Naoko Yamada

About

Naoko Yamada (山田 尚子) is a Japanese animator, television and film director. Working at Kyoto Animation, she directed the K-On! and Tamako Market anime series, and the anime films A Silent Voice and Liz and the Blue Bird. Yamada intended to work in film after university, but she decided to join Kyoto Animation after seeing an advertisement. Her first assignment at KyoAni was drawing inbetween frames for Inuyasha. She was eventually promoted to a key animator for Air. After working as an episode director of Clannad, she was asked to make her chief directorial debut with K-On!, an adaptation of a slice-of-life manga. The series was very successful, spurring a second season and a film. In 2013, she directed Tamako Market, and followed it with the film Tamako Love Story in 2014. For Tamako Love Story, she was awarded the New Face Award at the Japan Media Arts Festival. She storyboarded the...

Known for

Kaguya-sama: Love Is WarAnime • 2019Sound! EuphoniumAnime • 2015ClannadAnime • 2007Miss Kobayashi's Dragon MaidAnime • 2017K-ON!Anime • 2009Free!Anime • 2013Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions!Anime • 2012Violet EvergardenAnime • 2018The Melancholy of Haruhi SuzumiyaAnime • 2006Lucky StarAnime • 2007HyoukaAnime • 2012The Heike StoryAnime • 2022Nichijou: My Ordinary LifeAnime • 2011TsuruneAnime • 2018Beyond the BoundaryAnime • 2013Myriad Colors Phantom WorldAnime • 2016A Silent Voice: The MovieMovie • 2016Jaadugar: A Witch in MongoliaAnime • 2026Tamako MarketAnime • 2013KanonAnime • 2006Visual PrisonAnime • 2021Modern Love TokyoSeries • 2022Violet Evergarden: Eternity and the Auto Memory DollMovie • 2019The Colors WithinMovie • 2024