is a Japanese color designer and colorist.
Early life Watanabe was part of her high school's anime research club when she found a particular interest in the use of colors in anime and decided to get a job as a colorist in the industry.Shaft Shizuoka Studio Aoi display, part of the at the . October 12, 2024, to November 10, 2024. After graduating high school, she went to and graduated in 2000.
Career She joined Shaft the year as a cel-colorist (analog) and digital colorist. Much of her early work consisted of doing the coloring for outsources given to Shaft, before gradually shifting into in-house production as Shaft itself shifted to in-house production. In 2004, Shaft split its digital coloring and compositing teams into their own department, Digital@Shaft, which Watanabe became a part of. Her first work as a color designer was also an outsource, however: Shattered Angels, which was produced by studio TNK, contacted Shaft for color design work, and both she and her senior (Hitoshi Hibino) did the color designs for the show. It wasn't until seven years later, in 2014, that she made her debut as a color designer in-house at Shaft with Hanamonogatari (with Hibino). The following year, she made her debut as solo color designer on Gourmet Girl Graffiti.
In 2022, Shaft opened a new studio in Shizuoka Prefecture with the hopes of expanding the company's production capacity outside of Tokyo. In order to set up operations and train new staff, several members of the main Tokyo branch would need to transfer to Shizuoka to perform these duties. Shaft's CEO, Mitsutoshi Kubota, offered Watanabe the opportunity and, despite having never lived in Shizuoka Prefecture, she agreed to the transfer and became a studio chief.
Works This is an incomplete list.
Teleivison series Year Title Director(s) Studio Color designer Other role(s) Ref(s)2007Shattered AngelsTetsuya YanagisawaTNK2014HanamonogatariAkiyuki ShinboTomoyuki ItamuraShaft2015Gourmet Girl GraffitiAkiyuk ShinboNaoyuki TatsuwaShaftNisekoi:Akiyuki ShinboYukihiro MiyamotoShaftOwarimonogatariAkiyuki ShinboTomoyuki ItamuraShaft2016–2017March Comes In like a LionAkiyuki ShinboKenjirou OkadaShaft2017Owarimonogatari IIAkiyuki ShinboTomoyuki ItamuraShaft2017–2018March Comes In like a Lion 2nd SeasonAkiyuki ShinboKenjirou OkadaShaft2019Zoku OwarimonogatariAkiyuki ShinboShaft2021Pretty Boy Detective ClubAkiyuki ShinboHajime OotaniShaft2025Ninja to Koroshiya no FutarigurashiYukihiro MiyamotoShaft
OVAs/ONAs Year Title Director(s) Studio Color designer Other role(s) Ref(s)2016KoyomimonogatariAkiyuki ShinboTomoyuki ItamuraShaftNisekoi:Akiyuki ShinboYukihiro MiyamotoShaft2016–2017The Beheading Cycle: The Blue Savant and the Nonsense BearerAkiyuki ShinboYuki YaseShaft2019IkebukuroYukio TakatsuShaft2021–2022Assault Lily FruitsShouji SaekiShaft2024Monogatari Series Off & Monster SeasonAkiyuki ShinboMidori YoshizawaShaft
Films Year Title Director(s) Studio Color designer Other role(s) Ref(s)2025Virgin Punk: Clockwork GirlYasuomi UmetsuShaft
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