Kōichi Mashimo

Kōichi Mashimo (真下耕一)
Born	(1952-06-21) June 21, 1952 Tokyo, Japan
Nationality	Japanese
Alma mater	Sophia University
Occupation(s)	Anime director and screenwriter
Years active	1975–present
Employer(s)	Tatsunoko Production Bee Train Victor Entertainment Production I.G
Known for	Bee Train animation studio

Kōichi Mashimo (真下 耕一, Mashimo Kōichi, sometimes credited as Kouchi Mashimo or Kouichi Mashimo) (born June 21, 1952) is a well-known Japanese anime director and the founder of the animation studio Bee Train. Since the creation of the studio, Mashimo directed or otherwise participated in (nearly) all its works, for example, as a member of art or sound department. The anime OVA Murder Princess was the first Bee Train production since 1999 which he had not directed.

Biography

Kōichi Mashimo was born in Tokyo, Japan and from his early years showed interest in photography, admittedly under the influence of his father. Mashimo studied jurisprudence at Sophia University and during his fourth university year, he participated in the making of several television commercials. However, this was a rather disappointing experience, and on November 6, 1975, he applied for a position of Hiroshi Sasagawa's assistant director in Tatsunoko Production. The first anime series he worked on was Time Bokan (1975–76).

In the mid-1980s, while still working for Tatsunoko, Mashimo survived a severe alpine skiing accident. During his stay in an intensive care unit, he came up with an idea of a "hospital for animators", an animation studio whose primary goal would be fostering and self-actualization of talented artists rather than commercial success and money. Some time after that, he founded a small freelance studio called Mashimo Jimusho that was mainly producing in-between animation for larger companies. In 1997, Mashimo presented his studio-as-hospital concept to Mitsuhisa Ishikawa, the president of Production I.G, who was so impressed with it that he immediately agreed to sponsor Mashimo. The new subsidiary has become known as Bee Train and in February 2006, it ended its relationship with I.G and became independent.

Approach and style

Mashimo generally storyboards all the anime he directs. As one of the leading and only regular on-staff directors at Bee Train, most series are fully directed by him. As Bee Train has expanded, more directors have been able to handle episode direction under Mashimo's supervision, such as Tsubasa Chronicle.

Mashimo is known for frequently hiring Yuki Kajiura to compose for his projects. Their first project being Eat-Man, then going onto Noir, as well as .hack//Sign, Liminality, and Tsubasa Chronicle. Besides Kajiura, many Mashimo and Bee Train's projects bring back voice actors and crew members. Some noted cast members include: Maaya Sakamoto (.hack//SIGN, Blade of the Immortal, Tsubasa Chronicle), Sanae Kobayashi (Madlax, .hack//Roots, .hack//Liminality), as well as noted crew members such as character designer Minako Shiba, Satoshi Oshawa, and artist and director Kōji Sawai, as well as writers such as Hiroyuki Kawasaki.

Mashimo's approach to music is to have the music play a key role in the series. He feels music and animation should work and push each other to new heights all the time, and it should be seen as more than simple background.

Some of Mashimo's major projects have featured strong female protagonists. The famous "girls with guns" trilogy (Noir, Madlax, El Cazador de la Bruja) have all featured female characters in lead roles. One of his earlier films, The Weathering Continent, also featured a young woman who takes matters into her own hands to save her people. Some have also been known to contain subtle hints at lesbian relations, most notably in Madlax.

Mashimo once remarked that he would like to have personally met the photographers Richard Avedon, Jeanloup Sieff, and Helmut Newton and film directors John Ford and Alfred Hitchcock. However, by the time the interview has been published, four of these were already dead and Avedon died later that year. Mashimo is particularly fond of the French movie Les Aventuriers (1967, IMDB) and has even named a character in Madlax after the protagonist of that film.

Filmography

Year	Anime	Job
1970s
1975	Time Bokan	assistant director
1978	Kagaku Ninja-Tai Gatchaman II	director
1979	Kagaku Ninja-Tai Gatchaman F	director
1980s
1981	Golden Warrior Gold Lightan	Chief Director, episode director, storyboards
1981	Kaitei Daisensou: Ai no 20.000 Miles	Episode director
1982	Golden Warrior Gold Lightan	Chief director
1985	Night on the Galactic Railroad	script
1986	Ai City	director
1987	Dirty Pair: Project Eden	director, general superintendent
1988	F	director, script
	Dominion: Tank Police	director, script, special advisor
1989	Dragon Warrior	script
1990s
1990	Robin Hood no Daiboken	director
1992	The Weathering Continent	director, script
1993	The Irresponsible Captain Tylor	director, script, supervisor, storyboard
1996	Sorcerer Hunters	director
1997	Eat-Man	director, storyboards, scripts
1998	Xenogears	animation movie producer
1999	Arc the Lad	Special thanks
	PoPoLoCrois	director, script
	Wild Arms: Twilight Venom	director, planning
2000s
2001	Noir	director, storyboard, sound director, music director
2002	.hack//Sign	director, script, sound director, soundtrack supervisor, off-line editor
	.hack OVAs: .hack//Intermezzo, .hack//Unison, .hack//Gift	director, storyboard
	.hack//Liminality	director, soundtrack supervision, animation director
	.hack//Infection	staff member: Bee Train
	.hack//Mutation	staff member: Bee Train
	.hack//Outbreak	staff member: Bee Train
2003	Avenger	director
	.hack//Legend of the Twilight	director, general superintendent
	.hack//Quarantine	staff member: Bee Train
	Immortal Grand Prix	director, script
2004	Madlax	director, script, storyboards
	Ginyuu Mokushiroku Meine Liebe	director, script
2005	Tsubasa Chronicle (first season)	director, storyboards
2006	Ginyuu Mokushiroku Meine Liebe wieder	planner
	.hack//Roots	director, supervision, soundtrack supervision, consulting producer
	.hack//G.U. vol. 1//Rebirth	staff member: Bee Train (G.U. grand design)
	.hack//G.U. vol. 2//Reminisce	staff member: Bee Train (G.U. grand design)
	Spider Riders	director, storyboards
	Tsubasa Chronicle (second season)	director (co-director: Hiroshi Morioka)
2007	.hack//G.U. vol. 3//Redemption	staff member: Bee Train (G.U. grand design)
	El Cazador de la Bruja	director
	Spider Riders: Yomigaeru Taiyou	director
	Murder Princess	planner
2008	.hack//G.U. Returner	director
	Blade of the Immortal	director, storyboard artist
	Batman Gotham Knight: Field Test	segment producer
2009	Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~	director, storyboards (ending animation #2)
2010	Halo Legends	segment executive producer and director: "Homecoming" (co-director Kōji Sawai)
2011	Hyouge Mono	director, storyboard, episode director

References

Specific

General

• Katoh, Hidekazu et al. "Tsubasa - Reservoir Chronicle". (May 2007) Newtype USA. pp. 26–33.
• Yuki, Masahiro. "The Official Art of .hack//Roots". (May 2007) Newtype USA. pp. 101–107.

External links

• Kōichi Mashimo at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Kōichi Mashimo at the Bee Train Fan Wiki
• Kōichi Mashimo at IMDb
• Koichi Mashimo at Anime-Wiki