Atsuko Ishizuka (ã „ã —ã šã ‹ã ‚ã ¤ã ", Ishizuka Atsuko, born
September 3, 1981) is a Japanese animator and director. She began her
animation career after joining Madhouse in 2004.Ishizuka's journey to
becoming an animator was rather unusual by industry standards in
Japan. Unlike many of her contemporaries, she did not grow up watching
anime on television, but rather developed an interest in music and
graphic arts. Upon graduating high school, she decided to focus on
graphic design and entered the Aichi Prefecture University of the
Arts. While there, she was prompted to do an arts project and chose to
do an animated video because it would allow her to combine her two
areas of interest. In this way, she entered the animation world not
attempting to secure a career, but to make art for art's sake.During
her education at the art school, Ishizuka made a number of short
animated films for her own enjoyment, often set to music. One of these
films, Gravitation, which was later featured at the 2005 Tehran
International Short Film Festival, caught the attention of both the
Japanese broadcasting giant NHK and Madhouse. NHK quickly contacted
Atsuko with an offer to have her animate a music video segment for the
popular and long running short film program Minna no Uta (Everyone's
Songs), which was designed to highlight upcoming independent animators
and musicians. However, by this time Ishizuka had already been hired
by Madhouse as a production assistant, and feeling that it would not
be right to accept freelance work outside of the studio, she turned
them down. However, the Minna no Uta staff was unwilling to give up,
and they requested that Madhouse take on the music video project with
Ishizuka as director. The studio agreed, and in 2004, Atsuko rose
through the ranks for her first professional film, Tsuki no Waltz (The
Moon Waltz).
September 3, 1981) is a Japanese animator and director. She began her
animation career after joining Madhouse in 2004.Ishizuka's journey to
becoming an animator was rather unusual by industry standards in
Japan. Unlike many of her contemporaries, she did not grow up watching
anime on television, but rather developed an interest in music and
graphic arts. Upon graduating high school, she decided to focus on
graphic design and entered the Aichi Prefecture University of the
Arts. While there, she was prompted to do an arts project and chose to
do an animated video because it would allow her to combine her two
areas of interest. In this way, she entered the animation world not
attempting to secure a career, but to make art for art's sake.During
her education at the art school, Ishizuka made a number of short
animated films for her own enjoyment, often set to music. One of these
films, Gravitation, which was later featured at the 2005 Tehran
International Short Film Festival, caught the attention of both the
Japanese broadcasting giant NHK and Madhouse. NHK quickly contacted
Atsuko with an offer to have her animate a music video segment for the
popular and long running short film program Minna no Uta (Everyone's
Songs), which was designed to highlight upcoming independent animators
and musicians. However, by this time Ishizuka had already been hired
by Madhouse as a production assistant, and feeling that it would not
be right to accept freelance work outside of the studio, she turned
them down. However, the Minna no Uta staff was unwilling to give up,
and they requested that Madhouse take on the music video project with
Ishizuka as director. The studio agreed, and in 2004, Atsuko rose
through the ranks for her first professional film, Tsuki no Waltz (The
Moon Waltz).
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