Masato Sato

Masato Sato
Profile
Gender:	Male
Location:	Japan
Position:	Director Organizer Storyboard Episode director
Years active:	1980-present
Aliases:	大河桝玖
Also known as Masuku Taiga. The last name can also be pronounced Okawa, Daiga, Oko or Oga. The first name can either be read Masuhisa, Masuki or Masutama.

Masato Sato (佐藤 真人 ,Satō Masato) is a Japanese animation director, screenplay writer, storyboard artist, and technical director. He was assistant director from episode 318 to 332, before replacing Yasuichiro Yamamoto as director from episode 333 to 504. Occasionally he uses the alias Masuku Taiga (大河 桝玖 ,Taiga Masuku) for some storyboard and episode directing work.

Biography

He used to work as a video operator at Ajia-do (亜細亜堂). After switching to do directing, he established his own animation studio named Axel (アクセル).

He was involved in the Detective Conan anime production since it was first broadcast. He first did organizer, storyboard, and episode director work for the third episode An Idol's Locked Room Murder Case; during this period, he also had been the director of the anime in episode 162 and episode 219. Afterwards, he became the assistant director, starting with the 1st part of The Lucky Cigar Case; then the long-term director, starting with the 1st part of The Similar Princesses.

The departure of Akai along with the resignation of Masato Sato. (OP22)

During his period as director, the Detective Conan anime production became rather chaotic; there was a huge alteration in the staff team, most storyboard artist began to quit the anime production, and a lot of animators were diverted to work on the movies, even the anime character designer Masatomo Sudo temporarily ceased serving as the role. As a result, the anime character designer was changed to Mari Tominaga forcibly. The color design was also switched to Fusako Nakao, and the queer color tone had brought a few questionings. This caused the unsteadily of the animation back then, leading to the increase in the demand of the involvements of outsource companies as well.

Special extended episodes (1-2.5 hours) are more commonly found in the Masato Sato era (mostly during YTV schedule rearrangement in Fall 2007). Amusingly, they made different versions of the same opening for each special episodes - for example opening 21 has different versions of opening animation for each episodes (including the remaster episodes).

Until the last episode of the Clash of Red and Black series, which was aired in mid 2008, Sato eventually retired from the director role; Koujin Ochi took over the director position thereafter (Sato did not take part in the Detective Conan production for some time after his resignation as director, but surprisingly returned in 2011 and served as the director for OVA Detective Conan vs. Wooo).

In 2007 and 2013, Sato worked on some episodes under the pseudonym Masuku Taiga, which seems to be a direct reference to the boxing name and manga series Tiger Mask (タイガーマスク / Taigā Masuku).

Works in Detective Conan

As Masato Sato

Anime

Participation in: 55 cases (74 episodes)

