Hiroko UTSUMI

Hiroko Utsumi is a director and animator who began her career at Animation Do, a subsidiary of Kyoto Animation. In her directorial work, she focuses on the characters and how the characters interact with the situations that they are in and not how the characters affect the plot; thus, the characters themselves propel the plot forward. Despite most of her works being character dramas, she does ease the tension with playfulness. She also has an affinity for drawing and showcasing alluring figures particularly with male characters. The animator Futoshi Nishiya was brought on to the Free! Iwatobi Swim Club anime project by Utsumi specifically for what she believed to be charming and sexy character designs. During the production of Banana Fish, Hiroko Utsumi worked closely with Akemi Hayashi and continued to work together on SK8 the Infinity. Hayashi playfully referred to Utsumi’s directorial style as “character obsessed” in a 2021 Febri interview.

Utsumi swam in highschool and rides a skateboard to work which she paused during SK8’s production to prevent injury.