Yasuichiro Yamamoto

Yasuichiro Yamamoto
Profile
Gender:	Male
Date of birth:	January 6, 1961
Place of birth:	Chigasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan
Location:	Saitama Prefecture, Japan
Position:	Director Chief director Supervisor Screenplay Organizer Storyboard Episode director Assistant technical director Sub-character design Key animation Layout
Years active:	1983-present

Yasuichiro Yamamoto (山本 泰一郎 ,Yamamoto Yasuichirō), born January 6, 1961 in Chigasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, is a Japanese anime director, and storyboard artist from Saitama Prefecture. He directed Detective Conan from episode 119 to 332, before being replaced by Masato Sato. He later became the director from movie 8 to movie 14, chief director for movie 15 and movie 16, and supervisor for movie 17.

In September 2012, he came back as the director for the anime since episode 667, and still directing the anime until now (except for episodes 678-679, which is directed by Koujin Ochi). Since episode 975, he co-directs the series along with Nobuharu Kamanaka.

Biography

Yamamoto joined Studio Boomerang in 1983. After serving as an animator, he then became a director in 1991. In the same year, he was also involved in the production of the anime Red Baron (レッドバロン), working with Masato Sato already (the two of them both joined the Detective Conan production later). Afterwards, Yamamoto joined the production of the Detective Conan anime in 1996. At first, he did several organizer, storyboard, and episode director works within the anime, representing Studio Boomerang, starting with the first part of Mountain Villa Bandaged Man Murder Case.

Photo of Yasuichiro Yamamoto taken in 2009.

When his teacher Kenji Kodama resigned as director and only served as the chief director for the anime, Yamamoto became the director of the Detective Conan anime. At the same time, he also quit Studio Boomerang and went freelance; therefore, he no longer worked on episodes outsourced to the studio. Minoru Tozawa thus took over the job as an episode director for most Studio Boomerang episodes (even until the present). During this period when he first directed the Detective Conan anime, the TV rating of each episode had increased to a great extent; the animation quality of the episodes during his directional era were also fairly high, by virtue of his animation background before he became the director.

He then suceeded the director role for the movies from Kenji Kodama as well, being the director of seven Detective Conan movies. The movies that he directed for Detective Conan possess the highest evaluation among the industry, compared to the other two directors. Starting with movie 10, the Detective Conan movies (under his direction) invariably appeared in the list of "eminent animated films" of Japan Academy Film Prize (日本アカデミー賞). Whereas movie 9, is also the only Detective Conan work to win an award at the Tokyo Anime Award (東京アニメアワード) - one of Japan's most important animation awards. What is more, most of his directed movies contain splendid story settings, in terms of the story premises: from plane to ship, from ship to airship... On the other hand, he also attempted to mingle elements such as romance, friendship, and even action into the movies. After he directed movie 14, he stepped down from the movie director role and served as the chief director for movies 15-16, and the supervisor for movie 17. Later on, the Detective Conan movie director position was passed down to Kobun Shizuno.

After quitting the direction of Detective Conan movies, he returned to anime, continued to contribute storyboards, and became the anime director once again after Koujin Ochi's resignation, until present. He then continued Ochi's legacy by introducing a proper "Animation Supervisor" (作画監修 ) role for the anime to maintain the stability of the anime quality (the role didn't become regular until 2014 with episode 738). During this second trial for his direction of the anime, the episodes remain of high TV ratings and compliments; the case Shinichi Kudo's Aquarium Case and the series The Scarlet Return are highly rated, the original author Gosho Aoyama also praised them (via the game Animal Crossing). In addition, he also manifested repects towards the original manga, in which he recified the fault character design of Wataru Takagi that was caused by the loss of character sheet in early anime production; he also corrected the scenario "Akemi's death" by releasing the TV special Episode One: The Great Detective Turned Small in 2016; and allegedly, he often asks the original author for lines' adjustments when executing manga adaptations.

OP35 TRY AGAIN

However, some of his storyboard/technical director works for the Detective Conan openings and endings, especially during his 2nd directional era, are not very innovative, a lot of the fans constantly make jokes with regards to them. This is because most of the storyboards he drew for these openings and endings are merely stretching shots and using animation effects (in contrast to those by Koujin Ochi which they are mostly narrating a story). Another thing worth mentioning, is that in these openings that he was in charge of, tree and grassland are the indispensable components, and characters usually run on the grassland. This type of opening already existed since OP7 Mysterious Eyes.

