Tomoharu Katsumata

Directing

Tomoharu Katsumata

Born

1938-02-04 (88)

Place of birth

Shimoda, Shizuoka, Japan

Known for

Directing

Credits

34 titles

Known for

ANIME MANGA EXPLOSION poster
NR

The size of the Japanese animation market was 2,426 billion yen by 2020. More than half of that amount came from overseas sales. The manga market is also expanding, reaching 675.9 billion yen in 2021. Those unique visuals and stories from Japan have struck a chord with fans around the world and are growing into a huge industry. ANIME MANGA EXPLOSION will actively feature major works that are highly recognized by overseas fans and reveal the secrets of Japanese anime and manga creation through the series.

ANIME MANGA EXPLOSION

2023

Final Yamato poster
6.8

The Galman Empire is destroyed but the planet Galmania is not, by a chance collision of galaxies. The Bolar Federation worlds including Planet Bolar are destroyed. The Yamato, back under the command of Captain Okita, encounters the planet Denguil too late to save its humanoid civilization from being flooded by the water planet Aquarius. The surviving Denguil, a warrior race who believe only the strong should survive, plan to use Aquarius to flood Earth and destroy humanity, in order to create a new home for their race.

Final Yamato

1983

Future War 198X poster
5.9

An American scientist constructs a laser satellite with hopes of preventing any nuclear conflicts from occurring. However, after a fatal error from both the US and the USSR governments, war breaks out and humanity faces a new bloodshed.

Future War 198X

1982

Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid poster
6.6

The story of a beautiful mermaid who gave up a kingdom for her beloved prince.

Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid

1975

Puss 'n Boots Travels Around the World poster
6.4

Brave cat Pero once had a bet with treacherous multimillionarie Grumon that he can travel around the world in 80 days. The stake is high, in case of success Grumon will give all of his fortune to Pero, but in case of failure Pero becomes slave of Grumon for the rest of his life. Pero departs together with his faithful friends behemoth Kato and brave Small Mouse. Grumon tries everything to prevent their arrival to the finish.

Puss 'n Boots Travels Around the World

1976

Odin: Starlight Mutiny poster
4.8

Odin centers around the novice crew of the laser sailing space schooner Starlight as they embark on an historic interstellar test flight. They are intercepted by what seems to be a wrecked spaceship only to find that it contains a lone survivor; a young woman named Sara Cyanbaker. Unknown to the crew at this time, a mechanized space fleet approaches Earth and a scout vessel from that fleet was responsible for the destruction of Sara's ship.

Odin: Starlight Mutiny

1985

Series credits

Behind the camera

Final Yamato poster
6.8

The Galman Empire is destroyed but the planet Galmania is not, by a chance collision of galaxies. The Bolar Federation worlds including Planet Bolar are destroyed. The Yamato, back under the command of Captain Okita, encounters the planet Denguil too late to save its humanoid civilization from being flooded by the water planet Aquarius. The surviving Denguil, a warrior race who believe only the strong should survive, plan to use Aquarius to flood Earth and destroy humanity, in order to create a new home for their race.

Final Yamato

1983

Future War 198X poster
5.9

An American scientist constructs a laser satellite with hopes of preventing any nuclear conflicts from occurring. However, after a fatal error from both the US and the USSR governments, war breaks out and humanity faces a new bloodshed.

Future War 198X

1982

Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid poster
6.6

The story of a beautiful mermaid who gave up a kingdom for her beloved prince.

Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid

1975

Puss 'n Boots Travels Around the World poster
6.4

Brave cat Pero once had a bet with treacherous multimillionarie Grumon that he can travel around the world in 80 days. The stake is high, in case of success Grumon will give all of his fortune to Pero, but in case of failure Pero becomes slave of Grumon for the rest of his life. Pero departs together with his faithful friends behemoth Kato and brave Small Mouse. Grumon tries everything to prevent their arrival to the finish.

Puss 'n Boots Travels Around the World

1976

Odin: Starlight Mutiny poster
4.8

Odin centers around the novice crew of the laser sailing space schooner Starlight as they embark on an historic interstellar test flight. They are intercepted by what seems to be a wrecked spaceship only to find that it contains a lone survivor; a young woman named Sara Cyanbaker. Unknown to the crew at this time, a mechanized space fleet approaches Earth and a scout vessel from that fleet was responsible for the destruction of Sara's ship.

