Biography
Junichi Sato is a Japanese director born March 11, 1960, in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture [1][2]. He enrolled in the animation course at Nihon University's film department, passed Toei Animation's trainee exam while still a student, and left school in 1981 to join the studio [1]. He rose quickly, becoming Toei's youngest series director in 1986 for Maple Town Stories, and went on to direct the original Sailor Moon television series (1992-1993) [1]. At Toei he also mentored several directors who later became prominent in their own right, including Kunihiko Ikuhara, Konosuke Uda, and Mamoru Hosoda [1]. His 1995 film Junkers Come Here won the Mainichi Film Award for Best Animation Film [1]. After leaving Toei in 1998, Sato worked freelance before co-founding Hal Film Maker in 2000, where he directed Ojamajo Doremi and the Aria and Kaleido Star series [1][2]. He later moved through TYO Animations and, from 2017, Twin Engine, continuing to work on titles including Sgt. Frog, Princess Tutu, and Hugtto! PreCure [1]. In 2020 he co-directed the Netflix film A Whisker Away and Looking for Magical Doremi, the latter earning him a second Mainichi Film Award [1].