Ayumu Watanabe

Ayumu Watanabe is a Japanese animation director born in Tokyo on September 3, 1966. He joined Shin-Ei Animation in 1986, beginning a long association with the Doraemon franchise. His work on Doraemon eventually placed him in charge of the annual feature films, a major role because the series had already been a central part of Japanese children’s television and cinema for decades.

Watanabe directed Doraemon: Nobita’s Dinosaur 2006, released in 2006 as a remake of the 1980 Doraemon film Nobita’s Dinosaur. The story follows Nobita after he discovers and hatches an egg containing a long-necked dinosaur, named Pisuke. Nobita and his friends attempt to return Pisuke to the Late Cretaceous period, bringing them into conflict with dinosaur hunters from the future. The film became a substantial commercial success and helped establish Watanabe as a Doraemon feature director.

He subsequently directed several consecutive Doraemon films: Nobita’s New Great Adventure into the Underworld – The Seven Magic Users (2007), Nobita and the Green Giant Legend (2008), The New Record of Nobita: Spaceblazer (2009), Nobita’s Great Battle of the Mermaid King (2010), Nobita and the New Steel Troops: Winged Angels (2011), and Nobita and the Island of Miracles – Animal Adventure (2012). Many of these films reworked earlier Doraemon movie premises while using new animation and revised story elements.

Outside Doraemon, Watanabe directed the 2018 television anime After the Rain, produced by Wit Studio. Adapted from Jun Mayuzuki’s manga, the series centers on Akira Tachibana, a high-school track athlete whose injury ends her racing activities, and Masami Kondō, the middle-aged manager of the family restaurant where she works. The anime aired in Japan on Fuji TV’s Noitamina programming block.

Watanabe also directed the television adaptation of Tomohito Oda’s Komi Can’t Communicate. Produced by OLM, its first season aired in 2021, followed by a second season in 2022. The story concerns Shōko Komi, a popular student who has severe communication difficulties, and Hitohito Tadano, who learns of her goal to make one hundred friends.

In 2021, Watanabe directed Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko, an animated feature produced by Studio 4°C. Based on Kanako Nishi’s novel, the film follows Kikuko, known as Nikuko, and her daughter Kikurin, who live in a small Japanese fishing town. The film received the Excellence Award in the Animation Division at the 25th Japan Media Arts Festival.