is a Japanese animator, character designer, and storyboard artist.
Career Sugiyama joined Shaft in 2001 as an in-between animator while he was interested in drawing a variety of subjects and learning from the industry.Shaft Shizuoka Studio Aoi display, part of the at the . October 12, 2024, to November 10, 2024. By 2003 he was a key animator, and by 2004 an animation director. In 2007, Sugiyama was chosen to design the characters for the studio's adaptation of the Ef visual novel. Sugiyama became one of the studio's primary character designers and chief animation directors and was again given the task of heading the Arakawa Under the Bridge project in 2010. In 2011, Sugiyama was opposite of character designer Asako Nishida in acting as the chief animation director for Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl. Nishida commented on herself, the main animators, and Sugiyama being especially particular about the drawings of character's legs in the work. In 2014, he was given responsibility of designing the characters for the Nisekoi anime adaptation.
Shaft was approached to adapt the March Comes In like a Lion shogi manga around the time of Nisekois production. Chica Umino, the author, was a fan of Shaft and their chief director Akiyuki Shinbo's works and had decided that she didn't want an anime adaptation if it was not by the Shaft-Shinbo team. Through a series of events involving her editor from Hakusensha, Ryou Tomoda, being approached by Tohokushinsha Film producer Makoto Tanaka (the son of famed shogi player Torahiko Tanaka) about the possibility of an anime and getting a meeting with Aniplex producer Atsuhiro Iwakami and Shaft's president Mitsutoshi Kubota, the series was greenlit. Umino initially wanted several aspects of the anime to be aesthetically reminiscent of the team's Bakemonogatari series, which she was a fan of, and included her wanting Akio Watanabe to draw the character designs. Shinbo didn't think that it was a good idea, and Watanabe was busy so the schedule didn't align; and instead the role of character designer fell to Sugiyama. The series began airing in 2016, and Sugiyama was joined by Shiotsuki as co-chief animation director, with a second season airing in 2017. According to Shinbo, a key difference between the two seasons was the level of familiarity the staff had with the work and the incorporation of their own styles into it, which he noted in particular for Sugiyama.
He was chosen as one of the chief animation directors for Magia Record alongside Hiroki Yamamura and character designer Junichirou Taniguchi in 2020. He had only been involved in the original Puella Magi Madoka Magica series to a minor degree in which he did key animation for the first episode. Taniguchi was not strict about the differing styles in animation in different scenes from the animators and thought positively of showing their characteristics, like when drawings are given stylish flare in battle scenes; but he was particular about cut-by-cut depictions. Sugiyama closely watched Taniguchi's work in the first episode to try and imitate his drawings and worked on certain episodes alongside Yamamura, with the two splitting the work more on a scene basis than by segment of an episode. Yamamura generally supervised the action scenes, while Sugiyama did the "daily life" parts, as Yamamura struggled with depicting the characters "cutely" as opposed to Sugiyama. Yamamura thought that some of Sugiyama's work in the second episode was impressive, so he referenced scenes that Sugiyama supervised to make his own drawings cuter. Sugiyama mainly worked as an animation director on the series aside from Kenjirou Okada personally requesting that Sugiyama draw the layouts to one of the scenes in episode 3.
Sugiyama did not return for the second and final seasons of Magia Record in a major capacity as he became busy with another project. In 2022, Shaft debuted RWBY: Ice Queendom, an anime series based on the RWBY web series created by Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth. Talks about a RWBY anime had extended back to the mid-2010s when Oum had spoken with Good Smile Company CEO Takanori Aki, where the latter found out that Oum was a fan of artist Huke's work and was interested in making an anime-related work. Three weeks after their final meeting, Oum suffered an allergic reaction and passed away. Aki was still interested in pushing for the project they had worked on, and staff from Rooster Teeth later visited studios Shaft and Trigger, with production officially underway at Shaft in 2020. Huke was asked to re-adapt the designs from the web series, as well as design the new outfits that were to appear in Ice Queendom. Sugiyama was given the responsibility of then adapting Huke's redesigns for animation, as well as acting as the chief animation director alongside Yamamura, Yoshiaki Itou, and Rina Iwamoto. Director Toshimasa Suzuki noted that the team and Sugiyama faced various difficulties during production, as not only were they working on the project as its own story set between seasons of the main franchise, but that they also needed to be cognizant of certain aspects of the continuity and design sensibilities in relation to volumes that were still releasing. Despite the difficulties, Suzuki praised Sugiyama for his supervision of the drawings and designs.
Influence Sugiyama's work had a profound effect on his Shaft colleague Kazuya Shiotsuki, who called Sugiyama's Nisekoi character sheets and key visual drawings to be "god-like". When asked who had influenced him the most, Shiotsuki named Sugiyama. Nisekoi manga artist Naoshi Komi also noted a significant influence on his work from Sugiyama. Komi described Sugiyama's drawings of the cast to be feminine and admired them, and when he first saw the designs and drawings for the anime, he considered them to be "unbeatable" and said that he sometimes imports Sugiyama's drawings and learns by copying them.
Animator and character designer was also largely influenced by Sugiyama in particular through his work on Ef. Though broadly influenced by the series' visual style, she noted Sugiyama's character drawing style and clothing as specifically influencing her work. After graduating from vocational school, she had a brief stint as a freelance animator at Shaft where she was given a desk and happened to be put on Nisekoi, which she said gave her the opportunity to get his autograph.
