Tomoyuki Itamura

is a Japanese director, animator, and storyboard artist. He joined OLM in 2004 as an in-between animator and left in 2007 to join Shaft. Itamura took over the Monogatari series from Tatsuya Oishi as his television directorial debut with Nisemonogatari. With Akiyuki Shinbo, Itamura directed all subsequent televised installments until he left the studio following Owarimonogatari II.

Career Itamura joined OLM in 2002, and he first served as an in-between animator on the studio's Pokémon Chronicles television series. Although not his debut as a series director, The Case Study of Vanitas was Itamura's first work not under the chief direction of Shinbo, and he wanted to make a cool work even as an independent director. changes in overall color schemes, and the implementation of "chapter breaks" that make use of the "adaptive nature" of the series. However, as Itamura was given the opportunity to take over the Monogatari series following Oishi's footsteps, Itamura's identity as a director can be seen as developing throughout the series. Initially, Itamura incorporated (but more sparingly) similar visual language as far as on-screen text usage as his predecessor, such as having Kanji text flash as non-sequiturs, puns, wordplay, and so forth. In Monogatari Series Second Season, Itamura attempts to use more text and flashes than previously, and using them in a wider variety of circumstances and performing a wider variety of jobs. Whereas Oishi may have used paragraphs of text from the novel, or short fragments of sentences or Kanji, Itamura began to employ on-screen text as chapter titles (the aforementioned chapter breaks) or to represent character dialogues and thoughts. however, in Tsukimonogatari, and in the rest of the series, the visual language changes to its final form in Itamura's care. Rather than use Oishi's method of solidly-colored screens with text, Itamura used paper collage-like transitions that emphasized certain parts of the text by highlighting them. Shifting away from using such transitions for tempo and visual emphasis, the final works in Itamura's Monogatari tenure instead make use of on-screen text to provide to the narrative itself, often showcasing unreliable narration from the perspective of a character or insight into their experiences.

Reflecting on the eight years Itamura was a part of the Monogatari series, he said that he happened to join the production of Bakemonogatari at just the right time to work closely with Oishi, which he described as being a good learning experience. He discussed with Shinbo in regard to him taking over the television series starting with Nisemonogatari, and understood that he wouldn't be able to imitate Oishi's style even if he wanted to. Oishi himself was supportive of Itamura experimenting with his own style and finding his own version of the series through his work, though Itamura did, at first, use similar formats to Oishi at the beginning of his tenure on the series due to the circumstances of time and experience. Some creators are able to create their works simply by reading the scenario they're given; though, Itamura describes himself as capable of working only after doing research. In Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei, he was in charge of a segment that featured rakugo, so he went to a play in-person and watched for research; and in Owarimonogatari, he looked into ball-jointed dolls and cricket to use as motifs and gags. Sound director described Itamura similarly, saying that Itamura was a director who worked more on "logic" whereas Oishi was more "intuitive."

Regarding his own style as director, Itamura considered his primary principle to be bringing out the charms of the original work, an idea inspired by Shinbo's work on Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei. He also doesn't like to make decisions entirely on his own and oftentimes listens to other staff members from other departments, or assistant and episode directors, in making decisions, but that he continues to pursue a level of quality and doesn't wait around for ideas from them. Itamura considers this facet of his directorial style to be the primary characteristic that he inherited from Shinbo.

Works Television series In "Director(s)" column highlights Itamura's directorial works.

OVAs Year Title Director(s) StudioSBED Other roles and notes Ref(s)2009Mahō Sensei Negima!: Shiroki Tsubasa Ala Alba (#3)Akiyuki Shinbo Tomoyuki Itamura ShaftStudio Pastoral

ONAs

Films