CINDY YAMAUCHI
Featured Guest, Animator
Cindy H. Yamauchi is a Japanese-American animator, character designer, and animation director based in Tokyo. She began her career in Japan as an in-between artist and later became a freelance animator. After nearly a decade away from the industry while living in the United States, she returned to animation with Madhouse’s Gungrave in 2003. Since then, she has worked on numerous anime productions in roles including key animator, animation supervisor, chief animation supervisor, and character designer.
Her recent credits include Character Designer for Tojima Tanzaburo Wants to be a Kamen Rider, Animation Director for Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War, and Character Designer & Animation Director for Akudama Drive.
In addition to her professional animation work, Cindy is currently producing Boys Be Heroes!, an original independent anime music video project inspired by Japanese tokusatsu heroes and local community culture.
Jun Watanabe
Featured Guest, Director
Jun Watanabe is a Japanese Action Director, Director, and Actor with over 25 years of experience in the entertainment industry. He is currently serving as the Action Director for Kamen Rider Zeztz, one of the latest installments in Japan’s iconic Kamen Rider franchise. Throughout his career, Jun has worked across multiple disciplines including action direction, stunt performance, suit acting, and directing. His ability to combine practical action, character-driven performance, and cinematic storytelling has made him a respected figure within the Japanese action industry. His Action Director credits include Kamen Rider Zero-One, Kamen Rider Saber, Kamen Rider Revice, Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger, Bakuage Sentai Boonboomger, and Kamen Rider Zeztz. As a Director, he has helmed episodes of Bakuage Sentai Boonboomger and Kamen Rider Zeztz, bringing together action design and visual storytelling. As a performer and suit actor, Jun has portrayed numerous heroes and characters throughout the Kamen Rider and Super Sentai franchises, including Kamen Rider Eternal, Kamen Rider Mach, Kamen Rider Todoroki, Go-on Gold, and GekiChopper, among many others. Internationally, he served as Second Unit Director on Power Rangers Cosmic Fury, further expanding his experience in global productions and international collaboration. Jun’s action philosophy emphasizes practical stunt work, wire action, high falls, actor-driven performance, and cinematic action storytelling. He believes that action is a universal language capable of connecting people across cultures and borders. His mission is to continue bringing the spirit of Japanese action and tokusatsu entertainment to audiences around the world through both creative collaboration and innovation.
