Mamoru Hosoda (細田 守, Hosoda Mamoru, born September 19, 1967) is a Japanese film director and animator. He is best known as the creator of the Cosmolina franchise (2000-present), the Nickelodeon animated superhero series Deathspider (2022-2028) and the Adult Swim series It's Fine (2025-31). He won seven Academy Awards, four Primetime Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award.
Life and career[]
Early life and initial work at Toei Animation[]
Hosoda was born in Kamiichi, Nakaniikawa District, Toyama, Japan. His father worked as a railway engineer, and his mother was a tailor. Hosoda initially felt inspired to take up animation as a career after seeing The Castle of Cagliostro, the first film directed by Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli fame. He majored in oil painting at the Kanazawa College of Art in Ishikawa Prefecture.
After graduation, Hosoda was able to land an animation job at Toei Animation, after submitting a short film that he had animated in his spare time. He initially applied at Studio Ghibli; though he did not get the job, he received a rejection letter of praise from Hayao Miyazaki himself.
During his time at Toei, Hosoda worked his way up, garnering public attention in the early 2000s with the first two films in the Digimon Adventure series. Shortly after the release of Our War Game!, Hosoda attracted the eye of Ghibli head producer Toshio Suzuki.
Studio Ghibli[]
Studio Ghibli announced that Hosoda was to direct the film Howl's Moving Castle in September 2001. This was scheduled for a summer 2003 release. However, production on the film became strained due to creative differences. According to Hosoda, he "was told to make [the movie] similar to how Miyazaki would have made it, but [he] wanted to make [his] own film the way [he] wanted to make it". In the end, Hosoda left in the summer of 2002 during the early production stages, after failing to come up with a concept acceptable to Studio Ghibli bosses.
Return to Toei, departure to Madhouse[]
Proceeding his departure from Ghibli, Hosoda returned to Toei and worked on a few animations in collaboration with artist Takashi Murakami, such as the commercial Superflat Monogram for Louis Vuitton and directed a One Piece feature film, One Piece: Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island.
In 2004, Mamoru Hosada met Yuichiro Saito, with whom he worked together in the opening of Shinichiro Watanabe’s Samurai Champloo (2004). That experience would lead to future collaborations between them.
During this time, he directed an episode of Ojamajo Doremi, which was inspired by his turbulent time at Ghibli. This episode led to him being hired at the animation studio Madhouse, which he worked at from 2005 to 2011.
At Madhouse, Hosoda earned critical acclaim with his directing efforts, including 2006's The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (which won Japan Academy Prize for Animation of the Year in 2007) and 2009's Summer Wars (which won the same award in 2010).
Studio Chizu[]
Hosoda left Madhouse in 2011 to establish his own animation studio, Studio Chizu, with Yuichiro Saito who produced The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Summer Wars. As of November 2021, Studio Chizu has released twleve films directed by Hosoda: 2012's Wolf Children, 2015's The Boy and the Beast, 2016's Cosmolina: Apocalypse, 2018's Mirai, 2021's Belle, 2023's Black Bat, 2024's Ava, 2027's Ena, 2030's It's Fine: Journey Across Time and War of the Toons, 2032's It's Fine in Space and 2033's Altercore. Mirai, Black Bat, Ava and Altercore were nominated for Best Animated Feature for the 2019 2024, 2025 and 2034 Oscars while Ava 2, War of the Toons and It's Fine in Space won the award for the 2028, 2031 and 2033 Oscars.
