Masahito Yamashita

A deeply influential animator of the '80s OVA boom.

While still in highschool he was influenced by Yoshinori Kanada and Kazuhide Tomonaga, joining the former at Studio No.1 once he graduated. After half a year doing in-betweens he debuted as key animator on New Tetsujin 28 at the age of 19.

He was known for pushing his mentor's style to the extreme, with even more exagerated poses and flashier effects, becoming in the process as influential as Kanada himself. Some animators who followed his school are Shinya Oohira and Jun Arai.

At the end of the '90s he was an employee at Square (SQUARE ENIX) and participated on Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within as a storyboarder. He left the company soon thereafter but not before working on Final Fantasy X as battle image board designer.