Works Television series Year Title Director(s) StudioCDCADADKA Other roles and notes Ref(s)2001Cyborg 009: The Cyborg SoldierJun KawagoeJapan VistecIn-between animatorOkojo-sanRadixIn-between animator2002G-On RidersShinichiro KimuraTNKShaftIn-between animatorMahoromatic: Something More BeautifulHiroyuki YamagaGainaxShaftIn-between animatorHeat Guy JKazuki AkaneSatelightIn-between animator2003Dear BoysSusumu KudouA.C.G.TPopotanShinichiro KimuraShaftIn-between checkMaburahoShinichiro KimuraJ.C.Staff2004Misaki ChroniclesHiroshi NegishiJun TakadaRadixThis Ugly yet Beautiful WorldShouji SaekiGaianxShaftIn-between checkTetsujin 28-gouYasuhiro ImagawaPalm StudioIn-between animatorGakuen AliceTakahiro OmoriGroup TACTsukuyomi: Moon PhaseAkiyuki ShinboShaftAssistant animation director2nd key animatorUta KataKeiji GotohHal Film Maker2005He is My MasterShouji SaekiGainaxShaftPani Poni Dash!Akiyuki ShinboShin OonumaShaft2006RECRyūtarō NakamuraShaftNegima!?Akiyuki ShinboShin OonumaShaftAssistant animation director2007Hidamari SketchAkiyuki ShinboRyouki KamitsuboShaftSayonara, Zetsubou-SenseiAkiyuki ShinboShaftA Tale of MemoriesShin OonumaShaft2008Hidamari Sketch x 365Akiyuki ShinboShaftEf: A Tale of MelodiesShin OonumaShaft2009Natsu no Arashi!Akiyuki ShinboShin OonumaShaftBakemonogatariAkiyuki ShinboTatsuya OishiShaftStoryboard artistAssistant animation directorZan Sayonara, Zetsubou-SenseiAkiyuki ShinboYukihiro MiyamotoShaftNatsu no Arashi! Akinai-chuuAkiyuki ShinboShin OonumaShaft2010Hidamari Sketch x HoshimittsuAkiyuki ShinboKenichi IshikuraShaftArakawa Under the BridgeAkiyuki ShinboYukihiro MiyamotoShaft2011Puella Magi Madoka MagicaAkiyuki ShinboYukihiro MiyamotoShaftGround Control to Psychoelectric GirlAkiyuki ShinboYukihiro MiyamotoShaftStoryboard artist2012NisemonogatariAkiyuki ShinboTomoyuki ItamuraShaftNekomonogatari: BlackAkiyuki ShinboTomoyuki ItamuraShaft2013Monogatari Series Second SeasonAkiyuki ShinboTomoyuki ItamuraNaoyuki TatsuwaYuki YaseShaftStoryboard artist2014NisekoiAkiyuki ShinboNaoyuki TatsuwaShaft2015Gourmet Girl GraffitiAkiyuki ShinboNaoyuki TatsuwaShaftStoryboard artistNisekoi:Akiyuki ShinboYukihiro MiyamotoShaftOwarimonogatariAkiyuki ShinboTomoyuki ItamuraShaft2016March Comes In like a LionAkiyuki ShinboKenjirou OkadaShaft2017March Comes In like a Lion 2nd Season2018Fate/Extra: Last EncoreAkiyuki ShinboYukihiro MiyamotoShaft2019Zoku OwarimonogatariAkiyuki ShinboShaftThe Quintessential QuintupletsSatoshi KuwabaraTezuka Productions2020Magia RecordDoroinuYukihiro MiyamotoKenjirou OkadaMidori YoshizawaShaftAssault Lily BouquetShouji SaekiHajime OotaniShaft2021Pretty Boy Detective ClubAkiyuki ShinboHajime OotaniShaftAssistant chief animation directorMagia Record: The Eve of AwakeningDoroinuYukihiro MiyamotoShaftAssistant chief animation director2022Magia Record: Dawn of a Shallow DreamDoroinuYukihiro MiyamotoShaftRWBY: Ice QueendomToshimasa SuzukiKenjirou OkadaShaft2025A Ninja and an Assassin Under One RoofYukihiro MiyamotoShaftJust Like Mona LisaKana ShundoShaft
OVAs/ONAs Year Title Director(s) StudioCDCADADKA Other roles and notes Ref(s)2002Arcade Gamer FubukiShaftIn-between animator2003Papillon RoseShinji TobitaStudio KelmadickTemptationJuuhachi MinamizawaArcturus2006Negima: Spring SpecialAkiyuki ShinboShin OonumaShaft2009Zan Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei BangaichiAkiyuki ShinboYukihiro MiyamotoShaft2014NisekoiAkiyuki ShinboNaoyuki TatsuwaShaft2016Nisekoi:Akiyuki ShinboYukihiro MiyamotoShaft2024Monogatari Series Off & Monster SeasonAkiyuki ShinboMidori YoshizawaShaft
Films Year Title Director(s) StudioCDCADADKAOther roles and notesRef(s)2007Kino's Journey: Country of IllnessRyūtarō NakamuraShaft
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