Furthermore, when he was still the director of the Detective Conan movies, he also drew some key animation frames for the movies, but was not credited in the ending of the movies.

Works in Detective Conan

Anime

Participation in: 78 cases (100 episodes)

Jpn#	Int#	Episode title	Original broadcast	Role	Note
34	35	Mountain Villa Bandaged Man Murder Case (Part 1)	October 21, 1996	Organizer, Storyboard, Episode director
39	40	Wealthy Daughter Murder Case (Part 1)	November 25, 1996	Organizer, Storyboard
40	41	Wealthy Daughter Murder Case (Part 2)	December 2, 1996	Organizer, Storyboard, Episode director
45	46	Facial Mask Murder Case	January 27, 1997	Storyboard, Episode director
47	48	Sports Club Murder Case	February 10, 1997	Storyboard
52	53-54	The Mist Goblin Legend Murder Case	March 17, 1997	Storyboard, Episode director	1 hour
57	59	Holmes Freak Murder Case (Part 1)	May 5, 1997	Organizer, Storyboard, Episode director
58	60	Holmes Freak Murder Case (Part 2)	May 12, 1997	Organizer, Storyboard
62	64	A Ghost Ship Murder Case (Part 2)	June 9, 1997	Storyboard, Episode director
68	70	Night Baron Murder Case (The Case)	July 21, 1997	Episode director
74	76	The Death God Jinnai Murder Case	September 1, 1997	Storyboard, Episode director
78	81	Distinguished Family's Consecutive Accidental Death Case (Part 2)	October 27, 1997	Organizer, Storyboard, Episode director
81	84	The Kidnapping of a Popular Artist Case (Part 1)	November 17, 1997	Organizer, Storyboard, Episode director
82	85	The Kidnapping of a Popular Artist Case (Part 2)	November 24, 1997	Organizer, Storyboard, Episode director
87	90	The Crane's Return of a Favor Murder Case	January 19, 1998	Episode director
91	94	The Bank Robber's Hospitalization Case	February 16, 1998	Episode director
96	99-102	The Cornered Famous Detective! Two Big Murder Cases	March 23, 1998	Episode director	2 hours
97	103	The Farewell Wine Murder Case	April 13, 1998	Episode director
101	107	The Memories of First Love Case (Part 2)	May 18, 1998	Organizer, Storyboard, Episode director
107	113	The Mysterious Mole Alien Case (Part 1)	June 29, 1998	Storyboard, Episode director
108	114	The Mysterious Mole Alien Case (Part 2)	July 6, 1998	Storyboard
111	117	Cooking Classroom Murder Case (Part 2)	August 3, 1998	Episode director
113	119	The White Sandy Beach Murder Case	August 17, 1998	Episode director
118	124-125	The Naniwa Serial Murder Case	September 21, 1998	Episode director
128	135	The Black Organization: One Billion Yen Robbery Case	December 14, 1998	Storyboard
135	145	The Disappearing Weapon Search Case	February 15, 1999	Storyboard
140	150	SOS! Messages from Ayumi	April 11, 1999	Storyboard
144	154	The North Star No.3 Express Leaving Ueno (Part 1)	May 3, 1999	Organizer, Storyboard
145	155	The North Star No.3 Express Leaving Ueno (Part 2)	May 10, 1999	Organizer, Storyboard
166	177	Tottori Spider Mansion Demon (The Case)	November 1, 1999	Organizer, Storyboard
177	191	Reunion with the Black Organization (Conan)	January 24, 2000	Organizer, Storyboard
191	206	The Desperate Revival - The Black Knight	May 22, 2000	Organizer, Storyboard
198	213	The Super Car's Trap (Part 2)	July 10, 2000	Storyboard
209	225	The Falling from Mt. Ryujin Case (Part 1)	October 16, 2000	Storyboard
219	235-238	The Gathering of the Detectives! Shinichi Kudo vs. Kaitou Kid	January 8, 2001	Organizer, Storyboard	2 hours
235	254	The Locked Wine Cellar	May 28, 2001	Storyboard
239	258	The 3 "K"s of Osaka Case (Part 2)	June 25, 2001	Storyboard
255	274	The 14th Round of the Matsue Tamatsukuri Linked Verse Contest (Part 1)	October 29, 2001	Storyboard
294	316	The Smash of Determination and Love (Part 1)	September 9, 2002	Storyboard
345	371-375	Head-to-Head Match with the Black Organization: A Dual Mystery on a Full Moon Night	January 5, 2004	Storyboard	2.5 hours
383	414-417	Miracle at Koshien Ball Park! The Defiants Face the Dark Demon	December 20, 2004	Organizer, Storyboard	2 hours
400	434	Ran's Suspicions	May 30, 2005	Episode director
453	493	Preview Screening of Fate and Friendship	October 23, 2006	Organizer, Storyboard, Episode director
489	534-535	Courtroom Confrontation III: Prosecutor as Eyewitness	November 26, 2007	Storyboard, Episode director	1 hour
513	560	Coffee Aroma with Murderous Intention (Part 1)	September 1, 2008	Episode director
536	587	The Secret of the Vanished Masterpiece	May 30, 2009	Storyboard
539	590	A Fool's Inheritance	July 4, 2009	Storyboard, Episode director
583	634	Kobayashi-sensei's Love	August 14, 2010	Organizer, Storyboard
584	635	Inspector Shiratori's Lost Love	August 21, 2010	Organizer, Storyboard
