swap_horiz Kitaro Kosaka Alternatives

1

Hideaki Anno

Hideaki Anno is a Japanese animator and director renowned for his innovative approach to animation and storytelling. He...

Traditional Japanese Science Fiction Evangelion

9.2 Excellent

2

Masaaki Yuasa

Masaaki Yuasa is a Japanese animator and director celebrated for his experimental and avant-garde style. His work, such...

Avant Garde Japanese Experimental Director

9.1 Excellent

3

KU

Kunihiko Ikuhara

Kunihiko Ikuhara is a Japanese animator recognized for his distinctive directorial style and complex narratives. He freq...

Television Japanese Surrealist Magical Girl

9.0 Excellent

4

Osamu Dezaki

Japanese anime director (1943–2011) who pioneered the freeze-frame 'postcard memory' visual technique and directed landm...

Anime Television Classic Japanese

9.0 Excellent

5

Yoshiyuki Tomino

Yoshiyuki Tomino is a Japanese animator primarily known for his creation of Mobile Suit Gundam. His 1979 series pioneere...

Mecha Television Japanese Gundam

8.8 Great

6

Hiroyuki Imaishi

Hiroyuki Imaishi is a Japanese animator and director known primarily for his work at Studio Trigger. He co-founded the s...

Action Japanese Trigger Director

8.8 Great

7

Naoko Yamada

Naoko Yamada is a prominent Japanese animator and director recognized for her meticulous attention to detail and emotion...

Drama Japanese Slice Of Life Director

8.8 Great

8

SA

Sayo Yamamoto

Sayo Yamamoto is a Japanese animator primarily noted for her work directing television series. She gained significant re...

Television Japanese Sports Director

8.7 Great

9

Yoshifumi Kondo

Japanese animator who directed Whisper of the Heart (1995) for Studio Ghibli and was considered a likely successor to Ha...

Japanese Theatrical Ghibli Director

8.6 Great

10

Masashi Ando

Japanese animator who served as animation director on Studio Ghibli productions including Princess Mononoke (1997) and S...

Character Design Japanese Theatrical Ghibli

8.6 Great

11

Marjane Satrapi

Iranian-French author and filmmaker Marjane Satrapi co-directed the animated feature Persepolis (2007), based on her aut...

Female Theatrical Director French Iranian

8.6 Great

12

Yoshifumi Kondō

Yoshifumi Kondō was a Japanese animator and director at Studio Ghibli who directed the acclaimed 1995 coming-of-age film...

Traditional Japanese Studio Ghibli Director

8.5 Great

13

Leiji Matsumoto

Japanese manga artist and anime creator Leiji Matsumoto created Space Battleship Yamato (1974) and Galaxy Express 999, f...

Traditional Japanese Science Fiction Director

8.5 Great

14

Sunao Katabuchi

Japanese anime director Sunao Katabuchi directed In This Corner of the World (2016), an acclaimed film depicting daily l...

Drama Japanese Historical Director

8.5 Great

15

Akiyuki Shinbo

Japanese anime director at Shaft studio known for a highly stylized visual approach, serving as chief director of Puella...

Anime Television Contemporary Japanese

8.5 Great

16

Ari Folman

Israeli director whose animated documentary Waltz with Bashir (2008) reconstructed his own suppressed memories of the 19...

Contemporary Israeli Documentary Theatrical

8.5 Great

17

Keiichi Hara

Japanese anime director known for multiple 'Crayon Shin-chan' theatrical films and for directing the independently accla...

Anime Contemporary Japanese Theatrical

8.2 Great

18

Akihiko Yamashita

Japanese animator who worked at Studio Ghibli as a key animator and animation director, contributing to multiple Hayao M...

Character Japanese Theatrical Ghibli

8.0 Great

19

Mahiro Maeda

Japanese animator and director who contributed key animation to Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995) and directed a segment of...

Anime Japanese Theatrical Director

8.0 Great

20

Hiromasa Yonebayashi

Hiromasa Yonebayashi is a Japanese animator and director who began at Studio Ghibli, directing Arrietty in 2010, and lat...

Japanese Ghibli Studio Ponoc Director

7.8 Good