Famous Anime Creators and Their Iconic Works: A Small History of Anime

Before animation took off in Japan, Toei Animation (animators of One Piece among others) were the early trailblazers.

Many of anime’s most iconic creators got their break in early Toei, including Isao Takahata.

Takahata was inspired to work in anime by early French animation, despite not being an animator himself.

Starting at Toei, he would develop a strong creative relationship with Hayao Miyazaki which culminated in the two forming the now-iconic Studio Ghibli in 1985.

Iconic Work: Grave of the Fireflies (1988)

Isao Takahata, as with many names on this list, has a remarkable body of work under his name. However, arguably his longest-standing will be the Studio Ghibli war film Grave of the Fireflies.

Widely regarded as one of the greatest war films of all time, Grave of the Fireflies takes place during the final months of the Second World War. The story follows a boy and his younger sister as they try to survive following the death of their parents and the destruction of their town by firebombs.

Grave of the Fireflies has been interpreted and analysed in depth for many decades, which speaks to the richness of the movie in many different respects.

Katsuhiro Otomo was a very successful manga artist in the 80s and early 90s with a lot of different credits to his name, including live-action film.

However, he will always be known for creating arguably one of the most iconic anime films of all time, adapted from his very own manga series!

Beyond the cultural importance of his sci-fi epic, Otomo is recognised for what many see as a more realist style of animation and characters compared to the standards of the time.

Iconic Work: Akira (1988)

In terms of productions that have gone beyond the world of anime, few have managed it quite like Akira. The film is still widely referenced to this day and is seen as one of the best science-fiction anime of all time.

Otomo demanded to lead the production of his manga’s anime adaptation and managed to bag an enormous budget worth millions of dollars (the exact figure is widely debated).

The result is an anime with a level of detail and fluidity that is hard to replicate, even today.

Mamoru Oshii was one of the most notable anime creators of the 80s and 90s, making his name just as anime started to spread its influence globally.

Oshii established himself with his TV directorial debut Urusei Yatsura, a series and story whose legacy continues to this day.

However, his naturally philosophical tendencies led him to make a name for himself as a feature film creator.

One of his first original films, Angel’s Egg, was canned by critics upon its release due in part to its lack of events and dialogue. However, it has since become a cult classic and largely set the tone for Oshii’s most recognisable film.

Like some other creators on this list, Oshii also worked outside of anime. He wrote the manga Kerberos Panzer Cop (also creating the screenplay for its famous anime adaptation Jin-Roh) and has credits in novels and video games.

Iconic Work: Ghost in the Shell (1995)

An adaptation of the manga of the same name by Masamune Shirow, Ghost in the Shell is one of anime’s most iconic science-fiction films, a genre now synonymous with Japan.

Ghost in the Shell, set in 2029, revolves around a society where cybernetics are so developed and commonplace that people can replace their whole bodies with mechanical and computerised enhancements.

The crime story follows Major Motoko Kusanagi, a cybernetic human and member of Public Security Section 9 who is tasked with hunting down a mysterious hacker known as the Puppet Master.

Ghost in the Shell was technically excellent for its time. However, one of the standout traits of Ghost in the Shell today is its lack of action despite its subject matter.

Oshii has spoken about how producers tried to make him deviate from his philosophical style and add more action scenes, but it’s the serenity of Ghost in the Shell that makes it so unique and captivating.

A master of psychological cinema, Satoshi Kon was one of the most revered directors of the late 1990s and early 2000s thanks to his incredibly imaginative stories.

Satoshi Kon spent much of his early career working as an assistant to the aforementioned Katsuhiro Otomo in both manga and film, writing scripts for some of Otomo’s live-action and anime projects. He also co-created a manga with Mamoru Oshii.

While Kon did create a successful TV series in Paranoia Agent, it was as an anime film director that he made his name. His four feature films are all sighted as some of the best ever made.

Despite spanning multiple genres, from comedy to horror, all of Kon’s films follow the theme of blurring fiction and reality. As a result, his films contain some of anime’s most iconic scenes, some of which have been cited by Hollywood’s finest creators.

Iconic Work: Paprika (2006)

Satoshi Kon’s last film was one that he had been plotting at the time of his first, the equally iconic Perfect Blue. However, Paprika is a wonderful culmination of the ideas seen in Kon’s three previous theatrical releases.

