Style
Director and founder of studio SatelightTsuneo Maeda, who was the animation technical director for The Tale of Genji, described Nakura as an emotional person, which he called rare among key animators, and that he was slow, which was connected to his tenacity and made his work attractive.[10] Maeda also considered Nakura to not be pattern-based, and thus it was always difficult or mysterious as to how his drawings and work would come out.[10] Although he said that it may be difficult for some of his drawings to be used, Maeda lamented that Nakura was able to create cuts of animation that others could never draw as well.[10]
Animage October (1985). Ogata, Hideo (ed.). アニメージュ1985年10月号「『メモル』から『天使のたまご』へ 名倉靖博の世界」 [Animage October 1985, "From 'Memole' to "Angel's Egg', the World of Yasuhiro Nakura"].
Animage December (1985). Ogata, Hideo (ed.). アニメージュ1985年12月号 天使のたまご GUIDE BOOK [Animage December 1985, Angel's Egg Guidebook].
Kindaeigasha (1986). ジ･アニメ 1986年 06月号 [THE ANIME June 1986]. ASINB00HYAQ788.
^Nakura, Yasuhiro [@nakura26031011] (August 18, 2019). ふらっと吉祥寺へ。ふと思い出が蘇りそこへ足を運ぶと、趣きは変われど建物はまだそこに！30数年前こちらの3階でジブリ最初の作品『天空の城ラピュタ』が作られました。参加していた頃自分はまだ20代！アオハル真っ只中です。懐かし過ぎる思い出が頭の中に溢れました。nakura [I popped into Kichioji. My memories suddenly came back to me, and while I was there, I foundt hat although the atmosphere had changed, the building was still there! Thirty years ago, Studio Ghibli's first film, "Castle in the Sky", was made on the third floor here. I was still in my 20s when I was involved! I was in the middle of my youth. Nostalgic memories flooded my mind. nakura] (Tweet) – via Twitter.
