Favorite directors

[something]

Yes the real motivation behind this thread is because I'm in love with Satou Tatsuo right now, but it's something I've been thinking about recently, since I don't often mentally group shows by the staff involved.

No set format, but it would be nice if you list the director and your favorite works by them. Preferably directors who have done more than one franchise though. For example, I won't list Yamada Naoko no matter how much I love K-ON!, because who knows if she'll ever do another good show again? I certainly expect she will, but can't list her until then. I'm restricting to 3 franchises or more personally, but you can do whatever you want.

Other than the first, this is not strictly ranked. But each one of these before the honorable mentions has directed at least one or more of my 10/10 series and has a strong list of 9/10s to back it up. After the name is the score (if multiple seasons, the core of the highest ranked season), and a #x indicates its current place in my Top 11 favorite series of all time.

Ishihara Tatsuya - This man, THIS MAN, holy shit. He's directed my #1 and #2 top anime ever. I'm willing to give JC Staff he benefit of the doubt for Little Busters, but it's so sad to know that this man will never get his hands on it. Greatest director ever, hands down.
◆ Suzumiya Haruhi series 10, #1
◆ Clannad series 10, #2
◆ Kanon (2006) 10 #11
◆ Air 10
◆ Nichijou 9

Shinbou Akiyuki - Insane workaholic as creative as he is busy. I don't think anyone knows how he does what he does. Quite likely has the best name recognition of any TV anime director in the business today.
◆ Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha (1st season) 10, #4
◆ Hidamari Sketch series 10, #8
◆ Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica 10, #9
◆ Monogatari series 9
◆ Tsukuyomi Moon Phase 9
◆ Denpa Onna 9

Nagai Tatsuyuki - I don't think anyone does raw teenage/young adult emotion the way this guy does. Stunning levels of emotional power from his work with Toradora! being the best straight-up high school romantic drama of its kind ever. He can do it with original stories as well, as shown by the Ano duo.
◆ Toradora! 10, #6
◆ Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai 10
◆ To Aru Kagaku no Railgun 9
◆ Ano Natsu de Matteru 9
◆ Honey & Clover II 9

Satou Jun'ichi - The god of iyashikei, and certainly one of the gods of getting incredible music into his series. Aria is still one of the most magical worlds ever created in 2d form.
◆ Aria the series 10, #7
◆ Kaleido Star series 9
◆ Tamayura series 9
◆ Princess Tutu 8

Satou Tatsuo - My current obsession. Everything about this guy's direction philosophy makes me so happy. Guess I should have watched Shingu when I had a realistic chance of doing so.
◆ Mouretsu Pirates 10
◆ Uchuu no Stellvia 10
◆ Kidou Senkan Nadesico 10
◆ Rinne no Lagrange 9

Takemoto Yasuhiro - Another major KyoAni director, if not quite on Ishihara's level, he's still top tier. Honestly I didn't know how name at all before now, but he got in when I noticed he was in charge of Hyouka and had done a number of other fantastic KyoAni series. But he's the only one whose name didn't leap to mind immediately when I considered doing this post.
◆ Lucky Star 10
◆ Hyouka ongoing
◆ Full Metal Panic series (Fumoffu, TSR) 9
◆ Haruhi-chan/Churuya-san 9

[FUNiOP]

Ishihara Tatsuya - This man, THIS MAN, holy shit. He's directed my #1 and #2 top anime ever. I'm willing to give JC Staff he benefit of the doubt for Little Busters, but it's so sad to know that this man will never get his hands on it. Greatest director ever, hands down.
◆ Suzumiya Haruhi series 10, #1
◆ Clannad series 10, #2
◆ Kanon (2006) 10 #11
◆ Air 10
◆ Nichijou 9

My obvious #1 choice as well. I'll post more once I get my ranks all figured out, but I can't see this thread without putting in another vote for him as the greatest director ever.

[MelancholicMariya]

My favourite directors are pretty well known, nothing too obscure.

1) Shinbou Akiyuki. His direction is unique and because of it he can add so much atmosphere to a show. It's very cinematic and it always looks good regardless of the shows budget. It also works well with slice of life and comedy. It's hard to explain, you've just got to watch one of his shows to get it.

