Mitsuo Fukuda

Mitsuo Fukuda (福田 己津央, Fukuda Mitsuo, 福田 満夫 prior to 1990) (born 1960) is the director of Future GPX Cyber Formula, Gear Fighter Dendoh, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED and Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny.

Anime directed by Fukuda that have won the Animage Anime Grand Prix award have been Future GPX Cyber Formula in 1991, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED in 2002, and Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny in 2004 and 2005.

Career

Fukuda joined Sunrise in 1979. He was one of the creators of the Brave series of shows and likely would have directed the ninth Brave series, Baan Gaan, had it been fully produced. He was a core planning and production staffer on Exkaiser, Fighbird, and Da Garn, before leaving to focus on Cyber Formula. After the ending of Cyber Formula, he worked on the widely praised GEAR Fighter Dendoh series, and then work on Gundam SEED in the year following. He has also worked on Victory Gundam and Metal Armor Dragonar in a storyboard capacity, and likely worked on other Sunrise franchises in a more subordinate role.

Fukuda has been credited with the revival of Gundam's popularity with Mobile Suit Gundam SEED after two straight commercial failures in After War Gundam X and Turn A Gundam. In particular, these shows did not provide Bandai with popular lines of model kits to sell. Mitsuo Fukuda, by contrast, declared that successful lines of model kit merchandise were one of his personal goals for the SEED franchise in his early interviews in Newtype. Japanese...
Read More