Hiroko Tokita

She got her start in the industry working as a part-time cel painter in the late ‘70s while studying at Nihon University. During this time she met Yuuji Nunokawa, who then invited her to join the establishment of Studio Pierrot in 1978.

At Pierrot she worked as an in-betweener on Nils no Fushigi no Tabi, the studio’s first show. After this she went freelance and soon gave up on her talent as an animator and turned into directing. She asked for guidance from Kouichi Mashimo, and made her debut as one of the two episode directors on the 29th episode of Gold Lightan in 1981.

She continued her work storyboarding and directing episodes on shows such as Dash Kappei, Miyuki and Glass no Kamen. After this she made her series director debut with Touch in 1985, a role which she was hand-picked for by Gisaburou Sugii, who served as the show’s chief director. They both reprised their roles for Hiatari Ryoukou! which took over the TV slot for Touch. After this Tokita directed Yawara!, instead this time without an overseeing director.

After having directed several more titles in the ‘90s, she switched her focus entirely to scriptwriting. As a writer she most famously worked on shows like Tsukihime and School Rumble before leaving the industry in 2009.