Koujin Ochi

Koujin Ochi
Profile
Gender:	Male
Place of birth:	Gifu Prefecture, Japan
Position:	Director Screenplay Organizer Storyboard Episode director
Years active:	1987-present
Aliases:	越智浩仁 宇恩寺稚子
Also known as Hirohito Ochi and Chiko Uonji.

Koujin Ochi (於地 紘仁 ,Ochi Kōjin), real name Hirohito Ochi (越智 浩仁 ,Ochi Hirohito), is a Japanese anime director, technical director, and screenplay writer. He also uses rarely the alias Chiko Uonji (宇恩寺 稚子 ,Uonji Chiko). He directed Detective Conan from episode 505 to 666, and later episodes 678 to 679. He is mainly active in animation works done by TMS Entertainment and Bandai Namco Filmworks.

Biography

Ochi entered the Utsunomiya University Faculty of Education (宇都宮大学教育学部) in 1982, and even then, he was already active in the animation industry; he was affiliated with the animation research association of his university. Moreover, he was the person who held a screening event of Space Runaway Ideon (伝説巨神イデオン). In 1986, he dropped out of school during the academic year; thereafter, he began to work under his real name, Hirohito Ochi (越智 浩仁). In 1988, he served as the production advancement of the anime Topo Gigio (トッポ・ジージョ).

Photo of Koujin Ochi.

In 1996, he joined the production of the Detective Conan anime, and served as the storyboard artist and episode director for the 4th episode The Coded Map of the City Case, until the 2nd part of The Convenience Store Trap in 2003, Ochi temporarily quit the production (during this period, he had also written some screenplays for the anime, they were highly famed among the fandom as well). Starting 2006, he altered his name to Koujin Ochi (於地 紘仁), and became active again. He returned to the Detective Conan anime production team in 2008, first he did storyboard for Clash of Red and Black (Disguise). Since episode 505, Masato Sato stepped down from the anime director role, so Ochi replaced him as the director until episode 666 also under his alias Koujin Ochi. He was replaced by Yasuichiro Yamamoto in 2012 starting episode 667 (excluding episodes 678-679, which is mystery tour episodes and Koujin Ochi is still in charge of them when director change took place).

After taking over the director role, Ochi first invited the staff who went to work on the movies, during the Masato Sato era, back to the anime production. Art director was altered, and stabilized; the color design was also changed to Shigenobu Kaihoko and became brighter; Masatomo Sudo became the anime character design again, working along with Junko Yamanaka. Ochi did the storyboard for several openings and endings during this time, performing the recovery for the severe alteration in the staff team from the Masato Sato era. Nonetheless, the anime production remain chaotic; outsourcing has made many episodes become unstable and the quality dropped significantly. It is not until 2011 that he first officially introduced the "Animation Supervisor" role for the anime, (the credit used was "Chief Animator" (チーフアニメーター ) and "Key Animator" (キーアニメーター )); Seiji Muta was promoted by him for that role.

Apart from his director work, Ochi is also an excellent screenwriter, and has written many renowned episodes for the series; A Cursed Mask Coldly Laughs is the well-known case he wrote. After 2010, he began to use the pseudonym Chiko Uonji (宇恩寺 稚子) when serving as the screenwriter. After stepping down as director, Ochi's activity in Detective Conan decreased drastically, and he merely served as the screenwriter for Eyewitness Testimony Seven Years Later in 2018.

Just like a lot of mystery cases found in Detective Conan, the two aliases used by Ochi have an interesting origin based on his real name: Koujin Ochi shares the same pronunciation as his real name but written in different ways; Chiko Uonji is the rearrangement of his real name's romanji (Ochi Koujin → Uonji Chiko).

Style analysis

The acclaimed "cursed mask" case by him.

Ochi is one of the veteran staff (like Kazunari Kouchi and Junichi Miyashita) who have joined the anime production since the series began to broadcast. Although he did not write a lot of cases for the anime, most of his cases are of high quality. He is sometimes referred to as the John Dickson Carr of the Detective Conan screenwriters, because his style is just like Carr's, most consisting of locked-rooms, impossible crimes, ingenious tricks; which is a symbolisation of Shinhonkaku Detective Fiction (新本格派推理). He is also good at mingling ghost legends into his stories, and depicting supporting characters - he has created lots of memorable characters to his audience, for example Shingo Nachi, Toshiya Tadokoro, Shimogasa Twins, Touya Aikawa, and Otaro Minakitaya etc.

His style is very similar to that of those mystery writers from the golden age; even the Detective Conan original author Gosho Aoyama thought that the trick Ochi devised in The Case of the Furisode at the Hidden Hot Spring on a Snowy Night is fairly interesting - according to the producer, Michihiko Suwa, who disclosed this information in an interview with Minami Takayama.

