Kazuko Tadano

Kazuko Tadano
Kazuko Tadano
只野和子
Born	March 14, 1959 (age 65); Hiroshima, Japan
Other names	KAZZ; KAZZ-T;
Occupation(s)	Animator, Character Designer, Illustrator, Animation Director
Years active	1980–present
Notable work	Sailor Moon (Season 1, 2 & R the Movie); Wedding Peach; Sailor Moon Crystal (Eternal, Cosmos); Yu-Gi-Oh! (Sevens & Go Rush!!);
Spouse	Hiromi Matsushita
Japanese name
Kanji	只野和子
Hiragana	ただのかずこ
Katakana	タダノカズコ
Romanization	Tadano Kazuko

Kazuko Tadano (Japanese: 只野和子, Hepburn: Tadano Kazuko, born March 14, 1959) is a Japanese animator, character designer, illustrator and animation director. She's mostly known for her character design work for the first two seasons of the 1990s Sailor Moon anime series.^[1]

Career

Tadano first worked as an animation director for an episode of 1980s Saint Seiya anime. She then became a character designer for Dancouga – Super Beast Machine God, and Crystal Triangle.

In the 1990s, after working on various episodes for Goldfish Warning!, she then became a character designer for the first two seasons of the Sailor Moon anime series (Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon R), and provided some animation direction for many episodes. She also provided the designs for its first movie, Sailor Moon R: The Movie.

From the late 1990s to 2000s, after Sailor Moon, she designed the characters for Wedding Peach, Petite Princess Yucie, Jūsō Kikō Dancouga Nova, Valkyria of the Battlefield 3: The Wound Taken from Someone's Sake, and Nobunagun.

In June 2018, it was announced that Tadano was chosen as a character designer for Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal The Movie, a two-part anime film project that takes place as a "fourth season" for the Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal anime series, adapting the Dream arc of the manga. The two-part film was released in 2021.^[2]^[3]^[4]

In December 2019, both Tadano and her husband, Hiromi Matsushita, were chosen as character designers for the sixth spin-off of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters anime series, Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens.^[5] In December 2021, Tadano and Matsushita were chosen as character designers again for the seventh spin-off, Yu-Gi-Oh! Go Rush!!.^[6]

In April 2022, it was announced that Tadano will design the characters for Sailor Moon Eternal's sequel, titled Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Cosmos The Movie, another two-part anime film project that takes place as a "fifth and final season" for the Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal anime series, adapting the Stars arc of the manga, and was released in June 2023.^[7]^[8]

Personal life

She married Hiromi Matsushita, who was also an animation director on Sailor Moon.^[9]

Her favorite hobbies are going to karaoke, traveling, and her dislikes are exercising, though she prefers to walk.^[10]

Works

TV Anime

Year	Show	Credit	Note
1985	Dancouga – Super Beast Machine God	Character Design (Shinobu, Masato, Laura), Animation Director (eps. 4, 19, 24), Key Animation (eps. 2, 17)	^[9]
1986	Saint Seiya	Animation Director (eps. 65)
1989	Time Travel Tondekeman	Key Animation (eps. 18), Sub-Character Design (eps. 1–5, 12, 24, 30, 33)
1991-1992	Goldfish Warning!	Animation Director (eps. 14, 19, 25, 30, 35, 40, 43, 50)
1992-1993	Sailor Moon	Character Design, Animation Director (eps. 6, 12, 17, 21, 28, 34, 39, 46)	^[9]
1993-1994	Sailor Moon R	Character Design, Animation Director (eps. 53, 58, 64, 69, 88), Key Animation (eps. 53)	^[9]
1995-1996	Wedding Peach	Character Design
2002-2003	Petite Princess Yucie	Character Design, Animation Director (OP), Key Animation (eps. 8, 25)
2003	The World of Narue	Eyecatch Illustration
2004	Sgt. Frog	Key Animation (eps. 58)
2007	Dancouga Nova – Super God Beast Armor	Character Design	Under the name of "KAZZ"
2011	Hunter x Hunter	Key Animation (eps. 23, 31, 38, 45, 53, 75, 81)
2014	Nobunagun	Character Design	Under the name "KAZZ-T"
2014-2015	Mysterious Joker	Animation Director (eps. 13, 19, 24, 26)
2017	The Royal Tutor	Chief Animation Director (eps. 3, 11–12)
2018	Muhyo & Roji's Bureau of Supernatural Investigation	Chief Animation Director
2020-2022	Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens	Character Design, Chief Animation Director (OP1, ED1; eps. 1, 4, 10, 17, 23, 31, 43, 53, 67, 92), Animation Director (eps. 1, 10, 17, 23, 31, 43, 53, 67, 77, 92), Key Animation (OP1, ED1; eps. 1, 4, 10, 17, 23, 31, 43, 53, 67, 77, 92)	Co-character design with Hiromi Matsushita^[5]
2020	Muhyo & Roji's Bureau of Supernatural Investigation Season 2	Chief Animation Director, Animation Director (eps. 1), Key Animation (eps. 1, 6)
2022–present	Yu-Gi-Oh! Go Rush!!	Character Design, Chief Animation Director (OP1-3, ED1-5; eps. 1, 17, 22, 26, 32, 38, 46, 48, 52, 58, 77, 79, 85, 90, 102, 128), Animation Director (OP1-3, ED2-5; eps. 17, 38, 46, 52, 119, 128), 2nd Key Animation (ED5), Key Animation (OP1-2, ED3-5; eps. 38, 41, 46, 52)	Co-character design with Hiromi Matsushita^[6]

