Kazuya Tsurumaki

Kazuya Tsurumaki, born smack in the middle of Japan’s Niigata Prefecture back in ‘66, isn’t just some name anime nerds toss around—he’s a legit heavyweight in the world of animated chaos and mind-bending storytelling. The guy cut his teeth working under Hideaki Anno, which, let’s be real, is basically the anime equivalent of having Yoda as your sensei. Tsurumaki’s fingerprints are all over some of the wildest, most iconic projects out there, starting with FLCL in 2000. If you’ve seen it, you already know—it’s a fever dream of guitars, robots, and hormones, somehow crammed into six episodes that make absolutely no sense until they suddenly do. But FLCL is just the tip of the iceberg. Tsurumaki went even bigger, co-directing on the Evangelion rebuild films. Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance? Man, that movie is a trip. Giant robots, apocalyptic weirdness, teenagers with more baggage than an airport carousel—he made sure every frame hit hard, visually and emotionally. Before that, he helped launch the rebuild saga with Evangelion Shin Gekijôban: Jo, basically rebooting a classic for a new generation and somehow making it feel even more intense. Tsurumaki’s style is like a shot of espresso straight to the brain—offbeat, energetic, sometimes downright confusing, but always pushing boundaries. If you’re in the mood for anime that doesn’t play by the rules, this guy’s work is basically essential viewing.