Sunghoo Park

Sunghoo Park is a South Korean animator and director whose work became prominent in Japanese television animation through projects made with Studio MAPPA. He directed the first season of Jujutsu Kaisen, broadcast from October 2020 through March 2021. The series adapted Gege Akutami's manga about Yuji Itadori, a high school student drawn into the world of curses after swallowing one of Ryomen Sukuna's fingers. Park's direction gave the adaptation its fast, densely choreographed combat sequences, including confrontations involving Yuji, Satoru Gojo, and the Kyoto school students. The season introduced the Tokyo Jujutsu High setting and adapted the manga's early story arcs. Park also directed Jujutsu Kaisen 0, the theatrical prequel released in Japan on December 24, 2021. The film adapts Akutami's Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical School manga and centers on Yuta Okkotsu, whose childhood friend Rika Orimoto becomes a powerful cursed spirit after her death. Yuta enters Tokyo Jujutsu High under Gojo's supervision and faces Suguru Geto, a former sorcerer seeking to unleash cursed spirits on the city. Park directed this feature while also serving as a key creative figure in MAPPA's Jujutsu Kaisen adaptation. Earlier, Park directed Garo: Vanishing Line, a television installment in the Garo franchise that ran from October 2017 to March 2018. Its protagonist, Sword, is a Makai Knight pursuing Horrors in Russell City, while the young boy Luke joins his search for a mysterious El Dorado. The show paired Park's action-focused direction with an original story rather than a direct manga adaptation. In 2020, he directed The God of High School, MAPPA's adaptation of Yongje Park's Korean webtoon. The thirteen episode series follows Mori Jin, a teenage martial artist invited to the God of High School tournament, where competitors fight for a wish promised by its organizers. As the contest expands, Mori's opponents include Han Daewi and Yoo Mira, while its action mixes martial arts with powers known as Charyeok. After establishing E&H Production in 2021, Park directed Ninja Kamui, an original action series that premiered on Adult Swim's Toonami block in February 2024. The story follows Joe Higan, a former ninja living in rural America after escaping his clan. When assassins murder his wife and son, he returns to his identity as Ninja Kamui and pursues revenge. The series was produced by E&H Production and Sola Entertainment, placing Park at the center of a new production company as well as its debut major television project.