Yoshiji Kigami

木上益治

[Wiki (jp)](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%9C%A8%E4%B8%8A%E7%9B%8A%E6%B2%BB) | [Wiki (en)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshiji_Kigami) Yoshiji Kigami was a Japanese director and animator, as well as a board member of [Kyoto Animation](https://anilist.co/studio/2/). Kigami was a big fan of Disney movies and [Osamu Tezuka](https://anilist.co/staff/96938/)'s works from a young age, and this aspired him to become and animator. After working for two years to save money for school, he entered Tokyo Designer Gakuin, a vocational school in Tokyo. He worked part-time in a gas station while attending the school. In 1979, he saw a [Shin-Ei Animation](https://anilist.co/studio/247/) recruitment advert in a magazine. He then applied to the studio, got hired, and subsequently dropped out of the vocational school. In 1982, together with six colleagues, he established his own animation sub-contracting studio by the name Animaru Ya. By the mid '80s, Kigami had made a name for himself in the industry and was getting job offers straight to his name, which led him to working on film such as [Akira](https://anilist.co/anime/47/) and [Grave of the Fireflies](https://anilist.co/anime/578/). In 19

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