Filmography[]
Film[]
| Year | Title | Studios | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Digimon Adventure: Episode 0 | Toei CompanyToei Animation | Released as part of the Spring 1999 Toei Animation Fair, alongside Yu-Gi-Oh! and Doctor Slump: Arale's Surprise Burn. Written by Reiko Yoshida. |
| GeGeGe no Kitarō: Kitarō's Ghost Train | A short 3D film released at various events including at Hanayashiki, and re-released as part of the Toei 3D Animation Fair in October 2009. | ||
| 2000 | Digimon Adventure: Our War Game! | Released as part of the Toei Animation Fair (being screened alongside One Piece: The Movie). Written by Reiko Yoshida. | |
| Digimon Adventure 3D: Digimon Grand Prix! | Originally screened at the Time Machine of Dreams theme park attraction at Sanrio Puroland, and re-released as part of the Toei 3D Animation Fair in October 2009. Written by Atsushi Maekawa. | ||
| Cosmolina | Toho
Touchstone Pictures (International) Studio Ghibli |
||
| 2003 | Superflat Monogram | Toei Animation | Short film with Takashi Murakami. |
| Cosmolina 2 | Toho
Touchstone Pictures (International) Studio Ghibli |
||
| 2005 | One Piece: Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island | Toei Company
Toei Animation |
|
| 2006 | Cosmolina: Payback | Toho
Touchstone Pictures Studio Ghibli |
|
| The Girl Who Leapt Through Time | Kadokawa Herald Pictures
Madhouse |
||
| 2008 | Larry and Mike | Toho
Touchstone Pictures (International) Studio Chizu |
|
| 2009 | Summer Wars | Warner Bros. Pictures
Madhouse |
|
| 2012 | Kate and Rina | Toho
Touchstone Pictures (International) Studio Chizu |
|
| Wolf Children | Toho
Studio Chizu |
||
| 2015 | The Boy and The Beast | ||
| 2016 | Cosmolina: Apocalypse | Toho
Touchstone Pictures (International) Studio Ghibli Studio Chizu |
|
| 2018 | Mirai | Toho
Studio Chizu |
Nominated-Academy Award for Best Animated Feature |
| 2021 | Belle | ||
| 2023 | Black Bat | Warner Bros. Pictures
RatPac-Dune Entertainment DC Films Studio Chizu |
Nominated-Academy Award for Best Animated Feature |
| 2024 | Ava | Warner Bros. Pictures
New Line Cinema RatPac-Dune Entertainment Studio Chizu | |
| 2025 | Ena | ||
| 2027 | Ava 2 | Academy Award for Best Animated Feature | |
| 2030 | It's Fine: Journey Across Time | Warner Bros. Pictures
New Line Cinema Village Roadshow Pictures RatPac-Dune Entertainment Adult Swim Studio Chizu |
|
| War of the Toons | Warner Bros. Pictures
New Line Cinema Village Roadshow Pictures RatPac-Dune Entertainment Studio Chizu |
Academy Award for Best PictureAcademy Award for Best DirectorAcademy Award for Best Original ScreenplayAcademy Award for Best Animated Feature | |
| 2032 | It's Fine in Space | Warner Bros. Pictures
New Line Cinema Village Roadshow Pictures RatPac-Dune Entertainment Adult Swim Studio Chizu |
Academy Award for Best Animated FeatureAcademy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay |
| 2033 | Altercore: A Deathspider Story | Paramount Animation
Nickelodeon Movies Studio Chizu |
Nominated-Academy Award for Best Animated Feature |
Television[]
- Digimon Adventure (episode 21, 1999)
- Ojamajo Doremi Dokkan (episode 40, 49)
- One Piece (episode 199)
- Ashita no Nadja (opening, ending, episodes 5, 12, 26)
- Samurai Champloo (opening under the pseudonym Katsuyo Hashimoto)
- Freedom Guy (creator, director, opening, ending)
- Cosmolina Presents: Diabolical (creator, opening, episode 3, 8)
- Deathspider (creator, director, opening, ending)
- Star Wars: Visions (episode 22, 28)
- It's Fine (creator, director, opening, ending)
As key animator[]
- Ashita no Nadja (episode 26)
- Crying Freeman
- Dragon Ball: The Path to Power
- Dragon Ball Z (episode 173)
- Dragon Ball Z: Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan
- Dragon Ball Z: Broly - Second Coming
- Galaxy Express 999 ~Eternal Fantasy~
- GeGeGe no Kitarō (1996 series, Episode 94, 105, 113)
- GeGeGe no Kitarō: Dai-Kaijū (Japanese, 1996 film)
- Slam Dunk (episodes 29, 70)
- Sailor Moon Sailor Stars (episode 7)
- Sailor Moon Super S: The Movie
- Yu Yu Hakusho The Movie: Poltergeist Report
Awards and nominations[]
| Year | Group | Category | Nominated work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Academy Awards | Best Animated Feature | Mirai | Nominated |
| 2023 | Black Bat | Nominated | ||
| 2024 | Ava | Nominated | ||
| 2027 | Ena | Won | ||
| 2030 | Best Picture | War of the Toons | Won | |
| Best Animated Feature | Won | |||
| Best Director | Won | |||
| Best Original Screenplay | Won | |||
| 2032 | Best Animated Feature | It's Fine in Space | Won | |
| Best Adapted Screenplay | Won | |||
| 2033 | Best Animated Feature | Altercore: A Deathspider Story | Nominated |