In Paprika, a device is invented that allows psychiatrists to enter people’s dreams. When the device is stolen, Doctor Atsuko Chiba must use her dream-chasing alter-ego Paprika to help track down the culprit.

What unfolds is a story where the divide between reality and fiction becomes increasingly hard to grasp. The visual spectacle is full of iconic scenes – from bustling parades to folding corridors and strange mirrors – that wonderfully highlight Kon’s incredible upside-down imagination.

Comparisons between Christopher Nolan’s Inception and Paprika have long been discussed, with many critics believing Kon’s film was a notable influence on the sci-fi epic.

Hideaki Anno’s name can sometimes get overshadowed on lists like this due to not having as broad a collection of hit releases. However, his major work is so impactful that he needs to be included here.

Anno was a big player in the early growth of what we might call ‘otaku anime’ – typically sci-fi, mecha-based anime – during the late 80s and 90s. He co-founded studio Gainax which was making a lot of these kinds of shows before they became more fashionable.

Hideaki Anno’s works are often characterised by an increased emphasis on introspection, with characters regularly confronting personal flaws and stories leaving space for interpretation.

Interestingly, Anno is someone who has also made the jump to live-action, developing the Shin Japan Heroes Universe and directing films such as Shin Godzilla and Shin Kamen Rider.

Iconic Work: Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995-96)

Anno’s previous projects in the mecha space and his desire to grow the subgenre were big inspirations behind what still feels like one of the most ambitious original anime TV productions of all time.

Evangelion takes place in a world under siege from giant otherworldly monsters known as Angels. To combat them, a shadowy organisation known as NERV have developed Evas, giant biomechanical robots controlled by schoolchildren with a particular aptitude.

The story follows Shinji Ikari, the quiet, estranged son of NERV’s leader, who is recruited to fight due to his likely aptitude with NERV’s latest and most powerful Eva.

While Evangelion’s plot is interesting, the story behind Evangelion’s production is just as deep.

Originally running in a children’s TV slot, the show was moved to a more adult time due to the developing nature of the story and soon developed a cult following.

However, wracked by production issues and budget problems, the final two episodes almost exclusively took place inside the characters’ minds and were panned by audiences.

While multiple films have since been created retelling the series and changing the ending, the original work is still hugely adored and is a large reason why many fans still associate Japanese anime with giant robots.

Of course, you can’t have a list of famous anime creators without the man who many believe to be the best of all time!

Even if you don’t know much about anime, you’ve probably heard of Miyazaki. While he made plenty of successful anime series and movies in his early years, such as a season of Lupin III, it’s his work as co-founder of Studio Ghibli that rightly gets the most attention.

Having worked almost exclusively in children's television before Studio Ghibli, many of Miyazaki’s films are much more family-friendly than some of the creators on this list. However, they still pack an emotional punch.

Mayazaki’s films are also known for progressive themes such as environmentalism and feminism, while an undercurrent of anti-war messaging can be seen in many of his works.

Perhaps because of these themes, Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli are sometimes referred to as Japan’s Disney, although many challenge this idea.

Iconic Work: Spirited Away (2001)

There are so many successful and critically acclaimed Miyazaki works. However, Spirited Away remains his most successful by many metrics, both critical and economic.

The story follows Chihiro, a young girl moving to a new home who becomes trapped in the world of spirits after her parents stop at an abandoned amusement park and are magically turned into pigs.

Most of the movie follows Chihiro as she works at a bathhouse for spirits run by a witch named Yubaba while trying to find a way to return her parents to human form.

Spirited Away is a story filled with weird and wonderful beings, even more so than many of Ghibli’s other films.

Beyond being a visual feast, it also touches on many universal themes, which has led to it becoming one of the most commercially successful Japanese anime movies of all time.

Miyazaki’s movie also remains the only Japanese anime to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

Hosoda is arguably one of the most successful anime filmmakers of the 21st century outside Studio Ghibli. There was a moment, however, when Hosoda was expected to take over from Miyazaki at Ghibli itself.

Hosoda, similar to Miyazaki, got his break at Toei Animation. After Spirited Away’s success, it was announced that Hosoda would be directing a new film at the studio: Howl’s Moving Castle. That never happened, with Hosoda stepping down and Miyazaki eventually directing the movie.

