Hiroaki Sakurai

Hiroaki Sakurai (桜井 弘明, Sakurai Hiroaki, born December 15, 1958) is a Japanese anime director and bassist who is known for his work in UFO Baby and the Di Gi Charat series.^[1][2] He has served as the director for series such as Nanaka 6/17, Cromartie High School, Les Misérables: Shōjo Cosette, GA Geijutsuka Art Design Class, Maid Sama!, Nekogami Yaoyorozu, Jewelpet Happiness, The Disastrous Life of Saiki K., and The Demon Girl Next Door. He is married to Sayuri Ōba, an anime screenwriter.

Hiroaki Sakurai
桜井 弘明
Born	(1958-12-15) December 15, 1958 (age 66) Numazu, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan
Nationality	Japanese
Occupation(s)	Animation director, bassist
Spouse	Sayuri Ōba

Career

Sakurai was in college for 5 and a half years and spent his time playing in bands and bassist auditions. One day, he suddenly became interested in animation, and after graduating from the department of literature and science at Nihon University, he worked at Yoyogi Animation Academy and joined Studio World, which was looking for assistant directors, at the age of 25. The first work he was involved in as an assistant director was Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross, and the first time his name appeared in the credits was in Yoroshiku Mechadock. When he was in charge of Mechadock, Masayuki Kojima and Ken Baba served as his seniors. In the spring of 1988, Studio World disbanded and Sakurai moved to Film Magic, which was founded by Baba. In the middle of Akazukin Chacha, Film Magic went bankrupt due to reasons mentioned below, and after that he went freelance.

Style

According to Hatsuki Tsuji, Sakurai is described as someone who has good qualities, but who can be conceited. He often uses voice actors such as Mika Kanai and Kaori Nazuka in his directorial projects.

Inspired by the direction of Akitaro Daichi and Tatsuo Sato, who were part of Akazukin Chacha's rotation of directors, Sakurai was too elaborate in his direction and was unable to adhere to the limited number of sheets, resulting in constant deficits and driving Film Magic into bankruptcy. However, Takaaki Wada, who was in charge of key animation in certain episodes, claims that Sakurai, Wada and the other animators ignored the president's advice and got carried away, and that the bankruptcy was their own fault.^[3]

Sakurai is known for his love of the ukulele and for carrying one with him at all times, even to the studios. In addition, the soundtrack for Cromartie High School features music by the progressive rock band Bi Kyo Ran, who are from the same town as him and of whom he was a fan for many years, and also worked with the band as a bassist, later becoming a full member. He also played bass in the opening song "Dynamite★I-N-G" for TV Tokyo's Di Gi Charat Nyo! and performed a solo part. He stated that he had nine left-handed basses at the time.

Filmography

Anime

Year	Title	Crew role	Notes	Source[4]
1990	Hidari no O'Clock!! (ja:左のオクロック!!)	Director
1990–91	Tanken Goblin Shima (ja:たんけん ゴブリン島)	Director, Storyboard
1996–98	Kodocha	Assistant director		[1]
1998	Sexy Commando Gaiden: Sugoi yo!! Masaru-san	Assistant director
1999	Jubei-chan: The Ninja Girl	Assistant director		[1]
1999–present	Di Gi Charat	Series director, episode director and writer	Also specials and OVAs	[5][1][2]
2000–02	UFO Baby	Director
2001–02	PaRappa the Rapper	Director
2002	Baboo Factory バブーファクトリー［第2期］	Director
2003	Nanaka 6/17	Director
2003	Di Gi Charat Nyo!	Director		[6]
2003–04	Cromartie High School	Director		[7]
2004	Sweet Valerian	Director
2005	Majokko Tsukune-chan	Director	OVA series
2006	Winter Garden	Screenplay, Director
2007	Les Misérables: Shōjo Cosette	Director
2007	Chopper Man	Director	Also specials and OVAs
2009	GA Geijutsuka Art Design Class	Director	Also OVA in 2010	[8]
2010	Maid Sama!	Director	Also OVAs	[9]
2011	Nekogami Yaoyorozu	Director	Also OVA	[10]
2013–14	Jewelpet Happiness	Director
2016–19	The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.	Director	Also Special & ONA	[11]
2019–22	The Demon Girl Next Door	Director
2020–22	Mewkledreamy	Director	Also Mix! in 2021
2022	Reiwa no Di Gi Charat	Director

Film

Year	Title	Crew role	Notes	Source[4]
1999	Cyber Team in Akihabara: Summer Vacation of 2011	Director	Solo directorial debut	[1]
2012	Jewelpet the Movie: Sweets Dance Princess	Director		[12]
2016	Gekijōban Tantei Opera Milky Holmes ~Gyakushū no Milky Holmes~	Director		[13]