585	636	Timeless Sakura's Love	August 28, 2010	Organizer, Storyboard, Episode director
589	640	The Worst Birthday (Part 1)	September 25, 2010	Episode director
627	678	Conan & Kid's Battle For Ryoma's Treasure (Part 1)	August 20, 2011	Organizer, Storyboard
628	679	Conan & Kid's Battle For Ryoma's Treasure (Part 2)	August 27, 2011	Organizer, Storyboard, Episode director
667	719	Wedding Eve (Part 1)	September 1, 2012	Organizer, Storyboard, Episode director
678	730	Nagasaki Mystery Theatre (End of the Edo)	September 1, 2012	Key animation
692	744	The Evening Cherry Blossom Viewing Route on Sumida River (Part 1)	March 23, 2013	Key animation
704	756	The Jet-Black Mystery Train (Destination)	August 3, 2013	Episode director
779	832	The Scarlet Prologue	May 30, 2015	Organizer, Storyboard
780	833	The Scarlet Pursuit	June 6, 2015	Organizer, Storyboard
783	836	The Scarlet Truth	June 27, 2015	Organizer, Storyboard, Episode director, Key animation
795	836	The Secret of the Missing Young Lady	October 10, 2015	Episode director
805	859-860	Conan and Ebizo's Kabuki Jūhachiban Mystery (Part 2)	January 16, 2016	Episode director	1 hour
853	908	Memories from Sakura Class (Ran GIRL)	March 18, 2017	Organizer, Storyboard, Episode director
854	909	Memories from Sakura Class (Shinichi BOY)	March 25, 2017	Organizer, Storyboard, Episode director
883	938	The Pop-up Book Bomber (Part 1)	December 02, 2017	Picture book design
884	939	The Pop-up Book Bomber (Part 2)	December 09, 2017	Picture book design
889	944	The New Teacher's Skeleton Case (Part 1)	January 20, 2018	Organizer, Storyboard
890	945	The New Teacher's Skeleton Case (Part 2)	January 27, 2018	Organizer, Storyboard
926	981	The Heartfelt Strap (Part 2)	December 22, 2018	Organizer, Storyboard, Episode director
927	982-983	The Scarlet School Trip (Bright Red Arc)	January 05, 2019	Organizer, Storyboard, Episode director	1 hour
928	984-985	The Scarlet School Trip (Red Love Arc)	January 12, 2019	Organizer, Storyboard, Episode director, Key animation	1 hour
943	1000	The Tokyo Barls Collection	June 15, 2019	Storyboard
954	1011	The Unsolved Cocktail Case (Part 3)	September 14, 2019	Organizer, Storyboard
955	1012	The Secret of the Insect Man	September 28, 2019	Storyboard
956	1013	The Mystery-Solving Water Taxi (Part 1)	October 12, 2019	Storyboard
957	1014	The Mystery-Solving Water Taxi (Part 2)	October 19, 2019	Storyboard
965	1022	Kaiju Gomera vs. Kamen Yaiba (Prologue)	January 04, 2020	Storyboard, Key animation
967	1024	Kaiju Gomera vs. Kamen Yaiba (Climax)	January 18, 2020	Storyboard
968	1025	Kaiju Gomera vs. Kamen Yaiba (Finale)	January 25, 2020	Storyboard, Episode director, Key aimation
983	1040	Kid vs. Komei: The Targeted Lips (Part 1)	October 03, 2020	Key animation
989	1046	The Case of Ayumi's Illustrated Diary	December 05, 2020	Storyboard, Episode director, Key animation
997	1054	Intrigue at Smile Village	February 13, 2021	Storyboard
1000	1057	The Moonlight Sonata Murder (Part 1)	March 06, 2021	Organizer, Storyboard	Remake
1001	1058	The Moonlight Sonata Murder (Part 2)	March 13, 2021	Organizer, Storyboard, Episode director	Remake
1009	1066	The Lost Article That Smells Like a Case	June 19, 2021	Storyboard
1018	1075	The Antique Tray Can't Be Hidden (Part 1)	September 11, 2021	Organizer, Storyboard
1019	1076	The Antique Tray Can't Be Hidden (Part 2)	September 18, 2021	Organizer, Storyboard
1020	1077	The Antique Tray Can't Be Hidden (Part 3)	September 25, 2021	Organizer, Storyboard
1024	1081	Momiji Ooka's Challenge (Part 1)	October 30, 2021	Organizer, Storyboard
1033	1090	Taiko Meijin's Shogi Board (Opening Move)	January 08, 2022	Organizer, Storyboard
1035	1092	Taiko Meijin's Shogi Board (Checkmate)	January 22, 2022	Organizer, Storyboard
1038	1095	Police Academy Arc Wild Police Story CASE. Wataru Date	March 12, 2022	Organizer, Storyboard, Episode director, Key animation
1040	1097	The Case of Ayumi's Illustrated Diary 2	April 23, 2022	Key animation
1052	1109	The Detective Boys' Test of Courage	July 30, 2022	Storyboard
1058	1115	The Man Who Camped Out at the Police Station	October 01, 2022	Storyboard
1061	1118	Police Academy Arc Wild Police Story CASE. Hiromitsu Morofushi	October 29, 2022	Episode director
R133	1134	Police Academy Arc Wild Police Story CASE. Rei Furuya	March 11, 2023	Organizer, Storyboard, Episode director
1077	1135	The Black Organization's Scheme (Hunt)	March 25, 2023	Organizer, Storyboard
1079	1137	The Black Organization's Scheme (Identity)	April 08, 2023	Organizer, Storyboard, Episode director
1087	1145	The Case of Ayumi's Illustrated Diary 3	June 17, 2023	Episode director, Key animation

