Masami Ōbari

Masami Ōbari
Masami Ōbari
大張正己
	Obari in an interview with Sankei Shimbun
Born	January 24, 1966 (age 58); Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan
Occupation(s)	Director, mecha designer, and character designer

Masami Ōbari (Japanese: 大張正己, Hepburn: Ōbari Masami, born January 24, 1966) is a Japanese anime director, animation director and mecha and character designer.

Biography

After graduating from high school in 1985, Masami Obari began his career when he joined the animation studio Ashi Production, where he worked on shows such as Special Armored Battalion Dorvack, Transformers (outsourced by Toei Animation to them sometimes), and Star Musketeer Bismarck. Soon after, at the age of 19, he got his first major break when he landed the role of mecha designer on Dancouga – Super Beast Machine God. Not too long after, at the young age of 21, he was given his first directorial role by directing episodes 5 and 6 of the Bubblegum Crisis OVA series. He also made three Fatal Fury OVAs from December 23, 1992, to July 16, 1994.

In 1993, he founded Studio G-1 with fellow animators Kazuto Nakazawa, Masahiro Yamane, Takehiro Nakayama, and Atsuko Ishida, to whom Masami Obari was married, but from whom he is currently divorced. Studio G-1 was later disbanded and was reformed under the name of Studio G-1 Neo in 2000.

Although not originally interested in animation, he was inspired when he formed a high school friendship with classmate Satoshi Urushihara.^[1]

In 2016, Obari married the professional model maker Ritsu Togasaki.^[2]

He has a younger brother named Takami, who served as the president and CEO of New Japan Pro-Wrestling between October 2020 and December 2023.^[3]

Filmography

Director

Original video animation

1988 Moonlight Rambler (Part 5 of Bubblegum Crisis)
1989 Red Eyes (Part 6 of Bubblegum Crisis)
1991–1992 Detonator Orgun
1996 Battle Arena Toshinden
1996 Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer
1997–1998 Voogie's Angel (co-directed with Aoi Takenouchi)
1999 Dangaizer 3
2001–2003 Angel Blade
2001–2003 Marine a Go Go
2002 Viper GTS
2004–2005 Angel Blade Punish!
2017 Gundam Build Fighters: Battlogue
2020 Gundam Build Divers Battlogue

Designer

Character design

Direct-to-video animation

1988–1990 Guy: Double Target (Monster Design)
1990–1992 Guardian of Darkness (Monster Design)
1993–1994 Time Bokan: Royal Revival (Key animation; episode 2)
1996–1997 Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer
1997–1998 Voogie's Angel
2001–2003 Angel Blade (Monster Design)
2004–2005 Angel Blade Punish!

Television series

1997 Virus Buster Serge
1998 Weiss Kreuz (Animation director for the 1st opening sequence)

Animated feature film

1992 Fatal Fury: Legend of the Hungry Wolf
1993 Fatal Fury 2: The New Battle
1994 Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture

Video games

1995 Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer (also voices Brider in the game)
2022 The King of Fighters XV

Mecha design

Direct-to-video animation

1985–1987 Fight! Iczer One
1987–1991 Bubblegum Crisis (DD design)
1987–1989 Dangaioh
1999 Dangaizer 3
2001–2003 Marine a Go Go

Television series

1985 Dancouga – Super Beast Machine God
1991–1992 The Brave Fighter of Sun Fighbird (chief animator, mecha designer for 9 episodes, opening sequence solo animator)
1992–1993 Tekkaman Blade (opening sequence animator)
1994–1995 Magic Knight Rayearth (opening sequence animator)
1994–1995 Brave Police J-Decker (Guest Mecha Design for episodes 1–3)
2000 Platinumhugen Ordian
2002 Gravion
2004 Gravion Zwei
2007 Jūsō Kikō Dancouga Nova
2010–2011 Super Robot Wars Original Generation: The Inspector
2015–2017 Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans (Animation direction, key animation, in-between animation)
2019 Pop Team Epic TV Special (1st half prologue skit and opening sequence)
2022 Pop Team Epic Series 2 (Episode 2 story part and ending sequence)

Video games

1989 Moto Roader
2007 Super Robot Wars: Original Generations
2007 Super Robot Wars Original Generation Gaiden
2008 Super Robot Wars Z
2012 2nd Super Robot Wars Z
2015 3rd Super Robot Wars Z
2018 Mobile Corps Iron Saga
2019 Super Robot Wars DD

Bibliography

G-One Masami Obari's Super Design Works First Mission (G-ONE 大張正己作品集). Movic, 1998. ISBN 978-4896013610
Masami Obari Artworks Robot Soul (大張正己画集ロボ魂-ROBOT SOUL-). SB Creative, 2013. ISBN 978-4797370034
Masami Obari Art Book OBARISM (大張正己画集 OBARISM). Hobby Japan, 2022. ISBN 978-4798627809