Toshimasa Suzuki
{{short description|Japanese director and animator}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Toshimasa Suzuki
鈴木 利正
| image =
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| caption =
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1966}}
| birth_place = Japan
| death_date =
| death_place =
| death_cause =
| known_for = Heroic Age
Lagrange: The Flower of Rin-ne
| occupation = Animator, director, storyboard artist
| employer = Shaft (1988–2000)
| awards =
| years_active = 1989–present
| spouse = Mitsuko Sekimoto
| website =
}}
{{Nihongo|Toshimasa Suzuki|鈴木 利正|Suzuki Toshimasa|lead=yes}} is a Japanese director, animator, and storyboard artist. He joined Shaft in 1995 as an episode director and storyboard artist, and although he continues to work for Shaft, Suzuki commonly directs series with other studios, most notably with Xebec, where he made his series directorial debut with Heroic Age in 2007.
Career and life
Suzuki joined Shaft around 1988 as a key animator.{{Cite web |url=https://ddnavi.com/interview/1005788/a/|script-title=ja:15年振りのタッグが魅せる、日本アニメの表現力――『RWBY 氷雪帝国』鈴木利正（監督）＆冲方丁（シリーズ構成・脚本）対談（前編）|trans-title= The First Team-Up in 15 Years Brings us the Power of Expression of Japanese Animation - "RWBY: Ice Queendom" Talk with Toshimasa Suzuki (Director) and Tow Ubukata (Series Composition/Screenplay) (Part 1)|date= July 11, 2022|language= Japanese|access-date= July 12, 2022|interviewer= Hidekuni Shida}} He made his debut as an episode director and storyboard artist for the studio's first original television series, Juuni Senshi Bakuretsu Eto Ranger, in 1995. His employment with Shaft continued until the early 2000s, when he decided to go freelance (he continued to work with Shaft as a freelancer). In 2007, he debuted as a series director with Xebec with Heroic Age under the supervision of Takashi Noto. For the next few years, Suzuki focused solely on freelancing work with other studios. He continued to do work with Xebec, directing Lagrange: The Flower of Rin-ne and Fafner in the Azure: Heaven and Earth, and started directing series outside of either Xebec or Shaft, such as The Pilot's Love Song and The Price of Smiles. However, he remains a prominent figure at Shaft and works on most of the studio's productions.
Suzuki was born in 1966,{{sfn|Hirota|2017|p=3}} and he is married to color designer Mitsuko Sekimoto,{{Cite Tweet|number=1790609503198810410|user=ts_north|author=Suzuki, Toshimasa|date= May 14, 2024|script-title=ja:5/11のイベントに向けて前乗りで、5/10に色彩設計の関本(妻)さんと保護犬の短足女子で出発です。{{!}} #kamojo {{!}} #輪廻のラグランジェ# {{!}} 鴨川スピリット|trans-title=We set off early for the event on May 11 with my wife Sekimoto, the color designer, and our short-legged rescue dog on May 10th. {{!}} #kamojo {{!}} #Rinne no Lagrange {{!}} #Kamogawa Spirit}} who has worked with Suzuki on all of his directorial projects outside of Shaft.
=Style=
He said that he is a fan of hard sci-fi, as well as a fan of foreign sci-fi productions, which he has used for inspiration on works like Fafner in the Azure and Heroic Age. Although a fan of watching realistic and 'muddy' depictions of emotions, he himself does not like to make realistic depictions in his works, and is instead more interested in making his works beautiful and exaggerated. Writer Tow Ubukata commented on Suzuki's ideal of beauty by saying he was good at directing emotional scenes.
After he worked as Akiyuki Shinbo's assistant on Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase, Suzuki wanted to use some of Shinbo's visual composition techniques himself while working on Fafner: Right of Left succeeding the end of Tsukuyomi{{apostrophe}}s production.{{Cite Tweet|number= 349744105775038465|user= ts_north|author= Suzuki, Toshimasa|date= June 25, 2013|script-title=ja:ROL演出の話し少し。ROLの前にシャフトで月詠をやっていた。新房監督の画面構成がすごく好きだったのでROLでも取り入れたいと思った。ただしまんまやると、架空とはいえ瀬戸内をモデルに竜宮島が作られているので現実感が無くなってしまうと思った。#fafner|trans-title= Before ROL, I worked on Tsukuyomi at Shaft. I liked director Shinbo's screen composition so much that I wanted to incorporate it into ROL. However, I thought that if I did it as it was, it would lose the sense of reality because the island of Ryugujima was modeled after the Setouchi area, even though it was fictional. #fafner}} Broadly, he stated that his way of creating images changed after working on Tsukuyomi.{{sfn|Hirota|2017|p=2}} Director Ryūtarō Nakamura's sense of light and shadows, whom Suzuki worked under as the assistant director for Sakura Wars (2000), also had an effect on Suzuki's style.{{sfn|Hirota|2017|p=2}}
Works
=Television series=
{{Color box|#AFA}} In "Director(s)" column highlights Suzuki's directorial works.
=OVAs/ONAs=
=Films=
=Video games=
| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center; margin=auto; "
!scope="col" width=5%| Year !scope="col" width=20%| Title !scope="col" width=10%| Studio !scope="col" class="unsortable"| Roles !scope="col" class="unsortable"| Ref(s) |
| 2016
|Shaft |align=left|Opening cinematic storyboard artist |
Notes
=Geneal notes=
{{notelist}}
=Web citations=
- {{Cite web |url=https://akiba-souken.com/article/29108|script-title=ja:アニメ業界ウォッチング第30回：「監督」と「演出」は、職業的にどう違うのか？ 鈴木利正インタビュー！|trans-title= Anime Industry Watching No.85: What is the professional difference between "Director" and "Episode Director"? An interview with Toshimasa Suzuki!|website= Akiba Souken|year= 2017|access-date= August 29, 2023|language=Japanese|last=Hirota|first=Keisuke}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|1582831}}
- {{anime News Network|people|id=27243}}
- {{twitter|ts_north}}
{{Toshimasa Suzuki}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Suzuki, Toshimasa}}