<Back to Index>
- Film Director, Animator and Screenwriter Toyoo Ashida, 1944
PAGE SPONSOR
Toyoo Ashida (芦田 豊雄 Ashida Toyoo, April 21, 1944 - July 23, 2011) was an anime character designer, animation director and director. He was most notable for directing the Fist of the North Star Series and Vampire Hunter D and for character designs on Vifam, Wataru, Minky Momo and F-Zero GP Legend. He was the founder of the anime production studio Studio Live as well as of the Japanese Animation Creators Association (JAniCA) along with Satoshi Kon. He was very respectful to fellow veteran animator Yoichi Kotabe. Some people get his character designs mixed up with those of Akira Toriyama due to the designs looking similar. Toyoo, in fact, adopted his style while working on Dr. Slump. Akira Toriyama stated that he and Toyoo Ashida were best friends.