Odin: Starlight Mutiny

1985

Fist of the North Star - TV Compilation 2 - Six Sacred Fists of Nanto! Rei, the Star of Justice poster
NR

Compilation film covering the Rei story arc of the Fist of the North Star TV Series

Fist of the North Star - TV Compilation 2 - Six Sacred Fists of Nanto! Rei, the Star of Justice

1988

Arcadia of My Youth poster
7.3

Space captain Harlock, the latest in a family of proud aerial warriors, begins his journey to free the oppressed Earth from the despotic Illumidas Command.

Arcadia of My Youth

1982

Be Forever Yamato poster
7.5

The Black Nebula Empire attacks Earth and threatens to blow up the planet with a bomb they placed on Earth if counter attacked. Earths hopes rest on the Yamato crew as they go to the Black Nebula Planet and try to find a way to difuse the bomb before it's too late.

Be Forever Yamato

1980

Run Melos! poster
6.1

Hashire Melos! is the title of two Japanese animated films. The first was directed by Tomoharu Katsumata and released on Japanese television on February 7, 1981. It was either 68 or 87 minutes long, and its official title did not include the exclamation mark on the end. The second, with the exclamation mark, was a 107-minute remake of the first and was released on July 25, 1992. It featured direction and screenplay by Masaaki Osumi, music by Kazumasa Oda, art by Hiroyuki Okiura and Satoshi Kon, and background art by Hiroshi Ohno. Both were produced by Toei Company Ltd. Visual 80, and both were based on the original short story written by Osamu Dazai in 1940.

Run Melos!

1981

Great Conquest: The Romance of Three Kingdoms poster
7.2

Begins during the Yellow Turban rebellion that initiated the downfall of the Han dynasty. Liu Bei is striving to find a way to bring order to a chaotic world. He befriends Zhang Fei and Guan Yu. They take the Oath of the Peach Garden, to live and die together as warriors for justice. Cao Cao (eventual antagonist) ponders how to fulfill his destiny as "a hero in a chaotic world or a villain in a peaceful one." English dub version cuts out 18 minutes of the film.

Great Conquest: The Romance of Three Kingdoms

1992

Goldrake Addio poster
6.7

No synopsis available yet.

Goldrake Addio

1980

The Three Musketeers in Boots poster
6.0

Pero is back in Go Go Town, a fearful place in the Wild West that desperately awaits for a sheriff to come. In this town of no law and order, Pero and a boy named Jimmy try to help Annie, daughter of a saloon owner who has just been killed.

The Three Musketeers in Boots

1972

Sangokushi: The Distant Land poster
6.3

Third movie of the Sangokushi animated film trilogy. The movie covers the longest time span of the three films, from Liu Bei's expedition to Shu in 211 CE to the death of Kongming in 234 CE.

Sangokushi: The Distant Land

1994

Captain Future: The Great Race in the Solar System poster
7.5

Captain Future and friends compete in a galactic race and end up defending themselves against aggressive competitors and evil villains out to destroy them.

Captain Future: The Great Race in the Solar System

1978

Mazinger Z vs. Devilman poster
5.6

Mazinger Z vs. Devilman is a 1973 animated movie that crossed over two then-popular Anime series, both of which were created by Manga artist Go Nagai. While fighting with some of his enemies Mazinger Z inadvertently knocks them into a volcano, where they crash into the prison of the Satan race and release Phoenix Jenny! Dr. Hell, learning of this, frees the rest of the Satan race and teams up with them to defeat Mazinger Z, and their ability to fly proves to be too much for our hero. Meanwhile, Devilman is also individually fighting the members of the Satan race, but their combined power is too much for him as well; can Mazinger and Devilman put aside their differences and team up to defeat Dr. Hell and the Satan race?

Mazinger Z vs. Devilman

1973

Saint Elmo - Apostle of Light poster
4.0

Inside Mercury, Japan builds a large-sized solar space power plant. The plant supports Earth with its large solar energy supply but suddenly there is an abnormality at the Saint Elmo plant. To pinpoint the problem, Earth sends several technicians to fix it.

Saint Elmo - Apostle of Light

1986

World Famous Fairy Tale Series poster
7.0

A Japanese anime series of short films based on fairy tales and classic stories, produced by Toei Animation between 1975 and 1983.

World Famous Fairy Tale Series

1975

Gegege no Kitaro: The Great Sea Beast poster
5.8

Kitaro is a yōkai boy born in a cemetery and, aside from his mostly decayed father, the last living member of the Ghost Tribe (幽霊族 yūrei zoku?). He is missing his left eye, but his hair usually covers the empty socket. He fights for peace between humans and yōkai, which generally involves protecting the former from the wiles of the latter.

Gegege no Kitaro: The Great Sea Beast

1996

No artwork available
NR

For the third and final invasion attempt, the Zelans seek to ignite nothing less than a nuclear war between the USA and Russia.