Openings and Endings

Participation in: 19 openings and 19 endings

• Unmei no Roulette Mawashite (Opening 4): Storyboard, Technical director
• TRUTH ~A Great Detective of Love~ (Opening 5): Key animation
• Mysterious Eyes (Opening 7): Storyboard, Technical director, Key animation
• destiny (Opening 9): Storyboard, Technical director, Key animation
• Winter Bells (Opening 10): Storyboard
• I can't stop my love for you♥ (Opening 11): Storyboard, Technical director
• Kaze no Lalala (Opening 12): Storyboard
• Don't Wanna Lie (Opening 31): Technical director
• TRY AGAIN (Opening 35): Storyboard, Technical director, Key animation
• Q&A (Opening 36): Storyboard, Technical director, Key animation
• Butterfly Core (Opening 37): Storyboard, Technical director, Key animation
• Greed (Opening 38): Storyboard, Technical director, Key animation
• WE GO (Opening 40): Storyboard, Technical director, Key animation
• Nazo (La PomPon) (Opening 41): Storyboard, Technical director
• Hane (Opening 42): Storyboard, Technical director
• Sekai wa Anata no Iro ni Naru (Opening 43): Technical director
• Ikusen no Meikyū de Ikusen no Nazo o Toite (Opening 44): Storyboard, Technical director
• Lie, Lie, Lie, (Opening 45): Storyboard, Technical director
• ANSWER (Opening 50): Storyboard, Technical director
• Still for your love (Ending 7): Storyboard, Technical director, Key animation
• Secret of my heart (Ending 9): Storyboard, Technical director, Key animation
• Natsu no Maboroshi (Ending 10): Storyboard, Technical director, Key animation
• Start in my life (Ending 11): Storyboard, Technical director
• Aoi Aoi Kono Hoshi ni (Ending 13): Storyboard, Technical director
• Overture (Ending 16): Storyboard, Technical director, Key animation
• Your Best Friend (Ending 40): Technical director
• Hitomi no Melody (Ending 44): Storyboard, Technical director, Key animation
• Kimi no Egao ga Nani Yori mo Suki Datta (Ending 45): Storyboard, Technical director, Key animation
• Ima Aitakute... (Ending 46): Storyboard, Technical director
• RAIN MAN (Ending 47): Storyboard, Technical director
• Muteki na Heart (Ending 48): Storyboard, Technical director
• Kimi e no Uso (Ending 49): Storyboard, Technical director
• Unmei no Roulette Mawashite (La PomPon) (Ending 50): Storyboard, Technical director
• Futari no Byōshin (Ending 51): Storyboard, Technical director
• SAWAGE☆LIFE (Ending 52): Storyboard, Technical director, Key animation
• Yume Monogatari (Ending 54): Storyboard, Technical director
• Togetsukyō ~Kimi Omou~ (Ending 55): Storyboard, Technical director
• Kimi to Koi no Mama de Owarenai Itsumo Yume no Mama ja Irarenai (Ending 59): Storyboard, Technical director

