Naoko Yamada
Naoko Yamada (山田 尚子) is a Japanese animator, television and film director. Working at Kyoto Animation, she directed the K-On! and Tamako Market anime series, and the anime films A Silent Voice and Liz and the Blue Bird. Yamada intended to work in film after university, but she decided to join Kyoto Animation after seeing an advertisement. Her first assignment at KyoAni was drawing inbetween frames for Inuyasha. She was eventually promoted to a key animator for Air. After working as an episode director of Clannad, she was asked to make her chief directorial debut with K-On!, an adaptation of a slice-of-life manga. The series was very successful, spurring a second season and a film. In 2013, she directed Tamako Market, and followed it with the film Tamako Love Story in 2014. For Tamako Love Story, she was awarded the New Face Award at the Japan Media Arts Festival. She storyboarded the entire film herself, and also wrote the lyrics for the opening theme song, Everybody Loves Somebody. Yamada's next project was the feature film A Silent Voice, an adaptation of the manga of the same name, that reflected on elements of bullying and physical impairment in Japan. The film opened at #2 in the Japanese Box Office and grossed a total of ¥2.3 billion, the 19th highest-grossing film in Japan in 2016. The film also received multiple award nominations, including Best Animation Film in the Mainichi Film Awards and the Excellent Animation of the Year in the Japan Academy Prize. For Yamada, the most important part of being a director is to observe people. She describes herself as a "method" director, emphasizing the minds of the characters. On July 18, 2019, a man started a fire at the main studio of Kyoto Animation, killing 36 of Yamada's colleagues and wounding 33 others. Yamada was reported not to have been hurt in the fire. In 2020, Yamada left KyoAni to join Science SARU, where she directed 2021's The Heike Story. Source: Wikipedia
K-On! The Movie
(Director)
Garden of Remembrance
(Director)
Liz and the Blue Bird
(Second Unit Director)
K-On! The Movie
(Second Unit Director)
Sound! Euphonium the Movie – Welcome to the Kitauji High School Concert Band
(Second Unit Director)
Sound! Euphonium the Movie – May the Melody Reach You!
(Series Director)
Sound! Euphonium the Movie – Welcome to the Kitauji High School Concert Band
(Series Director)
Sound! Euphonium the Movie – May the Melody Reach You!
(Second Unit Director)
Sound! Euphonium the Movie – Our Promise: A Brand New Day
(Key Animation)
Sound! Euphonium the Movie – Our Promise: A Brand New Day
(Second Unit Director)
Tamako Love Story
(Second Unit Director)
A Silent Voice: The Movie
(Storyboard Artist)
K-On! The Movie
(Storyboard Artist)
Sound! Euphonium the Movie – Welcome to the Kitauji High School Concert Band
(Storyboard Artist)
Sound! Euphonium the Movie – May the Melody Reach You!
(Storyboard Artist)
Liz and the Blue Bird
(Storyboard Artist)
Tamako Love Story
(Storyboard Artist)
The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya
(Second Unit Director)
Tamako Love Story
(Director)
Garden of Remembrance
(Screenplay)
A Silent Voice: The Movie
(Director)
The Colors Within
(Director)
Tamako Love Story
(Original Story)
Liz and the Blue Bird
(Director)
Munto 2: Beyond the Walls of Time
(Animation)
The Last War of the Heavenliods and Akutoliods
(Key Animation)
The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya
(Key Animation)
Violet Evergarden: Eternity and the Auto Memory Doll
(Second Unit Director)
The Colors Within
(Storyboard Artist)
The Colors Within
(Second Unit Director)
Modern Love Tokyo: He's Playing Our Song
(Director)
Modern Love Tokyo: He's Playing Our Song
(Storyboard)
K-ON!
(Series Director)
K-ON!
(Director)
Nichijou: My Ordinary Life
(Director)
Beyond the Boundary
(Director)
Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid
(Director)
Sound! Euphonium
(Series Director)
K-ON!
(Opening/Ending Animation)
K-ON!
(Storyboard Artist)
Free!
(Opening/Ending Animation)
Free!
(Director)
K-ON!
(Key Animation)
Beyond the Boundary
(Opening/Ending Animation)
Tsurune
(Director)
The Heike Story
(Storyboard Artist)
Sound! Euphonium
(Director)
Violet Evergarden
(Storyboard Artist)
Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid
(Storyboard Artist)
Sound! Euphonium
(Storyboard Artist)
Nichijou: My Ordinary Life
(Opening/Ending Animation)
Tsurune
(Storyboard Artist)
Free!
(Storyboard Artist)
Nichijou: My Ordinary Life
(Storyboard Artist)
The Heike Story
(Opening/Ending Animation)
Beyond the Boundary
(Storyboard Artist)
Tamako Market
(Series Director)
Kaguya-sama: Love Is War
(Opening/Ending Animation)
Visual Prison
(Opening/Ending Animation)
Tamako Market
(Director)
Kanon
(Key Animation)
Clannad
(Director)
Clannad
(Key Animation)
Clannad
(Assistant Director)
Clannad
(Storyboard Artist)
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
(Director)
Modern Love Tokyo
(Storyboard Artist)
Myriad Colors Phantom World
(Storyboard Artist)
Modern Love Tokyo
(Director)
The Heike Story
(Series Director)
Hyouka
(Storyboard Artist)
Hyouka
(Director)
The Heike Story
(Director)
Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions!
(Storyboard Artist)
Lucky Star
(Key Animation)
Tamako Market
(Storyboard Artist)
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
(Storyboard Artist)