2) Anno Hideaki. Creator of Evangelion and Nadia. He puts a lot of himself into his anime. He's probably the creator most of the directors in this industry inspire from.

3) Imaishi Hiroyuki. Creator of Gurren Lagann and Panty and Stocking. His works tend to be incredibly over the top while continuing to be a completely coherent story, which is why I like his work so much. I want to see what his new studio, Studio Trigger, is up to. Last think he worked on was the battles for Black Rock Shooter TV.

[EmperorBrandon]

Satou Jun'ichi is my favorite. He's appealed to my tastes for a long time, with several high favorites: Magic User's Club, Princess Tutu, Kaleido Star, Aria, and Tamayura. It's been a while since I've given Pretear a watch, so need to revisit that, but that was a major favorite of mine when I first saw it. Never did pick back up on Sgt. Frog after I watched 7 or so episodes way back when, but I did love it (just feels daunting with so many episodes I guess). I tend to like anything he's involved with to at least some degree. I am of course curious how his next OVA project, One Off, will turn out.

Ah, another one I'd mention is Oomori Takahiro, not really in my mind for directing my highest particular favorites, but because of the sheer variety of greats works he's done. Fancy Lala... Durarara... Hell Girl... Gakuen Alice... @_@ The stuff he's worked on have always been rather interesting in addition to entertaining. Still a few more things he's done that I want to try that I need to get around to, like Natsume.

Guess I should have watched Shingu when I had a realistic chance of doing so.
I end up watching through a lot of Shingu, though I wasn't really feeling into it for whatever reason and fell behind watching it nearer the end (never picked back up). It does seem to have many fans among those who have watched it, though. I guess it's somewhat similar to Pirates in some ways, since I remember it feeling rather optimistic and laid-back for a series that features battles with aliens.

I did watch all of Pirates and rather enjoyed it (just wish there was more of the Yacht Club), though, and as far as Satou Tatsuo goes, I've not long ago got to try out Shigofumi, which I really, really loved. I never watched Nadesico beyond the first volume I blind bought many years ago. I do feel like I need to give the series another shake so maybe I will do that.

[something]

Ah, another one I'd mention is Oomori Takahiro, not really in my mind for directing my highest particular favorites, but because of the sheer variety of greats works he's done. Fancy Lala... Durarara... Hell Girl... Gakuen Alice... @_@ The stuff he's worked on have always been rather interesting in addition to entertaining. Still a few more things he's done that I want to try that I need to get around to, like Natsume.
When I first typed this up I actually had an "honorable mentions" section that included him, primarily for Drrr and Natsume, but also to a lesser extent Baccano and Jigoku Shoujo. I ended up nixing the section for length and because I was having a hard time deciding what the cut-off point should be, and because the 6 I ended up mentioning were just head and shoulders above the rest. But if I extended it at all, Oomori would almost certainly be the next one to list.

I keep hoping I can add Oonuma Shin to the list one day, and I think he's getting there. ef memories is fucking brilliant of course but melodies seems to have succeeded (and even then in a very diminished capacity from its predecessor) only in spite of, not because of, the choices he made. BakaTest didn't work for me, so that set back my opinion of him a bit. C3 was something of a throwaway show, but a fun throwaway, so that's a start. And then Tasogare Otome threw two of the most brilliantly directed episodes of the year at us with 10 and 11, especially 10, although the ending left me a little ambivalent.

I've got high expectations for Kokoro Connect now. If he really nails that then I'll consider him as one of the better directors.

[FUNiOP]

Format completely stolen from something because it was just too perfect.

Hayao Miyazaki - He's been the director, and many other major staff roles, on many of the greatest anime movies of all time, and even when he's not the director, he's usually serving on some of those other major staff roles for more of the greatest anime movies of all time. These have almost all been produced by Studio Ghibli, a studio he co-founded and continues to be the main driving force behind after all these years. Not only does he come up with the original stories for most of his works, he even creates the manga behind some of them, and he happened to create my #1 top manga of all time as well, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, which he then adapted into a Studio Ghibli movie that he directed.
◆ Spirited Away #13
◆ Kiki's Delivery Service #16
◆ Princess Mononoke #25

