Mitsuo Fukuda (福田 己津央, Fukuda Mitsuo) (born October 28, 1960) is a Japanese animation director and scriptwriter from Tochigi Prefecture. He was married to anime screenwriter Chiaki Morosawa until her death in 2016.
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Career
Fukuda is a graduate of Waseda Senior High School. While in school, he was a member of the manga research society. After graduating from high school, he joined Sunrise in 1979 at the age of 19. He calls himself a disciple of Takeyuki Kanda, who directed Ginga Hyōryū Vifam, Choriki Robo Galatt, and Metal Armor Dragonar among others.
For the OVA series Future GPX Cyber Formula SAGA, Fukuda selected his wife, Chiaki Morosawa, who had been a family friend to talk with about work, to write the scripts, and since then, he has entrusted series composition to Morosawa for almost all of the works he has directed (Morosawa's scriptwriting work is also almost exclusively limited to series directed by her husband Fukuda).
Fukuda's major works include Future GPX Cyber Formula, Gear Fighter Dendoh and the Mobile Suit Gundam SEED series. Although he has been on a freelance basis since Dragonar, when he turned to directing, his participation in other companies' productions has been very limited, with the majority of his work being Sunrise productions. He has a close relationship with Takayuki Yoshii, former president and chairman of Sunrise, and Naotake Furusato, former producer at Sunrise, and most of his career has been spent participating in their works and series. In addition, as mentioned above, most of Morosawa's participation has been limited to works directed by Fukuda, but Furusato was the producer of Outlaw Star, the only series in which Morosawa participated that was not directed by Fukuda.
Works
TV anime
Invincible Robo Trider G7 (1980) - Setting production
Saikyō Robo Daiōja (1981) - Setting manager
Choriki Robo Galatt (1984) - Setting production
Dirty Pair (1985) - Setting production
Metal Armor Dragonar (1987) - Episode director, storyboards
Mashin Hero Wataru (1988) - Episode director, storyboards
Madö King Granzört (1989) - Episode director, storyboards
Brave Exkaiser (1990) - Chief unit director, episode director, storyboards
Future GPX Cyber Formula (1991) - Director, episode director, storyboards
The Brave Fighter of Legend Da-Garn (1992) - Storyboards, episode director
Mobile Suit Victory Gundam (1993) - Storyboards (episode 29)
Wild Knights Gulkeeva (1995) - Storyboards (episode 13)
Gear Fighter Dendoh (2000) - Chief director, storyboards, episode director
Crush Gear Turbo (2001) - Chief 3D unit director, storyboards
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED (2002) - Director, episode director, storyboards
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: Special Edition (2004) - Director, unit director, storyboards
Movies
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom (2024) - Director/Co-Writer
OVA
Future GPX Cyber Formula 11 (1992) - Chief director, original story, script, storyboards, episode director
Future GPX Cyber Formula ZERO (1994) - Chief director, original story, script, storyboards, episode director
Private Eye Dol (1995) - Director
Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team (1996) - Promo storyboards
Super Atragon (1996) - Director, storyboards (episode 2)
Future GPX Cyber Formula EARLYDAYS RENEWAL (1996) - Director, script, episode director
Future GPX Cyber Formula SAGA (1996) - Chief director, original story, storyboards, episode director
Future GPX Cyber Formula SIN (1998) - Chief director, original story, storyboards, episode director
Web anime
Megohime Animation (2019, 2020, 2021) - Director
Blade of the Immortal (2019) - Storyboards (episode 10)
Gundam Build Divers Re:Rise (2020) - Storyboards (episodes 18, 22, 25), episode director (episode 25)
Gundam Build Real (2021) - Action storyboards
Games
Busou Shinki: Battle Masters Mk.2 (2011) - Opening storyboards, supervision
Novels
Future GPX Cyber Formula SAGA (1998)