Tomoyuki Itamura
Tomoyuki Itamura is a Japanese director, animator, and storyboard artist. He joined OLM in 2004 as an in-between animator and left in 2007 to join Shaft. Itamura took over the Monogatari series from Tatsuya Oishi as his television directorial debut with Nisemonogatari. With Akiyuki Shinbo, Itamura directed all subsequent televised installments until he left the studio following Owarimonogatari II.
Career
Itamura joined OLM in 2002, and he first served as an in-between animator on the studio's Pokémon Chronicles television series. In 2006, he storyboarded two episodes of Ray the Animation, and the following year left the studio, where he then joined Shaft. That year, he debuted as an episode director with the 3rd episode of Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei, and in 2008 debuted as a project director under the chief direction of Akiyuki Shinbo with Mahō Sensei Negima!: Shiroki Tsubasa Ala Alba. In 2012, Itamura succeeded Tatsuya Oishi as the successor to Shaft's adaptation of the [Monogatari (series)|Monogatari (series)|Monogatari series] following Oishi's decision to animate the Kizumonogatari novels in film format.Itamura was chosen to take over the Monogatari series succeeding Tatsuya Oishi due to Shinbo's faith in his abilities. In particular, Shinbo mentioned that he had been aware of Itamura since he joined Shaft, and the former believed that episode 2 of Bakemonogatari was very good. Itamura stayed with the Monogatari series for the rest of its run until 2017 with Owarimonogatari II with the exception of Kizumonogatari that Oishi had directed. Shinbo took over as sole director for the final part of the Final Season books, Zoku Owarimonogatari, and Itamura went independent of Shaft. He spent a few years working around at various studios until finally settling around Bones and Liden Films where he directed his first series outside of Shaft, The Case Study of Vanitas at the former and Call of the Night at the latter. Both works, like Monogatari, involve vampires, which led to Itamura humorously saying that he seemed to have a connection to vampire stories. Although not his debut as a series director, The Case Study of Vanitas was Itamura's first work not under the chief direction of Shinbo, and he wanted to make a cool work even as an independent director.
Style
Itamura's style, specifically as the director of the Monogatari series, has been described as being much more minimalistic than his predecessor Tatsuya Oishi, with analysis of his style placing emphasis on sharp color contrasts, shifts in stylistic artistry, changes in overall color schemes, and the implementation of "chapter breaks" that make use of the "adaptive nature" of the series. However, as Itamura was given the opportunity to take over the Monogatari series following Oishi's footsteps, Itamura's identity as a director can be seen as developing throughout the series. Initially, Itamura incorporated similar visual language as far as on-screen text usage as his predecessor, such as having Kanji text flash as non-sequiturs, puns, wordplay, and so forth. In Monogatari Series Second Season, Itamura attempts to use more text and flashes than previously, and using them in a wider variety of circumstances and performing a wider variety of jobs. Whereas Oishi may have used paragraphs of text from the novel, or short fragments of sentences or Kanji, Itamura began to employ on-screen text as chapter titles or to represent character dialogues and thoughts. however, in Tsukimonogatari, and in the rest of the series, the visual language changes to its final form in Itamura's care. Rather than use Oishi's method of solidly-colored screens with text, Itamura used paper collage-like transitions that emphasized certain parts of the text by highlighting them. Shifting away from using such transitions for tempo and visual emphasis, the final works in Itamura's Monogatari tenure instead make use of on-screen text to provide to the narrative itself, often showcasing unreliable narration from the perspective of a character or insight into their experiences.Reflecting on the eight years Itamura was a part of the Monogatari series, he said that he happened to join the production of Bakemonogatari at just the right time to work closely with Oishi, which he described as being a good learning experience. He discussed with Shinbo in regard to him taking over the television series starting with Nisemonogatari, and understood that he wouldn't be able to imitate Oishi's style even if he wanted to. Oishi himself was supportive of Itamura experimenting with his own style and finding his own version of the series through his work, though Itamura did, at first, use similar formats to Oishi at the beginning of his tenure on the series due to the circumstances of time and experience. Some creators are able to create their works simply by reading the scenario they're given; though, Itamura describes himself as capable of working only after doing research. In Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei, he was in charge of a segment that featured rakugo, so he went to a play in-person and watched for research; and in Owarimonogatari, he looked into ball-jointed dolls and cricket to use as motifs and gags. Sound director described Itamura similarly, saying that Itamura was a director who worked more on "logic" whereas Oishi was more "intuitive."
