Eunyoung Choi

Eunyoung Choi is a South Korean animator/director who has become Masaaki Yuasa’s closest colleague. She majored in sculpture at university, moved to London where she developed an interest in animation, finally ended up at Madhouse in Japan¹.

Her first pieces of key animation in 2006-2007 blew critics away; the naturalistic demeanor to her drawings and her vivid, intense use of color set her apart. Serving as animation director on Kemonozume 6 and directing/animating the avant to Kemonozume 10 established her as a permanent member of Yuasa’s inner circle¹.

After Kemonozume, she started getting more involved in the storyboarding side of production. Her storyboards are clearly indebted to Yuasa, in that both are inspired by the psychedelic milieu of Rene Laloux, but Choi’s direction is far more visceral than Yuasa’s. Frizzy line art, extreme off-center vanishing points, wide angle photography, alternating wide angle shots with planimetric compositions (particularly overhead and profile shots), and an unexpected pathos where desire is both a source of tragedy and a chance at redemption for her characters appear in all her episodes thus far. She’s often singled out for her use of color, which is as much an asset for her as motion (even her Casshern Sins 20 is vibrant despite the show’s usual washed-out palette). Her episodes are spiritual and disembodied where Yuasa’s are earthy and erotic. The backgrounds in her episodes are topographically flat, littered with gnarled abstract forms and clean lineart (in contrast to her character lineart)¹.

She storyboarded Kaiba 5 & 8, the former of which was a complete auteur episode where Choi handled the script, animation direction, storyboard, and a sizable amount of the key animation. She directed Tatami Galaxy 10, which liberally mixed live action film and 2D animation, and was the thematic linchpin to the entire series. She directed the bonus episode of French cartoon Wakfu “Noximilien l’Horlorger” which depicted the backstory to the series’s main antagonist and had animation resembling Kaiba rather than the show’s norm (Choi was backed by Yuasa as sakkan). Her trippy Space Dandy 9 has earned much praise since its broadcast and is considered one of the highlights of the series¹.

Formed the studio Science Saru with Yuasa in 2013. She’s been the studio’s most important creator besides Yuasa; she co-animated Kick Heart with Michio Mihara, storyboarded/animated the Ping Pong ED, and storyboarded the 2nd OP for MAPPA’s show Garo. After Yuasa left the studio in 2020 she became the main director and president¹.

Twitter - SakugaBooru - Japanese Wiki Page

Works

• Witchblade(2006/TV)

1. Key Animator: #2.

• Kemonozume(2006/TV)

1. Animation Director: #6.
2. Key Animator: #1, #2, #3, #5, #8.
3. Episode Director: #10 Avant-title.
4. Animation: #10 Avant-title.
5. Backgrounds: #10 Avant-title.

• Tenpou Ibun: Ayakashi Ayashi(2006~2007/SP)

1. Key Animator: #12.

• Kaiba(2008/TV)

1. Screenplay: #5(Joint).
2. Storyboard: #5, #8.
3. Episode Director: #5, #8.
4. Animation Director: #5, #8.
5. Key Animator: #5, #8, #11.

• Casshern Sins(2008~2009/TV)

1. Storyboard: #20.
2. Animation Director: #20.
3. Episode Director: #20.
4. Key Animator: #5, #20, #22, #24.
5. 2nd Key Animation: #23.

• Hells(2008/Movie)

1. Key Animator.

• Yojouhan Shinwa Taikei(2010/TV)

1. Storyboard: #10.
2. Key Animator: #10.
3. Episode Director: #10.

• Wakfu "Noximilien l'horloger"(2010/TV)

1. Realisation (Director).
2. Storyboard.
3. Director of mise en scène.

• A Sightseeing Tour(2010/Self-Produced)

1. Voice Acting.

• KikcHeart(2013/Movie)

1. Key Animator.
2. Color Setting.

• Space Dandy(2014/TV)

1. Story Draft: #9.
2. Background Setting: #9.
3. Guest Character Designs: #9.
4. Storyboard: #9.
5. Episode Director: #9.
6. Key Animator: #9.

• Ping Pong the Animation(2014/TV)

1. Vice Director.
2. ED Animation.
3. Key Animator: #2.

• Crayon Shin-chan Movie 22: Gachinko! Gyakushuu no Robo To-chan(2014/Movie)

1. Kyojin Robo Hiroshi Battle Animation.

• Miracle: Devil Claus' Love and Magic(2014/Live-Action)

1. Short Animation Director(Joint).
2. Short Animation Setting(Joint).
3. Short Animation Design(Joint).

• Garo: Honoo no Kokuin(2014~2015/TV)

1. Storyboard: OP2.
2. Episode Director: OP2.
3. Editing: OP2.

• Crayon Shin-chan Movie 23: Ora no Hikkoshi Monogatari - Saboten Daisuugeki(2015/Movie)

1. Mexico Characters Draft.
2. Cactus Design.
3. Animation Cooperation.

• Minna no Douyou -みんなのどうよう- Collection(2015)

1. Episode Director: "Four Seasons Song" -四季の歌-².

• Yoru wa Mijikashi Arukeyo Otome(2017/Movie)

1. Line Producer.
2. Storyboard(Joint).