Tatsuya Ishihara - Those top two anime that something lists as his #1 and #2 both land on my top 10 as well, with the latter being my #1. As many of my favorite anime are adaptations, I don't know who to give the credit to. But while both of these anime are apparently about as faithful to their respective source material as can be, I know that they wouldn't hold the spots they do on my top anime if they were any less perfectly directed, and I know that the source material could never impact me as much, because Ishihara uses his medium for everything it offers, making the end result something that could never be achieved in any other.
◆ Clannad/Clannad After Story #1
◆ The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya/The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya #7

Hideaki Anno - Okay, so maybe the two Evangelion universes are kind of the same franchise. But dammit, this man knows how to nail it on every varied aspect of directing he's attempted over the long-and-still-ongoing life of this franchise. And the fact that, going on 20 years later, the upcoming installments are some of the most exciting things for so many of us to look forward to from the anime industry, is a testament to that. As was the case throughout the series, especially later on in it, I have no idea what to expect next. Hell, I don't even know if this is another universe. And that's fascinating. And exhilarating. And I have no doubt that Anno will pack these next two movies full of such perfectly executed twists, visual wonders, and oh god character study, that I'll be spending every second of watching them remembering why we don't mind if Anno milks his cash cow for a couple of decades.
◆ Neon Genesis Evangelion #12
◆ Rebuild of Evangelion #21

Junichi Sato - Probably the most well-covered director in this thread at this point, so I don't have much to say that hasn't already been said by something or EmperorBrandon, so I'll just say I agree with their praise and leave it at that unless I can think of something new to say.
◆ Princess Tutu #14
◆ Aria the Animation/Natural/OVA ~Arietta~/Origination #37
◆ Sailor Moon/Sailor Moon R #38
◆ Magic User's Club #49

Tatsuyuki Nagai - Raw teen emotional power is a pretty good way of summing up what makes Nagai's style so distinctive and great. Melancholy monologues from the protagonists, an almost overwhelming sense of nostalgia, the ends of episodes fading into different cuts of the ED depending on whichever fits the best... there are so many little touches that just make you go, "Oh yeah, this is Nagai all right." The attention paid to mood is crucial in the stories he tells, and he always plays with it so carefully and beautifully. I do have to say that I think he needs Mari Okada's scripting to really shine. I suppose I had just gotten spoiled when I expected the same levels of quality of his latest original work, but for essentially being another installment in an existing franchise with a very different style from the finest of the Nagai/Okada combo, it came out probably about as well as it possibly could have, still an easy 8/10 and probably the best new show that season after Another. But I really hope to see the full team behind my favorites of his to return for another perfect drama with some good comedy tastefully added in.
◆ anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day #17
◆ Toradora! #20

Kunihiko Ikuhara - Masters shoujo while simultaneously ripping it apart and bringing unimaginable new possibilities to it. He's done things that I could certainly never imagine from any other director. It's more than a stupid reference to say that he is revolutionary. Utena is 39 episodes of the most brilliant symbolism, metaphor, and abstraction in anime, and then the movie does it in an even crazier way that certainly can't manage the deep character development and analysis that the series does, but brings as much of Ikuhara's style to the table as it can in its brief running time, benefiting from it by showing off some beautiful animation you need a movie budget for. The series itself has some surprisingly great animation for its time, and the music is epic and bizarre in an incredibly fitting way. I hope the rumor is true that an American company has Penguindrum, because I really want to see it.
◆ Revolutionary Girl Utena #10
◆ Sailor Moon/Sailor Moon R/Sailor Moon S/Sailor Moon SuperS #38
◆ Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Movie #45

Ei Aoki - The director of the best of ufotable and Type-Moon, Aniplex has been wise to hand over some of their big properties to him. Obviously this means he also has lots of money to work with in these properties, but not every director could use that budget as expertly as him. Something else that's very important that he knows how to use in his projects is music, and while it's hard to go wrong with Yuki Kajiura and Kalafina, it's also not every director that can choose how each piece will go just right with each piece of animation. It's no secret that Fate/Zero recently wrapping up puts him on my list, but it definitely has me hoping to see his name attached to some more titles in the future to look forward to.
◆ Fate/Zero #15
◆ The Garden of Sinners #35