Despite not becoming Miyazaki’s direct successor, Hosoda has made a pretty big name for himself, particularly in the 2000s and 2010s.

Many of Hosoda’s works can be classed as young adult, with coming of age and familial relationships as common themes.

His movies are also notable for their focus on realism, both in terms of art and characters, despite some fantastical elements in his stories.

Iconic Work: Summer Wars (2009)

While Hosoda got widespread recognition through his word-of-mouth hit The Girl Who Leapt Through Time in 2001, Summer Wars was his first big cinematic production and is still considered one of his best works.

The film follows Kenji, a young schoolboy and tech whiz, moderating the virtual reality world OZ. One summer, Kenji is invited to join Natsuki at a celebration of her grandmother’s 90th birthday, where he has to pretend to be her fiance.

While at Natsuki’s family home, Kenji inadvertently causes the virtual world of OZ to be hacked by a rouge AI, with the damage threatening to spill over into the real world.

Summer Wars is a great example of how Hosoda borrows from themes of anime past but embeds them with very contemporary thoughts and feelings.

While the story starts as a teen romance and has quite fantastical themes, it’s also a story about the role of social networks and virtual reality, which Hosoda also explored in his recent film Belle.

Naoko Yamada is as much someone to look out for in future as she is someone who has already made their mark.

Yamada first broke onto the scene at the iconic Kyoto Animation in the late noughties, becoming one of their youngest-ever directors with her directorial debut on the popular music anime K-On!

With a string of hits since, she’s widely regarded as one of the most exciting up-and-coming anime filmmakers.

Despite moving on from Kyoto Animation and doing a lot of recent work with Science SARU, Yamada’s anime retain the softness often associated with the KyoAni aesthetic.

Perhaps inspired by her initial desire to be a live-action filmmaker, Yamada’s works are also renowned for small character details and subtle movements that result in scenes filled with strong emotions bubbling under the surface.

Iconic Work: A Silent Voice (2016)

Despite being in the unenviable position of releasing at the same time as Makoto Shinkai’s runaway success Your Name, A Silent Voice is still regarded as one of the most acclaimed anime films of the last decade and a must-watch for all anime fans.

The story, adapted from the manga of the same name, follows Shouko, a deaf girl being bullied at school by Shouya. Eventually, Shouko has to transfer to a different school, and Shouya is ostracized and bullied himself for how he treated the deaf girl.

A few years later, Shouya finds himself alone and depressed, and decides to track down Shouko in an attempt to redeem himself.

A Silent Voice was produced at Kyoto Animation and includes their classically soft art and character design. More than the visuals, however, the film is most notable for capturing Yamada’s incredible positivity.

Despite openly addressing heavy themes like bullying and suicide, Yamada manages to keep a string of hope that shines throughout.

If it wasn’t for the dramatic return of Hayao Miyazaki with The Boy and The Heron, most would say that Makoto Shinkai is currently the biggest director in anime.

Makoto Shinkai broke through internationally in the mid-2010s but had developed a strong audience domestically more than a decade earlier.

Many of Shinkai’s early works were incredible solo achievements, with early hit shorts written, directed and produced by him. Since those remarkable beginnings, Shinkai is now responsible for some of Japan’s most commercially successful movies worldwide.

While it’s fun to look at Shinkai as a natural successor to Ghibli given his box office success, his films are quite different from Miyazaki’s legendary studio.

With a background in videogame animation, Shinkai’s works have a much more digitised and photorealistic edge than many anime creators.

Romance is a big feature in many of Shinkai’s works, with many of his films based on impenetrable barriers between two main characters.

Iconic Work: Your Name (2016)

While Makoto Shinkai did have domestic success with earlier films, it was the blockbuster performance of Your Name that drew a huge global audience to his work for the first time.

The story follows city boy Taki and country girl Mitsuha as they begin magically body-swapping. After initial confusion and anger, the two of them decide to help each other and gradually form a connection.

Eventually, Taki decides to track Mitsuha down and uncovers an even bigger mystery.

Many of Your Name’s iconic images such as the colorful meteor or the shimmery cityscapes are good examples of Shinkai’s more photorealistic style compared to similar names on this list.

Beyond the vivid visuals, however, is an incredibly universal and powerful story. While some can criticise the general themes as unambitious compared to other films mentioned here, it’s a big reason why Shinkai’s movie broke anime box office records around the globe.