Atsuki Sato

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Atsuki Satō (佐藤敦紀), born in 1961 in Toyohashi, Aichi, Japan, is a Japanese film director, visual effects supervisor, special effects director, and film editor. Also known as Atsunori Satō, he studied at Waseda University and began his career in anime in 1982 with Studio Deen, working on Urusei Yatsura. He left the anime industry in 1985, later studied computer-generated imagery, and joined IMAGICA Lab in 1988, where he worked in the special effects department until 1992 before going freelance.

Satō collaborated with Shinji Higuchi on Gamera: Guardian of the Universe (1995) and Gamera 2: Attack of Legion (1996), creating CGI effects for the Gamera series. He began work that would become Garm Wars: The Last Druid after 1999, but production paused, and he then contributed to Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris (1999). He later joined IMAGE Co., Ltd., working in their visual effects division Motor/lieZ. In 2001 he did digital effects for The Princess Blade and served as Digital/CG supervisor on Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack.

He continued to work on various projects, including Kamen Rider Ryuki: Episode Final and Returner (2002), edited Minimoni ja Movie: Okashi na Daibōken!, and contributed to Kamen Rider 555: Paradise Lost (2003). Two years after 2004, he was the visual effects supervisor for She, the Ultimate Weapon. In 2009 he served as both editor and visual effects creator for Assault Girls. In 2012 he edited 009 Re:Cyborg and, with Higuchi, worked as visual effects supervisor on The Floating Castle and Giant God Warrior Appears in Tokyo, editing the latter.

Satō founded his visual effects studio TMA1 in 2013. He remained active as editor and VFX supervisor on several projects, including Nowhere Girl (2014) and Attack on Titan (2014). In 2016, Garm Wars was released with Satō as assistant director, and he won Best Film Editing at the 40th Japan Academy Prize for Shin Godzilla, for which he was the editor. He made his directorial debut in 2021 with the anime film The Space Battleship Yamato Era: The Choice in 2202. In 2022 he served as visual effects supervisor on Shin Ultraman and received a nomination for Best Visual Effects at the 16th Asian Film Awards. He also contributed as visual effects supervisor on Anno’s Shin Kamen Rider, released in March 2023.