Jpn#	Int#	Episode title	Original broadcast	Role	Note
3	3	An Idol's Locked Room Murder Case	January 22, 1996	Storyboard, Episode director
9	9	Tenkaichi Night Festival Murder Case	March 4, 1996	Storyboard, Episode director
14	15	The Mysterious Shooting Message Case	April 29, 1996	Episode director
19	20	An Elevator Murder Case	June 10, 1996	Storyboard, Episode director
25	26	The False Kidnapping and Hostage Case	July 22, 1996	Storyboard, Episode director
30	31	Alibi Testimony Murder Case	August 26, 1996	Storyboard, Episode director
35	36	Mountain Villa Bandaged Man Murder Case (Part 2)	October 28, 1996	Organizer, Storyboard, Episode director
42	43	Karaoke Box Murder Case	December 16, 1996	Storyboard, Episode director
48	49	Diplomat Murder Case (Part 1)	February 17, 1997	Organizer, Storyboard
49	50	Diplomat Murder Case (Part 2)	February 24, 1997	Organizer, Storyboard
68	70	Night Baron Murder Case (The Case)	July 28, 1997	Organizer, Storyboard
69	71	Night Baron Murder Case (The Suspicion)	August 4, 1997	Organizer, Storyboard, Episode director
70	72	Night Baron Murder Case (The Resolution)	August 11, 1997	Organizer
77	80	Distinguished Family's Consecutive Accidental Death Case (Part 1)	October 20, 1997	Episode director
79	82	The Bank Heist Murder Case	November 3, 1997	Storyboard
86	89	The Kidnapping Location Case	January 12, 1998	Storyboard
110	116	Cooking Classroom Murder Case (Part 1)	July 27, 1998	Storyboard
115	121	Scuba Diving Murder Case (Part 2)	August 31, 1998	Storyboard
121	128	The Locked Bathroom Murder Case (Part 1)	October 26, 1998	Organizer, Storyboard
122	129	The Locked Bathroom Murder Case (Part 2)	November 2, 1998	Organizer, Storyboard
162	172-173	The Locked Room in the Sky: Shinichi Kudo's First Case	September 27, 1999	Organizer, Storyboard, Episode director	1 hour
165	176	The Disappearing Detective Boys Case	October 25, 1999	Storyboard, Episode director
172	183	The Revival of the Dying Message (Part 1)	December 13, 1999	Organizer, Storyboard, Episode director
173	184	The Revival of the Dying Message (Part 2)	December 20, 1999	Organizer, Storyboard
196	211	The Invisible Weapon, Ran's First Investigation	June 26, 2000	Episode director
205	220	Metropolitan Police Detective Love Story 3 (Part 1)	August 28, 2000	Organizer, Storyboard
206	221	Metropolitan Police Detective Love Story 3 (Part 2)	September 4, 2000	Organizer, Storyboard
219	235-238	The Gathering of the Detectives! Shinichi Kudo vs. Kaitou Kid	January 8, 2001	Organizer, Storyboard, Episode director	2 hours
226	245	The Battle Game Trap (Part 1)	February 26, 2001	Episode director
230	249	The Mysterious Passenger (Part 1)	April 16, 2001	Organizer, Storyboard
231	250	The Mysterious Passenger (Part 2)	April 23, 2001	Organizer, Storyboard, Episode director
240	259	The Shinkansen Transport Case (Part 1)	July 2, 2001	Organizer, Storyboard, Episode director
241	260	The Shinkansen Transport Case (Part 2)	July 9, 2001	Organizer, Storyboard, Episode director
245	264	The Gunshot at the Sunflower Estate	August 6, 2001	Storyboard
258	277	The Man from Chicago (Part 1)	November 19, 2001	Organizer, Storyboard
259	278	The Man from Chicago (Part 2)	November 26, 2001	Organizer, Storyboard
271	293	The Secret Rushed Omission (Part 1)	March 11, 2002	Organizer, Storyboard
272	294	The Secret Rushed Omission (Part 2)	March 18, 2002	Organizer, Storyboard
286	308	Shinichi Kudo's New York Case (The Case)	July 15, 2002	Organizer, Storyboard
287	309	Shinichi Kudo's New York Case (The Deduction)	July 22, 2002	Organizer, Storyboard
288	310	Shinichi Kudo's New York Case (The Resolution)	July 29, 2002	Organizer, Storyboard
304	326-329	The Trembling Police Headquarters: 12 Million Hostages	January 6, 2003	Organizer, Storyboard, Episode director	2 hours
344	370	The Convenience Store Trap (Part 2)	December 8, 2003	Episode director
345	371-375	Head-to-Head Match with the Black Organization: A Dual Mystery on a Full Moon Night	January 5, 2004	Episode director	2.5 hours
383	414-417	Miracle at Koshien Ball Park! The Defiants Face the Dark Demon	December 20, 2004	Organizer, Storyboard	2 hours
390	424	Metropolitan Police Detective Love Story 6 (Part 1)	February 28, 2005	Organizer, Storyboard
391	425	Metropolitan Police Detective Love Story 6 (Part 2)	March 7, 2005	Organizer, Storyboard
393	427	A Kidnapping Case... So It Seems	March 21, 2005	Episode director
414	448	The Detective Boys' Bluebird Chase	September 12, 2005	Storyboard
418	452	Home of Beika's Grenier	October 31, 2005	Storyboard
421	455	Gingko-Colored First Love (Part 1)	November 21, 2005	Episode director
422	456	Gingko-Colored First Love (Part 2)	November 28, 2005	Episode director
425	459-463	Black Impact! The Moment the Black Organization Reaches Out	January 9, 2006	Episode director	2.5 hours
429	467	Two People Who Can't Return (Part 1)	February 6, 2006	Organizer, Storyboard
430	468	Two People Who Can't Return (Part 2)	February 13, 2006	Organizer, Storyboard
435	473	Information Gathered About the Detective Boys (Part 1)	April 17, 2006	Organizer, Storyboard
436	474	Information Gathered About the Detective Boys (Part 2)	April 24, 2006	Organizer, Storyboard
437	475	Aya Ueto and Shinichi - The Promise from 4 Years Ago	May 8, 2006	Storyboard
449	487-488	Metropolitan Police Detective Love Story - Fake Wedding	August 21, 2006	Episode director	1 hour
454	494	The Overturned Conclusion (Part 1)	October 30, 2006	Organizer, Storyboard
456	496	The Mystery I Loved	November 13, 2006	Storyboard
457	497	Sonoko's Red Handkerchief (Part 1)	November 20, 2006	Organizer, Storyboard
458	498	Sonoko's Red Handkerchief (Part 2)	November 27, 2006	Organizer, Storyboard
463	503	The Shadow of the Black Organization (The Strange Illumination)	February 5, 2007	Organizer, Storyboard
467	507	The Unsmashable Snowman (Part 2)	March 5, 2007	Organizer, Storyboard
468	508	Mysterious Case Near the Pond	March 12, 2007	Episode director
485	528	Whereabouts of the Dark Photograph (Part 2)	August 27, 2007	Organizer, Storyboard
487	530-531	Metropolitan Police Detective Love Story 8: The Left Hand's Ring Finger	October 15, 2007	Organizer, Storyboard	1 hour
490	536-537	Heiji Hattori vs. Shinichi Kudo: Deduction Battle on the Ski Slope!	December 3, 2007	Organizer, Storyboard	1 hour
498	545	Clash of Red and Black (Disturbance)	March 3, 2008	Storyboard
499	546	Clash of Red and Black (Disguise)	March 10, 2008	Storyboard
501	548	Clash of Red and Black (Suspicion)	April 14, 2008	Storyboard
503	550	Clash of Red and Black (Ready to Die)	May 12, 2008	Storyboard
504	551	Clash of Red and Black (Killed in the Line of Duty)	May 19, 2008	Storyboard, Episode director