Movies

Participation in: 21 movies

• The Time-Bombed Skyscraper (Movie 1): Assistant technical director, Sub-character design, Key animation
• The Fourteenth Target (Movie 2): Key animation
• The Last Wizard of the Century (Movie 3): Key animation
• Captured in Her Eyes (Movie 4): Key animation
• Magician of the Silver Sky (Movie 8): Director, Storyboard, Technical director
• Strategy Above the Depths (Movie 9): Director, Storyboard, Technical director
• The Private Eyes' Requiem (Movie 10): Director, Storyboard, Technical director
• Jolly Roger in the Deep Azure (Movie 11): Director, Storyboard, Technical director
• Full Score of Fear (Movie 12): Director, Storyboard, Technical director
• The Raven Chaser (Movie 13): Director, Storyboard, Technical director
• The Lost Ship in the Sky (Movie 14): Director, Storyboard, Technical director
• Quarter of Silence (Movie 15): Chief director, Storyboard, Technical director
• The Eleventh Striker (Movie 16): Chief director, Storyboard, Technical director
• Private Eye in the Distant Sea (Movie 17): Supervisor, Key animation
• Lupin III vs. Detective Conan: The Movie (Crossover movie): Key animation
• Dimensional Sniper (Movie 18): Key animation
• Sunflowers of Inferno (Movie 19): Key animation
• The Darkest Nightmare (Movie 20): Key animation
• The Crimson Love Letter (Movie 21): Key animation
• Zero the Enforcer (Movie 22): Key animation
• The Fist of Blue Sapphire (Movie 23): Key animation

Specials

Participation in: 2 specials

• The Disappearance of Conan Edogawa: The Worst Two Days in History (Special 5): Director, Storyboard, Technical director
• Episode One: The Great Detective Turned Small (Special 6): Director, Screenplay, Storyboard, Technical director

OVAs

Participation in: 11 OVAs

• Conan vs. Kid vs. Yaiba - The Grand Battle for the Treasure Sword!! (OVA 1): Director, Storyboard, Technical director
• 16 Suspects!? (OVA 2): Director, Storyboard
• Conan, Heiji, and the Vanished Boy (OVA 3): Director
• A Challenge from Agasa! Agasa vs. Conan and the Detective Boys (OVA 7): Director
• The Casebook of Female High-School Detective Sonoko Suzuki (OVA 8): Director
• Shinichi Kudo, The Case of the Mysterious Wall and the Black Lab (Magic File 2): Director
• Shinichi and Ran, Memories of Mahjong Tiles and Tanabata (Magic File 3): Director
• The Osaka Okonomiyaki Odyssey (Magic File 4): Director
• Niigata~Tokyo Souvenir Capriccio (Magic File 5): Director, Storyboard, Technical director
• Flower of Fantasista (Bonus File 1): Director
• Amazing Creature Large Collection! (Shogakukan Illustrated Encyclopedia Series 11): Director

Other notable works

Anime

• Detective Conan: Zero's Tea Time: Key Animation (TIME.4)
• Lupin III: Bye Bye Liberty Crisis: Key Animation
• Lupin III: Dragon of Doom: Key Animation
• Lupin III: The Pursuit of Harimao's Treasure: Key Animation
• The Mischievous Twins: Episode Director
• Once Upon a Time (Windaria): Key Animation
• Project A-Ko 4: Final: Key Animation
• Puppet Princess: Key Animation
• SD Gundam Musha, Knight, Commando: Key Animation
• Space Adventure Cobra - The Movie: Animation
• Urusei Yatsura: Only You: Assistant Animator, In-Between Animation

Non-anime

• Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin: Animator
• Heathcliff & the Catillac Cats: Key Animation

See also

• Kenji Kodama
• Masaharu Okuwaki
• Studio Boomerang

References

1. 山本泰一郎 - Wikipedia (Japanese)
2. MyAnimeList
3. Anime News Network