Japanese anime director
Tensai Okamura (岡村 天斎, Okamura Tensai), born Yutaka Okamura (岡村 豊, Okamura Yutaka) on December 13, 1961, in Fukushima Prefecture, is a Japanese anime director and animator. Okamura grew up in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture. He is a graduate of Waseda University's department of science and engineering. In 1991, he changed his first name to Tensai.
Biography
As a child he read mangas about ninjas, spies and superheroes, and was particularly influenced by a Shirato Sampei manga about ninjas which helped young readers learn the art of ninja; "the spirit and the atmosphere of the spy series that rocked my childhood", such as The Fugitive, were other influences on Okamura's series.[1] During his university days at Waseda University, Okamura was a part of Waseda's manga research society and together with other budding animators, produced his first independent anime there. Upon graduating from university, Okamura joined the animation production studio Madhouse as an animator with the recommendation of a friend. Lensman: Secret of The Lens was the first he worked on as an animator. In 1989, he made his debut as an episode director with Yawara! and soon made his full directorial debut in 1995 with Memories. He later left Madhouse and went freelance, working on several projects along the way.
Influences
The idea for Darker Than Black came to Okamura while he was creating the anime Wolf's Rain, and was based on his handling of protagonists. The main characters in Wolf's Rain are heroic, unlike the violent protagonists in Darker than Black; Okamura wanted the latter's characters to be flawed, in contrast to those in Wolf's Rain.[1] The bi episodic structure is based on the experience Okamura worked as storyboarder in the anime Cowboy Bebop. They have space to dig more on the new character of each new arc. The series composition of first half is Okamura himself, leaving a lot freedom to the writers. The second half, since this original show needs to be put into an end, it is Shotaro Suga handling the role as his first time to be series composition.[2]
In Gemini of the Meteor, Okamura considered diverging from the previous season.[3] Okamura, who found the first series' narrative confusing and Hei rough, wanted to change the series' tone; Suo was created to contrast with Hei. Okamura hoped that the changes would appeal to new viewers, who would then watch the first season.[4] Darker than Black: Gaiden first envisioned when Bones decided to create the series' sequel. In contrast to the new style and content from the sequel aimed towards new viewers, the 4 OVAs were made for the returning fans who want see what happened after the first series.[5]
