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Hiroyuki Morita | |
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| Born | (1964-06-26)June 26, 1964 (age 60) Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan |
| Alma mater | Fukuoka University |
| Occupation(s) | Animator,storyboard artist andanime director |
| Years active | 1987–present |
| Employers |
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| Notable work | The Cat Returns |
Hiroyuki Morita (森田 宏幸,Morita Hiroyuki, born June 26, 1964) is a Japanese animator and director. He is best known for working as director on theStudio Ghibli filmThe Cat Returns.
Morita was born inFukuoka Prefecture and graduated from Fukuoka Kenritsu Chikushikoto School. During his high school days, he produced an independent animated film calledGlass-wari Shōnen (ガラスわり少年,The Glass-Breaking Boy), which won a prize in an animation magazine contest at the time. One of the production staff members for the film was Katsuyuki Toda, who later became a manga artist.
After graduating from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering atFukuoka University, he joined the animation production companyShaft. His first work as an animator wasHiatari Ryōkō!. Afterwards, he became a freelancer and worked as an inbetweener on movies such asAkira andKiki's Delivery Service, a key animator forRoujin Z,Hashire Melos!,Memories,Perfect Blue and many others, and an episode director for theOVAGolden Boy. Being an animator who cares about fundamentals, Morita even danced the choreography for the idols inPerfect Blue.
Other Studio Ghibli productions he has worked on includeMy Neighbors the Yamadas andKoro no Daisanpo, a short film for theGhibli Museum. This led to him being selected to directThe Cat Returns. In 2007, he directed his first TV series,Bokurano: Ours.
On February 27, 2011, he was elected as director for theJapanese Animation Creators Association. He retired in June 2015 after serving on the board of directors for approximately four years.
Until mid-2017, he worked atPolygon Pictures, a digital animation production company, and was involved in the management of ACTF, a forum themed around digital animation. He is currently working as a freelancer.
During the production of the anime adaptation ofBokurano, Morita posted progress reports and held Q&A sessions about the aired episodes on his blog. There were various comments from the viewers such as criticism, support and inquiries. On the same blog, Morita stated, "I dislike the original work, and I admit that I made some malicious changes to the original when making it into an animation."[2] In response to this, not only did viewers criticize the adaptation ofBokurano, but many also criticized Morita himself.
Later, Morita explained, "The word 'dislike' that I used towards the original work was misleading so I'll correct myself. The original manga is good and full of mysteries, and I think it was worth adapting. I wrote that I 'disliked' the original story simply because there was so much mystery there, and because of the hardships involved. I was wrong to easily blame my personal 'dislike' and 'malice' for the criticisms written about the quality of my work. There is no escaping the fact that we have our own interpretation of the greatest mystery of all: why do the children die."
In aMonthly Ikki magazine interview with the original authorMohiro Kitoh, Morita said, "I was half-forced to say [that I 'dislike' it]," to which Kitoh replied, "I'm sure you were (laughs)" and "On the contrary, you've shown some good stuff (laughs)."
In response toDJ Soda's performance on the third day of MUSIC CIRCUS'23 on August 13, 2023, and sexual victimization by an audience member, he wrote on X (formerly Twitter), "I guess the sexual victimization DJ SODA is talking about is a public type of enticement. She says that if you are seduced and befriended, someone will come along later to scare you. The organizers of the music festival should not be complicit in her art," he tweeted (later deleted),[3] drawing criticism from the Korean media.[4][5]
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