Akihiko Yamashita

Akihiko Yamashita (山下 明彦, Yamashita Akihiko, born February 6, 1966, Okayama Prefecture, Chūgoku, Japan) is a Japanese animator, animation supervisor and director who has worked on multiple Studio Ghibli films.

History
After graduating from Kurashiki Minami College in Okayama Prefecture, Yamashita Akihiko moved to Tokyo to work as an animator.

His first professional animation work was with Tokyo Movie Shinsha's Sherlock Hound in 1984. Soon afterwards, he was responsible for character setting, scriptwriting and animation supervision for several other productions. He has also participated in the character setting of the video game Project J 2 and the animation production of the opening of the Fantasy Water Margin series.

He most notably worked as an animator for Spirited Away and animation supervisor for Howl's Moving Castle, Tales from Earthsea, and so on. He directed A Sumo Wrestler's Tail, released exclusively for the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka in early 2010.

Studio Ghibli

 * Howl's Moving Castle (2004)
 * Tales from Earthsea (2006)
 * The Secret World of Arrietty (2010)
 * From Up on Poppy Hill (2011)

Studio Ponoc

 * A Sumo Wrestler's Tail (Ghibli Museum Short) (2010)
 * Mary and the Witch's Flower (2017)
 * Modest Heroes (2018)

Others

 * Urotsukidōji (1987-1994)
 * Relic Armor Legaciam (1987)
 * Giant Robo (1992-1994) (with Toshiyuki Kubooka)
 * Wonder Project J2: Corlo no Mori no Josette (1996)
 * Princess Nine (1998)
 * Strange Dawn (2000)
 * Tide Line Blue (2005)
 * Zegapain (2006)