Tsurumaki, Kazuya

Tsurumaki Kazuya was born on February 2, 1966 in Gosen, Niigata Prefecture, Japan. He is a close disciple of Hideaki Anno, and was a longtime animator at Gainax before leaving for Studio Khara in 2006, where he now holds an executive position. Tsurumaki's first project at Gainax was as an animation director for Fushigi no Umi no Nadia; he was also the director of the humorous omake sequences that went along with the TV series and producer of its sequel movie. In 1995, Tsurumaki served as an assistant director under Anno in Gainax's landmark series Shinseiki Evangelion. In 1997, he directed episode 25', the first half of Shinseiki Evangelion Gekijouban: The End of Evangelion. In 2000 Tsurumaki made his debut as a full-fledged director with the six-part OVA series FLCL. In 2004, Tsurumaki directed the hit sequel to Top o Nerae!, Top o Nerae 2! Diebuster. After joining Khara, he kept working directly under Anno, serving as director on the Evangelion remake feature film series, collectively known as Evangelion Shin Gekijouban, with Anno himself handling original work, chief direction and executive production.