Susumu Mitsunaka

Susumu Mitsunaka is a highly regarded Japanese anime director and storyboard artist who has worked on several hit TV and feature anime franchises since 2001. Mitsunaka began his career as an in-between artist on such features as Digimon Tamers: Runaway Locomon (2002) and A Tree of Palme (2002), and soon shifted to the position of key animator on a roster of features including Sergeant Keroro the Super Movie (2006), Brave Story (2006), writer-director Hiroyuki Okiura’s A Letter to Momo (2011), and Tiger & Bunny: The Rising (2014).

Mitsunaka moved to the directing chair first in TV anime production in 2010, followed by his first of several features in the Haikyuu!!  series, Haikyuu!! The Movie 1: The End and the Beginning (2015). Mitsunaka continued his work as a key animator on several important anime features, including Mary and the Witch’s Flower (2017), Fireworks (2017), Makoto Shinkai’s beautiful and charming Weathering With You (2019), and Hayao Miyazaki’s Oscar-winning The Boy and the Heron (2023), grossing a robust $294 million globally.

Susumu Mitsunaka became predominantly a feature director with the Haikyu!! franchise, with Haikyu!! Saint to Sense (2017), and Haikyu!! Concept no Tatakai (2017). Mitsunaka directed his first non-Haikyu!! movie with Detective Conan: The Bride of Halloween (2022), and then returned to familiar territory as director and co-writer (with Haruichi Furudate) of Haikyuu!! The Dumpster Battle (2024), produced by Sony Music Entertainment/Shueisha/Production I.G. and released wide in the U.S. by Crunchyroll.