Works
Television series
In "Director" column highlights Itamura's directorial works.| Year | Title | Director | Studio | SB | ED | Other roles and notes | Ref |
| 2002 | Pokémon Chronicles | Kunihiko Yuyama | OLM | In-between animator | |||
| 2005 | To Heart 2 | Norihiko Sutō | OLM | In-between animator | |||
| 2005 | Guyver: The Bioboosted Armor | Katsuhito Akiyama | OLM | In-between animator | |||
| 2006 | Ray the Animation | Naohito Takahashi | OLM | ||||
| 2006 | Utawarerumono | Tomoki Kobayashi | OLM | In-between animator | |||
| 2007 | Negima!? | Akiyuki Shinbo Shin Oonuma | Shaft | Assistant episode director | |||
| 2007 | Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei | Akiyuki Shinbo | Shaft | Key animator | |||
| 2007 | Ef: A Tale of Melodies | Shin Oonuma | Shaft | 2nd key animator | |||
| 2008 | (Zoku) Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei | Akiyuki Shinbo | Shaft | Key animator | |||
| 2008 | Hidamari Sketch x 365 | Akiyuki Shinbo | Shaft | ||||
| 2008 | Ef: A Tale of Melodies | Shin Oonuma | Shaft | ||||
| 2009 | Maria Holic | Yukihiro Miyamoto | Shaft | ||||
| 2009 | (Zan) Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei | Akiyuki Shinbo Yukihiro Miyamoto | Shaft | ||||
| 2009 | Bakemonogatari | Akiyuki Shinbo Tatsuya Oishi | Shaft | Assistant episode director Key animator | |||
| 2010 | Arakawa Under the Bridge | Akiyuki Shinbo Yukihiro Miyamoto | Shaft | ||||
| 2010 | Arakawa Under the Bridge x Bridge | Akiyuki Shinbo Yukihiro Miyamoto | Shaft | ||||
| 2010 | And Yet the Town Moves | Akiyuki Shinbo | Shaft | Key animator | |||
| 2011 | Puella Magi Madoka Magica | Akiyuki Shinbo Yukihiro Miyamoto | Shaft | Opening director and storyboard | |||
| 2011 | Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl | Akiyuki Shinbo Yukihiro Miyamoto | Shaft | Key animator | |||
| 2011 | Hidamari Sketch x SP | Akiyuki Shinbo | Shaft | ||||
| 2012 | Nisemonogatari | Shaft | Key animator Assistant episode director | ||||
| 2012 | Nekomonogatari (Black) | Shaft | Key animator | ||||
| 2013 | Monogatari Series Second Season | Shaft | Key animator | ||||
| 2014 | Hanamonogatari | Shaft | Key animator | ||||
| 2014 | Mekakucity Actors | Akiyuki Shinbo Yuki Yase | Shaft | 2nd key animator | |||
| 2014 | Tsukimonogatari | Shaft | |||||
| 2015 | Owarimonogatari | Shaft | |||||
| 2016 | March Comes In like a Lion | Akiyuki Shinbo Kenjirou Okada | Shaft | ||||
| 2017 | Owarimonogatari II | Shaft | |||||
| 2019 | Carole & Tuesday | Shinichirō Watanabe Motonobu Hori | Bones | ||||
| 2019 | Ahiru no Sora | Keizō Kusakawa Shingo Tamaki | Diomedéa | ||||
| 2021 | Godzilla Singular Point | Atsushi Takahashi | Bones | ||||
| 2021 | The Case Study of Vanitas | Bones | Ending director and storyboard | ||||
| 2022 | Call of the Night | Liden Films | Ending director and storyboard Assistant episode director Key animator | ||||
| Call of the Night 2 | Liden Films |