Hiroaki Sakurai  

Hiroaki Sakurai, born on December 15, 1958, is a Japanese anime director and musician known for his work in UFO Baby and the Di Gi Charat series. He has served as the director for numerous shows such as Nanaka 6/17, Cromartie High School, Les Misérables Shōjo Cosette, GA Geijutsuka Art Design Class, Maid Sama!, Nekogami Yaoyorozu, Jewelpet Happiness, The Disastrous Life of Saiki K., and The Demon Girl Next Door. Sakurai was in college for 5 and a half years before becoming interested in animation. He worked at Yoyogi Animation Academy as an assistant director and later joined Studio World, where he was involved in Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross as an assistant director. When Film Magic disbanded, Sakurai moved there and went bankrupt due to reasons mentioned below. According to Hatsuki Tsuji, Sakurai is described as someone who has good qualities but can be conceited. He often uses voice actors such as Mika Kanai and Kaori Nazuka in his directorial projects. Inspired by the direction of Akitaro Daichi and Tatsuo Sato from Akazukin Chacha, Sakurai was too elaborate in his direction and could not adhere to the limited number of sheets, resulting in constant deficits and driving Film Magic into bankruptcy. However, Takaaki Wada claims that Sakurai, Wada, and other animators ignored the president's advice and got carried away, leading to their own fault for the bankruptcy. Sakurai is known for his love of the ukulele and carries one with him at all times, even to the studios. The soundtrack for Cromartie High School features music by Bi Kyo Ran, a progressive rock band from the same town as him and whom he was a fan for many years and also worked with as a bassist later becoming a full member. He played bass in the ending song "Dynamite★I-N-G" for TV Tokyos Di Gi Charat Nyo! and performed a solo part. At the time, Sakurai had nine left-handed basses.