Biography
Tomomi Mochizuki was born in Hokkaido [1]. He got into animation almost by accident: after joining his university's anime club around the time the original Mobile Suit Gundam aired, he took a leave of absence and joined Ajia-Do Animation Works as an in-between animator [1]. Company president Tsutomu Shibayama pushed him toward directing after about a year, and Mochizuki built a reputation through the 1980s on sensitive, character-driven romances rather than action, directing Kimagure Orange Road and Maison Ikkoku [2]. That reputation is reportedly why Studio Ghibli picked him, an outsider to the studio, to direct its first television film, Ocean Waves, specifically because the project was meant to give younger staff room to work [2]. He directed Here Is Greenwood and Ocean Waves simultaneously, a schedule that landed him in the hospital from overwork [2]. He later moved into series direction on House of Five Leaves and Battery, and in 2023 was announced as director on the mystery series Mysterious Disappearances [3][4]. Of an unexpected early-career assignment, he once reflected, 'I became aware that I could do this kind of work too.' [1]
I became aware that I could do this kind of work too.