Yukihiro Miyamoto

, occasionally nicknamed Otokomatsuri, is a Japanese anime director. He started at animation studio Vega Entertainment, and later joined Shaft. He is best known for directing Puella Magi Madoka Magica and its subsequent film trilogy alongside Akiyuki Shinbo, the latter trilogy which subsequently garnered ¥2 billion, making it a box-office success.

Early life Miyamoto was interested in animation from a young age and was particularly interested in timing processes regarding characteristics like lip-sync timing or footstep sounds and whether they aligned with the screen images. After high school, he went to a science-based university as per his parents' wishes but found that he still loved animation, so he went to a vocational school. Prior to joining the series' staff, he had known that the project was underway due to seeing the production materials, like Gekidan Inu Curry's production designs, next to the copy machine at the Shaft office while he was working on Arakawa Under the Bridge. Eventually, Miyamoto was given the role of series director again and joined the Madoka Magica project 3–4 months before the series started airing. During this time, Miyamoto also created a "Shaft directing manual" for first-time outside directors and younger staff to help them with directing Madoka and subsequent series with the so-called "Shaft style."

Subsequently, Miyamoto was tasked with directing the series' film trilogy, with Shinbo acting as chief director over the films, and Miyamoto acting as director instead of series director.

In 2023, it was announced that Shinbo and Miyamoto would both return in their respective roles of chief director and director for the fourth Madoka Magica film.

Yoyogi Animation Academy invited him to give a special lecture to students in collaboration with The Quintessential Quintuplets~ in August 2024.

Style Miyamoto described himself as being a "heretic" at Shaftsomeone who, in a company of many differing and idiosyncratic directors, is only good at doing "plain work", and isn't particularly original or creative. Shinbo described Miyamoto in a similar way, but said that he was more like a professional craftsman who leaves their mark in places that cannot be seen. Miyamoto humorously joked about being a "career director" or a "soldier" who simply follows orders given to him. He said that he does have creative ideas and thoughts regarding the material he works on, but that whether or not he actually implemented any of it was a different matter. Most of the work Miyamoto does of his own volition is changes to colors, timing, and other miscellaneous choices. Due to Miyamoto's meticulous "soldier" stance, Anime Style editor-in-chief Yūichirō Oguro joked that if he wanted to, Miyamoto could go to Studio Ghibli and direct like Hayao Miyazaki. Shaft visual effects artist Motoki Sakai and animator Kazuhiro Oota also both independently compared Miyamoto to a GM from Mobile Suit Gundam. Shinbo said that Miyamoto is a director whose work often exceeds his expectations.

Shinbo himself likes to cut the space between dialogue when characters talk, though he mentioned that Miyamoto seems to cut dialogue pauses more than Shinbo to a point that the silence between characters talking is close to zero. Miyamoto said that it's like characters who have already started thinking of a response to the person who is actively talking, and thus begin speaking either directly after the person talking has stopped or interrupting their speech entirely, and described his fondness over the editing process for dubbing and timing, which he oversees frame-by-frame.

Shaft producer Yasuhiro Okada, who was the animation producer for the Madoka Magica film trilogy, described Miyamoto as being the best director capable of absorbing and expressing Shinbo's flavor.

Personal life Miyamoto is married and has a child who was born near the end of production of the Kizumonogatari trilogy. When his wife was in labor, Miyamoto was at the hospital and continued to text with Shaft's producers and staff regarding the film; and the director, Tatsuya Oishi, joked that Miyamoto should name them "Nekketsu" (after the second film in the trilogy, which Miyamoto was in charge of as unit director).

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

OVAs/ONAs

Films

Video games