Scenarios written

Number of case scenarios written under the name of Hirohito Ochi: 4 (6 episodes)

• On Location, TV Drama Murder Case (Episode 21)
• Dracula's Villa Murder Case (Episodes 88-89)
• A Cursed Mask Coldly Laughs (Episode 184)
• The Case of the Furisode at the Hidden Hot Spring on a Snowy Night (Episodes 379-380)

Number of case scenarios written under the name of Chiko Uonji: 4 (7 episodes)

• The Alibi of the Fall (Episode 596)
• The Séance's Double Locked Room Mystery Case (Episodes 603-605)
• The Suspicious Initial K (Episode 665)
• Eyewitness Testimony Seven Years Later (Episodes 905-906)

Other works in Detective Conan

As Hirohito Ochi

Anime

Participation in: 40 cases (49 episodes)

Jpn#	Int#	Episode title	Original broadcast	Role	Note
4	4	The Coded Map of the City Case	January 29, 1996	Storyboard, Episode director
7	7	Once-A-Month Present Threat Case	February 19, 1996	Storyboard, Episode director
12	13	Ayumi-chan Kidnapping Case	April 15, 1996	Storyboard, Episode director
16	17	The Antique Collector Murder Case	May 20, 1996	Storyboard, Episode director
21	22	On Location, TV Drama Murder Case	June 24, 1996	Storyboard, Episode director	+ Screenplay
26	27	Pet Dog John Murder Case	July 29, 1996	Storyboard, Episode director
31	32	TV Station Murder Case	September 2, 1996	Organizer, Storyboard, Episode director
38	39	Akaoni Village Fire Festival Murder Case	November 18, 1996	Organizer, Storyboard, Episode director
44	45	Three Hotta Siblings Murder Case	January 20, 1997	Storyboard, Episode director
50	51	Library Murder Case	March 3, 1997	Organizer, Storyboard, Episode director
53	55	The Mystery Weapon Murder Case	April 7, 1997	Episode director
61	63	A Ghost Ship Murder Case (Part 1)	June 2, 1997	Storyboard
66	68	Night Road Murder Case	July 7, 1997	Storyboard
88	91	Dracula's Villa Murder Case (Part 1)	January 26, 1998	Storyboard, Episode director	+ Screenplay
89	92	Dracula's Villa Murder Case (Part 2)	February 2, 1998	Storyboard, Episode director	+ Screenplay
95	98	Kogoro's Date Murder Case	March 16, 1998	Episode director
100	106	The Memories of First Love Case (Part 1)	May 11, 1998	Organizer, Storyboard, Episode director
105	111	The Mysterious Mansion of a Band of Thieves Case (Part 2)	June 15, 1998	Episode director
109	115	Detective Club Pursuit Case	July 13, 1998	Episode director
114	120	Scuba Diving Murder Case (Part 1)	August 24, 1998	Episode director
119	126	The Kamen Yaiba Murder Case	October 12, 1998	Episode director
125	132	A Mysterious Sniper Murder Case (Part 2)	November 23, 1998	Storyboard, Episode director
130	140	The Indiscriminate Stadium Threatening Case (Part 1)	January 11, 1999	Organizer, Storyboard, Episode director
136	146	The Old Blue Castle Investigation Case (Part 1)	February 22, 1999	Organizer, Storyboard
137	147	The Old Blue Castle Investigation Case (Part 2)	March 1, 1999	Organizer, Storyboard, Episode director
142	152	The Night Before the Wedding Locked Room Case (Part 2)	April 26, 1999	Organizer, Storyboard, Episode director
150	160	The Truth Behind the Car Explosion Case (Part 1)	June 28, 1999	Episode director
157	167	Metropolitan Police Detective Love Story 2 (Part 2)	August 16, 1999	Episode director
163	174	The Secret of the Moon, the Star, and the Sun (Part 1)	October 11, 1999	Organizer, Storyboard
164	175	The Secret of the Moon, the Star, and the Sun (Part 2)	October 18, 1999	Organizer, Storyboard, Episode director
170	181	The Blind Spot in the Darkness (Part 1)	November 29, 1999	Episode director
176	190	Reunion with the Black Organization (Haibara)	January 17, 2000	Organizer, Storyboard, Episode director
184	198-199	A Cursed Mask Coldly Laughs	March 13, 2000	Storyboard, Episode director	1 hour + Screenplay
195	210	The Significant Music Box (Part 2)	June 19, 2000	Organizer, Storyboard
203	218	The Black Wings of Icarus (Part 1)	August 14, 2000	Storyboard, Episode director
204	219	The Black Wings of Icarus (Part 2)	August 21, 2000	Storyboard
208	223-224	The Entrance to the Maze: The Anger of the Colossus	October 9, 2000	Episode director	1 hour
214	230	The Mysterious Retro Room Case	November 20, 2000	Storyboard
222	241	And Then There Were No Mermaids (The Case)	January 29, 2001	Organizer, Storyboard
223	242	And Then There Were No Mermaids (The Deduction)	February 5, 2001	Organizer, Storyboard
224	243	And Then There Were No Mermaids (The Resolution)	February 12, 2001	Organizer, Storyboard
304	326-329	The Trembling Police Headquarters: 12 Million Hostages	January 6, 2003	Organizer, Storyboard	2 hours
323	348	Heiji Hattori's Desperate Situation! (Part 1)	June 9, 2003	Organizer, Storyboard
324	349	Heiji Hattori's Desperate Situation! (Part 2)	June 16, 2003	Organizer, Storyboard
329	354	A Friendship That Can't Be Bought (Part 1)	July 28, 2003	Organizer, Storyboard
330	355	A Friendship That Can't Be Bought (Part 2)	August 4, 2003	Organizer, Storyboard
331	356	The Suspicious Spicy Curry (Part 1)	August 11, 2003	Organizer, Storyboard
343	369	The Convenience Store Trap (Part 1)	December 1, 2003	Organizer, Storyboard
344	370	The Convenience Store Trap (Part 2)	December 8, 2003	Organizer, Storyboard

