Michi Himeno

is a Japanese animation artist and character designer. Her most famous work is on the TV series The Rose of Versailles and Saint Seiya.

Career In 1973 she began her collaboration with Shingo Araki working on Cutie Honey and went on to work at Toei Animation before forming Araki Productions with him in 1975. Together they have worked on many successful films and series. Typically, she works on the female characters while he works on the male.

Some of her works are Lupin III (1977), The Rose of Versailles (1979), Lulu the Flower Angel (1979), Ulysses 31 (1981), Arcadia of My Youth: Endless Orbit SSX (1982), and the OVA versions of Fūma no Kojirō (1991).

International accreditation came with Saint Seiya (aka Knights of the Zodiac, 1986), for her elegant drawing style along with Araki's dynamic drawing style.

Work ‡ denotes the works in which Michi Himeno shares the role of character designer with Shingo Araki.

Anime television series Year(s) Title Characterdesigner Animationdirector Keyanimator 1975–1977 UFO Robot Grendizer 1977–1978 Planetary Robot Danguard Ace ‡ 1979 New Star of the Giants II 1979–1980 Lulu the Flower Angel 1979–1980 The Rose of Versailles ‡ 1981–1982 Ulysses 31 1982–1983 Arcadia of My Youth: Endless Orbit SSX 1983–1984 Love Me, My Knight 1984 Glass Mask 1984–1985 Lupin III Part III 1984–1985 Little Memole 1984–1985 Heathcliff and the Catillac Cats 1985–1986 1986–1987 Maple Town 1986–1989 Saint Seiya ‡ 1991–1992 Mitsuteru Yokoyama's Sangokushi ‡ 1993–1994 Blue Legend – Shoot! ‡ 1996–1998 GeGeGe no Kitarō (4th series) ‡ 1997–2000 The File of Young Kindaichi ‡ 1998 Yu-Gi-Oh! ‡ 2000–2004 Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters ‡ 2004–2011 Ring ni Kakero 1 ‡ 2012–2014 Saint Seiya Omega

Feature films Year Title Characterdesigner Animationdirector Keyanimator 1978 Arrivederci Yamato 1982 Space Adventure Cobra 1984 1986 Amon Saga ‡ 1988 Saint Seiya: Legend of Crimson Youth ‡ 1996 The File of Young Kindaichi: Operazakan ‡ 1999 The File of Young Kindaichi 2: Murder in the Deep Blue ‡ 2001 ‡ 2004 Saint Seiya: Heaven Chapter – Overture ‡

Short films Lulu the Flower Angel (1980): Character designer Saint Seiya: Evil Goddess Eris (1987): Character designer, Key animator Saint Seiya: The Heated Battle of the Gods (1988): Character designer, Key animator Saint Seiya: Warriors of the Final Holy Battle (1989): Character designer, Key animator Blue Legend – Shoot! (1990): Character designer, Key animator GeGeGe no Kitarō: Daikaijū (1996): Character designer, Key animator Yu-Gi-Oh! (1999): Character designer

OVAs indicates single-episode OVA.

Year(s) Title Characterdesigner Animationdirector Keyanimator 1986 * 1989–1990 Fūma no Kojirō ‡ 1991 Dragon Fist * ‡ 1991–1992 ‡ 1992 Babel II ‡ 1992 Fūma Hanran * ‡ 1995–2004 The Human Revolution ‡ 1998 Gekiganger III * 2002–2008 Saint Seiya: The Hades Chapter ‡

Books Alexandria, Illustrator – The saga is in 9 volumes, each containing 10 b/w illustrations. Volumes 1-2-3-5-6 contains also full colour illustrations. The books' covers also are illustrated by Michi Himeno.