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Mitsue Yamazaki

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Mitsue Yamazaki
山崎 光恵
OccupationAnime director
Notable work

Mitsue Yamazaki (山崎 光恵, Yamazaki Mitsue) is a Japanese anime director. After joining the anime industry, she worked as a production assistant and episode director. She co-created and directed the 2025 television series Zenshu. She has also directed series such as Hakkenden: Eight Dogs of the East (2012), Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun (2014), Magic-kyun! Renaissance (2016), Tada Never Falls in Love (2018), How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift? (2019), Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle (2020), and Though I Am an Inept Villainess (2026–present).

Life and career

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Mitsue Yamazaki became interested in working in the anime industry after seeing Cowboy Bebop and Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer while job hunting. She joined Madhouse, Inc. as a production manager after passing a test on in-between animation.[1] She later moved to Nomad, where "they let [her] do a bit of everything" due to the company's small size, but seriously considered quitting the industry due to the excessive effort involved.[1]

Yamazaki originally worked as an episode director for several anime series, including Bleach, Durarara!!, Itazura na Kiss, Penguindrum, and Rozen Maiden.[2] She then became the series director for Hakkenden: Eight Dogs of the East (2012), Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun (2014), and Magic-kyun! Renaissance (2016).[3][4][2] In 2018, she joined several Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun staff members to work on Tada Never Falls in Love, where she was series director;[5] Disgaeamad of SakugaBlog admitted that Yamazaki "might be the most interesting director" to work for Doga Kobo.[6] She later continued working as a series director afterwards, namely for How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift? (2019) and Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle (2020).[7][8]

Yamazaki co-created the 2025 MAPPA anime television series Zenshu, serving concurrently as series director.[9] She named the series after zenshu (全修), a Japanese word which means "full retake", due to its nature as a term that "makes people in the industry shudder".[10] She is director for the 2026 Though I Am an Inept Villainess anime.[11]

Artistry

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Steve Jones of Anime News Network called Yamazaki "a talented director", remarking that she had accumulated a vast experience in the industry, including under fellow director Kunihiko Ikuhara, and concluding: "Obviously, she can wrangle together a show that looks and feels great under the correct conditions."[12] Writing for Anime Feminist, Tony Sun Prickett described her as "one of the most consistently brilliant female directors working in the industry".[13]

Filmography

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YearTitleCreditsRef.
2013Hakkenden: Eight Dogs of the EastSeries director[3]
2014Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kunSeries director[4]
2016Magic-kyun! RenaissanceSeries director[2]
2018Tada Never Falls in LoveSeries director[5]
2019How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift?Series director, sound director[7]
2020Sleepy Princess in the Demon CastleSeries director[8]
2026ZenshuSeries director, creator[2]
2026Though I Am an Inept VillainessSeries director[11]

References

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  1. 1 2 "冬アニメ『全修。』山﨑みつえ監督に聞く作品の見どころとアニメ監督の役割【連載01】". Animate Times (in Japanese). 11 January 2025. Retrieved 26 July 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "山崎みつえ". allcinema (in Japanese). Retrieved 26 July 2026.
  3. 1 2 Ransom, Ko (6 July 2012). "Hakkenden: Tōhō Hakken Ibun's Staff, 2013 TV Debut Revealed". Anime News Network. Retrieved 26 July 2026.
  4. 1 2 Foronda, Anthony (4 July 2014). "Anime Spotlight - Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun (Gekkan Shojo Nozaki-kun)". Anime News Network. Retrieved 26 July 2026.
  5. 1 2 Ressler, Karen (2 November 2017). "Nozaki-kun Staff's Original Tada-kun wa Koi o Shinai Anime Reveals Cast, Story". Anime News Network. Retrieved 26 July 2026.
  6. ↑ Disgaeamad (31 March 2018). "Spring 2018 Anime Preview". SakugaBlog. Archived from the original on 26 April 2025. Retrieved 26 July 2026.
  7. 1 2 "『ダンベル何キロ持てる？』追加声優に石川界人、主題歌情報も解禁！". Animate Times (in Japanese). 20 May 2019. Retrieved 26 July 2026.
  8. 1 2 Sherman, Jennifer (15 January 2020). "Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle TV Anime Reveals Main Cast, Staff". Anime News Network. Retrieved 26 July 2026.
  9. ↑ "Most Anticipated Anime of Winter 2025". Anime News Network. 25 December 2024. Retrieved 26 July 2026.
  10. ↑ "冬アニメ『全修。』山﨑みつえ監督に聞く作品の見どころとアニメ監督の役割【連載01】". Animate Times (in Japanese). Retrieved 26 July 2026.
  11. 1 2 Cayanan, Joanna (17 March 2025). "Though I Am an Inept Villainess Light Novels' TV Anime Confirmed". Anime News Network. Retrieved 26 July 2026.
  12. ↑ DeRuyter, Lucas; Jones, Steve (30 January 2025). "This Week in Anime - How ZENSHU Is Breaking the Isekai Mold". Anime News Network. Retrieved 26 July 2026.
  13. ↑ Prickett, Tony Sun (15 July 2026). "Though I am an Inept Villainess - Episode 1". Anime Feminist. Retrieved 27 July 2026.
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