Naoyuki Tatsuwa (龍輪 直征) is a Japanese animator. He started off as an animator with Studio Lions and its parent company Studio Giants, and then spent 11 years as an animator and director at studio Shaft. Since 2015, he has been freelance.
Career
Originating from Hokkaido, Tatsuwa joined the sub-contracting animation firm Studio Lions in 2000 (one part of the animation department for Studio Giants), where he mostly worked as a sub-contractor to Xebec. After working at Studio Lions, he worked as a part-time worker at construction sites and built sets for television commercials. At one point, he broke his leg while building one of the sets and couldn't walk for some time. He decided to go back to animation and was interested in joining Shaft because he wanted to work on the studio's adaptation of Pani Poni Dash!. Tatsuwa contacted the studio and asked to join, but didn't get any news, so he asked Zen Nagata, an animator he knew at the company, who put him into contact with Miho Ayabe, another animator at the studio. The same day, Mitsutoshi Kubota, the president of Shaft, called Tatsuwa and told him that he would interview him the next day. During production of Pani Poni Dash, Tatsuwa's desk was next to animator Kazuhiro Oota's and chief director Shin Oonuma