Kunihisa Sugishima

Sugishima started his career on Sunrise in the 1980s,^[1] having worked as the setting producer for Heavy Metal L-Gaim's episodes 1 to 18, as well as the director and storyboarder for other episodes.^[2] Another major work in his early career was his involvement with the Gundam series;^[1] he directed several episodes of Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam and Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ.^[3][4] His first work as the main director was in 1994 when he directed at Sunrise a single-episode special titled Shinizokonai Kakarichō.^[5] His subsequent works were not at Sunrise; he directed Gokudo (1999) at Trans Arts,^[6] Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (2000–2004) at Gallop,^[7] and Speed Grapher (2005) at Gonzo.^[1] For the latter company he also directed the original video animation Strike Witches in 2007.^[8] After directing Nabari no Ou at J.C.Staff in 2008,^[9] he went on to direct four Beyblade-related television series and one film at Tatsunoko Productions and SynergySP between 2009 and 2012.^[10] He returned to work for Sunrise where he was the director for two Battle Spirits anime; Burning Soul (2015) and Double Drive (2016).^[11][12]