Kitazume Hiroyuki

Kitazume Hiroyuki (北爪宏幸, Kitazume Hiroyuki, born 9 August 1961) is a Japanese animator, character designer and director best known for his character designs for Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ. His distinctive character design style brought a fresh aesthetic to the Universal Century timeline whilst maintaining continuity with previous Gundam series.

Career

Kitazume joined Sunrise in the early 1980s and quickly established himself as a talented animator. His work caught the attention of director Tomino Yoshiyuki, who selected him to handle character designs for Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ in 1986, the third television series in the Universal Century timeline.

Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ

As character designer for Gundam ZZ, Kitazume was responsible for creating the visual appearance of all new characters, including protagonist Judau Ashta, Elle Vianno, Roux Louka, Elpeo Ple, and antagonist Glemy Toto. His designs featured a slightly softer, more youthful aesthetic compared to Yasuhiko Yoshikazu’s work on the original Mobile Suit Gundam and Nagano Mamoru’s designs for Zeta Gundam, reflecting the series’ initial lighter tone and younger cast.

Kitazume also served as animation director for numerous episodes, ensuring consistency in character animation throughout the series’ 47-episode run. His character designs successfully balanced the need for a fresh visual identity whilst remaining recognisably part of the Universal Century aesthetic established by previous series.

Continued Gundam Work

Following Gundam ZZ, Kitazume continued to contribute to the Gundam franchise as a key animator on Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack (1988), working under the supervision of Yasuhiko Yoshikazu. He also contributed to various Gundam OVAs and special projects throughout his career.

Other Notable Works

Beyond Gundam, Kitazume has worked on numerous anime projects:

Blood+ (2005-2006): Character designer for this vampire-themed series produced by Production I.G and Aniplex
Argento Soma: Character designer
Zoids: Various roles across multiple series
Cyber Formula: Character designer and animation director

As a director, Kitazume has helmed several projects, demonstrating his versatility in the anime industry.

Style and Influence

Kitazume’s character design style is characterised by:

Softer Features: Compared to previous UC Gundam series, his characters featured gentler, more rounded facial features
Expressive Eyes: Larger, more expressive eyes that conveyed emotion effectively
Youthful Aesthetic: Designs that emphasised the youth of the protagonists, appropriate for ZZ’s teenage cast
Action-Friendly: Designs that animated well in action sequences whilst maintaining detail

His work on Gundam ZZ demonstrated that the Universal Century timeline could accommodate different visual styles whilst maintaining its core identity. This helped establish that different designers could bring their own aesthetic to the franchise whilst respecting its established visual language.

Legacy

Kitazume’s character designs for Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ remain distinctive within the Universal Century timeline. Whilst the series initially divided fans due to its tonal shift from Zeta Gundam, his character designs have been praised for their technical quality and their success in conveying the personalities of a large ensemble cast.

His work helped establish a precedent for subsequent Universal Century productions to feature varied character design styles whilst maintaining the timeline’s overall aesthetic coherence. Characters like Judau Ashta and Elpeo Ple have become iconic within the franchise, thanks in large part to Kitazume’s memorable visual designs.

Behind the Scenes

According to production materials, Kitazume worked closely with director Tomino Yoshiyuki and mechanical designers Kobayashi Makoto, Izubuchi Yutaka, and Akitaka Mika to ensure that character and mechanical designs complemented each other. His designs needed to accommodate the series’ lighter first half whilst remaining credible for the darker second half.

The character of Elpeo Ple was particularly challenging, as Kitazume needed to design a character who appeared both childlike and capable as a mobile suit pilot, whilst also foreshadowing her nature as an enhanced human. His solution—a petite but determined-looking character with distinctive green hair—became one of the most memorable designs in the series.

Appearances

Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ – Character designer, animation director
Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack – Key animator

External links

Hiroyuki Kitazume on Anime News Network