Openings and Endings

Participation in: 5 openings and 6 endings

#	Song name	Original title	Role	Note
OP
OP3	Nazo	謎	Technical director
OP5	TRUTH ~A Great Detective of Love~	TRUTH ~A Great Detective of Love~	Storyboard, Technical director
OP8	Koi wa Thrill, Shock, Suspense	恋はスリル、ショック、サスペンス	Storyboard, Technical director
OP10	Winter Bells	Winter Bells	Technical director
OP12	Kaze no Lalala	風のららら	Technical director
ED
ED8	Free Magic	Free Magic	Storyboard, Technical director
ED12	always	always	Technical director
ED14	Yume Mita Ato de	夢みたあとで	Storyboard, Technical director
ED15	Mushoku	無色	Storyboard, Technical director
ED17	Ashita o Yume Mite	明日を夢見て	Storyboard, Technical director
ED18	Kimi to Iu Hikari	君という光	Storyboard, Technical director

Movies

Participation in: 4 movies

Movie	Title	Original airdate	Role	Note
1	The Time-Bombed Skyscraper	April 19, 1997	Storyboard, Technical director
2	The Fourteenth Target	April 18, 1998	Storyboard, Technical director
3	The Last Wizard of the Century	April 17, 1999	Technical director
4	Captured in Her Eyes	April 22, 2000	Technical director

OVAs

Participation in: 5 OVAs

OVA	Title	Original airdate	Role	Note
4	Conan, Kid, and the Crystal Mother	March 3, 2004	Director
5	The Target is Kogoro!! The Detective Boys' Secret Report	March 9, 2005	Director
6	Follow the Vanished Diamond! Conan & Heiji vs. Kid!	March 15, 2006	Director
Detective Conan vs. Wooo 1	Fatuous Detective!? Kogoro Mouri	April 22, 2011	Director
Detective Conan vs. Wooo 2	Television Personality Maomi Yuki's Worries	June 23, 2011	Director

As Masuku Taiga

Anime

Participation in: 5 cases (5 episodes)

Jpn#	Int#	Episode title	Original broadcast	Role	Note
465	505	The Shadow of the Black Organization (Shining Star of Pearl)	February 19, 2007	Organizer, Storyboard
476	516	Genta's Certain Kill Shot (Part 1)	June 25, 2007	Organizer, Storyboard
486	529	Beckoning Cat from Right to Left	September 3, 2007	Episode director
488	532-533	The Devil of the TV Station	October 22, 2007	Episode director	1 hour
687	739	The Unsolvable Ice Trap	February 16, 2013	Storyboard

Other notable works

Anime

• Lupin III: Part III: Original drawings
• Soreike! Anpanman: Technical director
• Slayers: Technical director, Storyboard
• Slayers Next: Storyboard
• Doraemon: Technical director, Storyboard
• Yatterman: Storyboard
• Ultimate Otaku Teacher: Storyboard (Credited as "大河桝玖")

References

1. 佐藤真人 - Wikipedia (Japanese)
2. 大河桝玖 - Atwiki (Japanese)
3. 大河桝玖 - AllCinema (Japanese)
4. Anime News Network