Hiroyuki Morita

Morita Hiroyuki (森田 宏幸, Morita Hiroyuki, born June 26, 1964, in Fukuoka, Japan) is a Japanese animator and director. He has worked as an animator on projects such as Akira and Lupin III. He is best known for working as director on the Studio Ghibli film The Cat Returns as well as doing key animation for the Studio Ghibli production My Neighbors the Yamadas and in-between animation for Kiki's Delivery Service. He was also a sequence director and storyboard artist on Tenchi Forever! and Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress.

Morita also was the director of the anime Bokurano, which was based on a manga by Mohiro Kitoh. He also regularly conducts animation course lectures on developing expression and performances.

Early Years
Born in Fukuoka Prefecture Japan. Morita graduated from Fukuoka Prefectural Chikushi High School. During high school, he won several awards for anime magazines contests and even produced his own independent animated short Garasu Wari Shōnen (ガラスわり少年, Glass Water Boy). His contemporary at the time was Katsuyuki Toda, currently a professional manga artist.

Career
After graduating from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering at Fukuoka University, he joined the animation production company Shaft, where he worked as an animator on Hiatari Ryōkō!. Following that, he worked freelance and worked on Akira, Kiki's Delivery Service, Roujin Z, Hashire Melos, Memories, Perfect Blue, and Golden Boy.

While working on Perfect Blue, he studied idol dance choreography. He also participated working in My Neighbors the Yamadas and the Ghibli Museum-exclusive animated short Koro's Big Day Out. This film led to his being chosen to direct The Cat Returns.