As Koujin Ochi

Anime

Participation in: 3 cases (4 episodes)

Jpn#	Int#	Episode title	Original broadcast	Role	Note
499	546	Clash of Red and Black (Disguise)	March 10, 2008	Storyboard
505	552	Lawyer Eri Kisaki's Testimony (Part 1)	June 16, 2008	Storyboard
506	553	Lawyer Eri Kisaki's Testimony (Part 2)	June 23, 2008	Storyboard
651	702-703	Conan vs. Heiji, Deduction Battle Between the Detectives of the East and West	March 24, 2012	Organizer	1 hour

Openings and Endings

Participation in: 8 openings and 10 endings

#	Song name	Original title	Role	Note
OP
OP25	Revive	Revive	Storyboard
OP26	Everlasting Luv	Everlasting Luv	Storyboard
OP27	MAGIC	MAGIC	Storyboard
OP28	As the Dew	As the Dew	Storyboard
OP29	SUMMER TIME GONE	SUMMER TIME GONE	Storyboard
OP31	Don't Wanna Lie	Don't Wanna Lie	Storyboard
OP32	Misty Mystery	Misty Mystery	Storyboard
OP33	Miss Mystery	Miss Mystery	Storyboard
ED
ED32	Koigokoro Kagayaki Nagara	恋心 輝きながら	Storyboard
ED33	Doing all right	Doing all right	Storyboard
ED34	Hikari	光	Storyboard
ED35	Hello Mr. my yesterday	Hello Mr. my yesterday	Storyboard
ED36	Tomorrow is the last Time	Tomorrow is the last Time	Storyboard
ED38	Tsukiyo no Itazura no Mahō	月夜の悪戯の魔法	Storyboard
ED40	Your Best Friend	Your Best Friend	Storyboard
ED41	Kanashii Hodo Kyō no Yūhi Kirei da ne	悲しいほど 今日の夕陽 きれいだね	Storyboard
ED42	Overwrite	オーバーライト	Storyboard
ED43	Koi ni Koishite	恋に恋して	Storyboard, Technical director

OVAs

Participation in: 3 OVAs

OVA	Title	Original airdate	Role	Note
9	The Stranger from Ten Years Later	April 15, 2009	Director, Ending storyboard
10	Kid in Trap Island	April 14, 2010	Director
11	A Secret Order From London	April 13, 2011	Director

Other notable works

Anime

As Koujin Ochi:

• La Corda D'Oro ~primo passo~: Director, Storyboard
• Samurai Warriors: Director, Storyboard, Unit director
• Voice of Fox: Director, Screenplay

As Hirohito Ochi:

• After War Gundam X: Storyboard, Episode director
• Nekketsu Saikyo Gozaurer: Storyboard, Episode director
• Pocket Monster Crystal: Raikou Ikazuchi no Densetsu: Storyboard, Unit director, Opening animation
• Pokémon - Destiny Deoxys: Unit director
• Pokemon 4Ever: Assistant director
• Pokemon Heroes - Latias & Latios: Assistant director
• Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea: Storyboard, Assistant director

As Chiko Uonji:

• Samurai Warriors: Screenplay

References

1. 於地紘仁 - Wikipedia (Japanese)
2. Anime News Network