Gaiking III

2011

Force Five : Grandizer poster
NR

"Will the merciless Vegan Empire destroy the planet Earth? Only one man can protect his adopted homeland from the Vegan's ruthless cunning, none other than Orion Quest and his starship GRANDIZER. Quest guides his space robot GRANDIZER to Earth, where he is befriended by Professor Valconian, who hides his massive machine and helps Quest adopt a new identity as an earthling. Upon learning of the planned attack by the evil Vegans, Quest and his GRANDIZER ship come out of hiding to protect his new home from the vicious onslaughts" - Back of the VHS cover description. Compilation film by Jim Terry, based on Episodes 1-2,7,17,23,26-27, 32 and 37.

Force Five : Grandizer

1981

UFO Robot Grendizer Theatrical Version poster
7.0

Special episode in cinemascope format for Japanese cinemas.

UFO Robot Grendizer Theatrical Version

1975

Sangokushi: The Yangtze Is Burning! poster
6.3

Covering roughly 13 years, from Cao Cao's victory over Lu Bu in 198 CE, through the Battle of Red Cliffs in 208 CE, and the aftermath up until 211 BCE. As other players are swept from the board, the story focuses on Liu Bei and his increasingly desperate attempts to prevent Cao Cao from seizing all of China. The turning point is Liu Bei's recruitment of the best strategic mind of that generation, Zhuge Kongming, the Crouching Dragon.

Sangokushi: The Yangtze Is Burning!

1993

No artwork available
1.0

The second phase of the Zelan invasion spans the globe as invincible robot monsters launch attacks from hidden bases in Antarctica, the Sahara Desert, South America and Japan.

Gaiking II

2011

No artwork available
NR

When Earth is invaded by an alien army of horrors, a giant robot named Gaiking is constructed to defend the Earth.

Gaiking

2011

The Snow Country Prince poster
4.0

Koichi and his sister Yuki befriend Hanaguro, a swan who has flown to Japan from Siberia. Hanaguro is attacked by a dog, and the cowardly Koichi flees, but that night he has a dream in which he is whisked away to the Kingdom of Snow Prince, where he finds the bravery to help the other swans.

The Snow Country Prince

1985

The Prince and the White Horse poster
NR

Bataar, a young Mongolian boy, wishes to cure his father's leg that was injured during a war with a neighbouring tribe. One day, a white horse suddenly appears before him and Bataar starts a magical journey through time to rewrite history and to prevent the war from ever happening.

The Prince and the White Horse

2000

The Cherry Tree poster
5.0

In postwar Tokyo, while his mum works, Taichi spends his days alone and misses his dad who was killed in the war. Through his friendship with an old man who tends a seemingly dead cherry tree, Taichi learns about the tree and gradually becomes more positive. (Source: Treasures of the Heart)

The Cherry Tree

1983

The Princess of the Desert Kingdom poster
NR

When the spring that supplies water to her kingdom dries up, the Princess decides to go into the desert in search of a faraway oasis that is said to exist. The Princess and her animal friends face many challenges in their journey to save the draught-stricken kingdom.

The Princess of the Desert Kingdom

2001

A Journey to Hiroshima poster
NR

To spend the summer vacation, junior high school student, Kazuki rides a bullet train to Hiroshima to stay with his aunt. Arriving in Hiroshima, his aunt narrates the tragic past of what happened the day the atomic bomb fell. From the aunt who had to overcome a lot of hardships, he learns the value of peace and to have the courage to lose.

A Journey to Hiroshima

1994

Hansel and Gretel poster
7.0

Adapted from the Brothers Grimm fairytale.

Hansel and Gretel

1975

The Prince and the Coral Sea poster
2.8

On the island of Okinawa, driven by his kindhearted nature, a boy named Ray determines to stop the destruction of the island's natural forests and coral reef, no matter what he has to give. What will he give to stop a tidal wave from killing the island's people?

The Prince and the Coral Sea

2000

The Himalayan Kingdom of Light poster
NR

In a small village overlooking the scenic Himalayas, a young boy, Suruya, receives a letter from a princess. It's a heartbreaking cry for help. Suruya, who is not the most courageous of boys, sets out to rescue the princess, managing to find the courage to carry out his mission along the way.

The Himalayan Kingdom of Light

1999

Alexander's Decision poster
NR

King Alexander of Macedonia and his troops are at war with the armies of Persia. When he suddenly falls ill, Alexander is faced with a decision: to trust his life-long Persian friend Philip and accept his help or treat him as an enemy because he is Persian.

Alexander's Decision

2003