--- name: "Naoko Yamada" canonical: "https://film.one/person/naoko-yamada" fi1m_id: "naoko-yamada" imdb_id: "nm2210720" tmdb_id: 1072778 wikidata_id: "Q550018" roles: ["Storyboard artist","Director"] born: "28 November 1984" reviewed_on_fi1m: 1 average_over: 0 updated: "2026-09-17T23:26:24.107960+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Naoko Yamada ## Identity Naoko Yamada - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/naoko-yamada - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** naoko-yamada - **IMDb ID:** nm2210720 - **TMDB ID:** 1072778 - **Wikidata ID:** Q550018 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naoko_Yamada, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q550018, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2210720/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1072778 Storyboard artist and director. Born 28 November 1984 in Kyoto, Japan. ## Details - **Work:** Storyboard artist, Director - **Born:** 28 November 1984, Kyoto, Japan - **Also known as:** やまだ なおこ, Ryu Ando, 安堂隆, Yamada Naoko, 山田 尚子, نائکو یامادا - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naoko_Yamada, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q550018, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2210720/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1072778 ## Streaming the US now - **Apple TV:** [*A Silent Voice: The Movie*](https://film.one/film/a-silent-voice-the-movie.md) (80) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Naoko Yamada > Naoko Yamada finds adolescent feeling in a pair of knees or a small, uneasy gesture. We recommend her patient, tender filmmaking, with one reservation: *A Silent Voice* gives its remorseful bully more room than the child he hurt. Yamada often looks towards a character’s legs to show how nervous they are. In *A Silent Voice* (2016), bruised knees and awkward gestures make school life feel painfully exposed. Cinematographer Kazuya Takao’s off-centre framing makes an ordinary encounter feel difficult. Yamada gives these small details enough attention to hold us without a grand setting. We found the bullying hard to watch because the children’s expressions kept the distress specific to the child enduring it. Her Kyoto Animation work took her from television series such as *Tamako Market* (2013) to the features *A Silent Voice* and *Liz and the Blue Bird* (2018). Music is another way for her to express what characters cannot readily say. Composer Kensuke Ushio is a regular collaborator. She moved to Science SARU in 2021, after leaving Kyoto Animation in 2020. Her 2024 feature continues her interest in music and colour as ways to explore identity and connection. The difficult question in *A Silent Voice* is how much attention a former bully deserves. Shouya Ishida seeks forgiveness from Shouko Nishimiya, the deaf classmate he bullied, and Yamada refuses to make his regret an achievement deserving immediate credit. She watches the other children closely, too, showing how much their opinions matter to those trying to fit in. Humour gives them lives beyond the cruelty, rather than interrupting a serious subject for a little relief. Their ordinary moments together help us care about young people who can be difficult to like. The difficulty is that Shouko needs more of that attention herself. Reiko Yoshida’s screenplay sometimes leaves her chiefly important as the person who might forgive Shouya, and Yamada’s sensitivity to a gesture cannot quite repair that imbalance. The crowded middle also needs a firmer cut; patience with adolescent behaviour does not require equal patience with every strand of the story. Those are substantial reservations about a film we still warmly recommend. Start with *A Silent Voice*, but spare some thought for the girl whenever the boy’s remorse threatens to occupy the whole picture. ## Biography Naoko Yamada is a Japanese animator and director. She joined Kyoto Animation in 2004 after graduating from university and began as an inbetweener on *Inuyasha*. She progressed to key animator on *Air* and episode director on *Clannad* before her chief directorial debut with the series *K-On!* (2009). Yamada directed the series *Tamako Market* (2013) and the films *Tamako Love Story* (2014), *A Silent Voice* (2016) and *Liz and the Blue Bird* (2018). She left Kyoto Animation in 2020 and has since worked at Science Saru. She was born on 28 November 1984 in Kyoto Prefecture. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (1) - *A Silent Voice: The Movie* (2016), Fi1m 80, Director, Storyboard Artist — [page](https://film.one/film/a-silent-voice-the-movie.md) ## Complete filmography (36) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia* (2026), series, as Other - *The Colors Within* (2024), Director, Storyboard Artist, Second Unit Director - *Garden of Remembrance* (2022), Director, Screenplay - *Modern Love Tokyo* (2022), series, Storyboard Artist, Director - *Modern Love Tokyo: He's Playing Our Song* (2022), Director, Storyboard - *The Heike Story* (2022), series, Storyboard Artist, Opening/Ending Animation, Series Director, Director - *Visual Prison* (2021), series, Opening/Ending Animation - *Violet Evergarden: Eternity and the Auto Memory Doll* (2019), Second Unit Director - *Sound! Euphonium the Movie - Our Promise: A Brand New Day* (2019), Key Animation, Second Unit Director - *Kaguya-sama: Love Is War* (2019), series, Opening/Ending Animation - *Tsurune* (2018), series, Director, Storyboard Artist - *Liz and the Blue Bird* (2018), Second Unit Director, Storyboard Artist, Director - *Violet Evergarden* (2018), series, Storyboard Artist - *Sound! Euphonium The Movie: May the Melody Reach You!* (2017), Series Director, Second Unit Director, Storyboard Artist - *Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid* (2017), series, Director, Storyboard Artist - *A Silent Voice: The Movie* (2016), Storyboard Artist, Director — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/a-silent-voice-the-movie.md) - *Sound! Euphonium The Movie: Welcome to the Kitauji High School Concert Band* (2016), Series Director, Second Unit Director, Storyboard Artist - *Myriad Colors Phantom World* (2016), series, Storyboard Artist - *Sound! Euphonium* (2015), series, Series Director, Storyboard Artist, Director - *Tamako Love Story* (2014), Second Unit Director, Storyboard Artist, Director, Original Story - *Beyond the Boundary* (2013), series, Director, Opening/Ending Animation, Storyboard Artist - *Free!* (2013), series, Opening/Ending Animation, Director, Storyboard Artist - *Tamako Market* (2013), series, Series Director, Director, Storyboard Artist - *Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions!* (2012), series, Storyboard Artist - *Hyouka* (2012), series, Storyboard Artist, Director - *K-ON! The Movie* (2011), Director, Second Unit Director, Storyboard Artist - *Nichijou: My Ordinary Life* (2011), series, Director, Storyboard Artist, Opening/Ending Animation - *轻音少女番外篇：访问* (2010), as 导演 - *The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya* (2010), Second Unit Director, Key Animation - *The Last War of the Heavenliods and Akutoliods* (2009), Key Animation - *K-ON!* (2009), series, Series Director, Director, Storyboard Artist, Opening/Ending Animation, Key Animation - *Clannad* (2007), series, Assistant Director, Director, Storyboard Artist, Key Animation - *Lucky Star* (2007), series, Key Animation - *Kanon* (2006), series, Key Animation - *The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya* (2006), series, Director, Storyboard Artist - *Munto 2: Beyond the Walls of Time* (2005), Animation ## Gallery - ![Naoko Yamada](https://film.one/media/person/105055/gallery-e206adde28e2.jpg) Naoko Yamada — Image via TMDB - ![Naoko Yamada](https://film.one/media/person/105055/gallery-1cb395e25cab.jpg) Naoko Yamada — Image via TMDB - ![Naoko Yamada](https://film.one/media/person/105055/gallery-5504528b3ec1.jpg) Naoko Yamada — Image via TMDB --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/naoko-yamada