Anime Film

Year	Title	Credit	Note
1983	Choro Q Dougram	Character design, Animation Director	9 minute short film
1993	Sailor Moon R: The Movie	Character Design, Animation Director
2021	Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal The Movie	Character Design, Chief Animation Director (Part 1)	2-Part Film Season 4 of Sailor Moon Crystal (Dead Moon arc)^[2]^[4]^[3]
2023	Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Cosmos The Movie	Character Design	2-Part film Season 5 of Sailor Moon Crystal (Shadow Galactica arc)^[7]^[8]

OVA (Original Video Animation)

Year	Title	Credit	Note
1985	Vampire Hunter D	Key Animation
1987	Crystal Triangle	Character Design	^[9]
1995	Graduation	Character Design
1996-1997	Wedding Peach DX	Character Design
2011	Valkyria of the Battlefield 3: The Wound Taken from Someone's Sake	Character Design, Chief Animation Director

References

^ 只野美少女のヒミツ [Tadano's Secret to Pretty Girls]. Animage (in Japanese). Tokuma Shoten. September 1993. p. 57.
^ ^a ^b "「美少女戦士セーラームーンCrystal」劇場版アニメのキャラクターデザイナーが決定!" ["Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal" Film Character Designer Chosen!]. Sailor Moon Official (in Japanese). June 30, 2018. Retrieved June 30, 2018.
^ ^a ^b "劇場版『美少女戦士セーラームーンEternal』 2020年 ROADSHOW!" ["Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal The Movie" Coming Soon in 2020!]. Sailor Moon Official (in Japanese). June 30, 2019. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
^ ^a ^b Ressler, Karen (June 30, 2018). "Sailor Moon Crystal Films Bring Back Original Sailor Moon Character Designer Kazuko Tadano". Anime News Network. Retrieved June 30, 2018.
^ ^a ^b Hodgkins, Crystalyn (December 20, 2019). "Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens Anime Reveals April 2020 Debut, Staff, Cast". Anime News Network. Retrieved December 20, 2019.
^ ^a ^b Hodgkins, Crystalyn (December 17, 2021). "Yu-Gi-Oh! Go Rush!! Anime Announced With April 2022 Premiere". Anime News Network. Retrieved December 17, 2021.
^ ^a ^b Mateo, Alex (April 28, 2022). "Sailor Moon Manga's Final Arc Gets 2 Sailor Moon Cosmos Films in Early Summer 2023". Anime News Network. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
^ ^a ^b "劇場版「美少女戦士セーラームーンCosmos」 2023年 ROADSHOW!!" ["Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Cosmos The Movie" Coming Soon in 2023!]. Sailor Moon Official (in Japanese). April 28, 2022. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Otakon to Host Sailor Moon Designer, Animation Director". Anime News Network. July 8, 2008. Retrieved November 17, 2013.
^ 劇場アニメ「美少女戦士セーラームーンCrystal 第4期デッド・ムーン編」キャラクターデザイナー只野和子さんインタビュー! [Interview with Anime Film 'Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal Season 4: Dead Moon arc' Character Designer Kazuko Tadano!]. Sailor Moon Fan Club Newsletter (in Japanese). Japan: Kodansha. April 22, 2019.

External links

Kazuko Tadano at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
Kazuko Tadano at IMDb

[1] 只野美少女のヒミツ [Tadano's Secret to Pretty Girls]. Animage (in Japanese). Tokuma Shoten. September 1993. p. 57.

[SMC_S4_Movie-2] "「美少女戦士セーラームーンCrystal」劇場版アニメのキャラクターデザイナーが決定!" ["Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal" Film Character Designer Chosen!]. Sailor Moon Official (in Japanese). June 30, 2018. Retrieved June 30, 2018.

[SME_Movie-3] "劇場版『美少女戦士セーラームーンEternal』 2020年 ROADSHOW!" ["Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal The Movie" Coming Soon in 2020!]. Sailor Moon Official (in Japanese). June 30, 2019. Retrieved June 30, 2019.

[SMC_S4-4] Ressler, Karen (June 30, 2018). "Sailor Moon Crystal Films Bring Back Original Sailor Moon Character Designer Kazuko Tadano". Anime News Network. Retrieved June 30, 2018.

[YGO_Sevens-5] Hodgkins, Crystalyn (December 20, 2019). "Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens Anime Reveals April 2020 Debut, Staff, Cast". Anime News Network. Retrieved December 20, 2019.

[YGO_Go_Rush-6] Hodgkins, Crystalyn (December 17, 2021). "Yu-Gi-Oh! Go Rush!! Anime Announced With April 2022 Premiere". Anime News Network. Retrieved December 17, 2021.

[Cosmos-7] Mateo, Alex (April 28, 2022). "Sailor Moon Manga's Final Arc Gets 2 Sailor Moon Cosmos Films in Early Summer 2023". Anime News Network. Retrieved April 28, 2022.

[SMCosmos-8] "劇場版「美少女戦士セーラームーンCosmos」 2023年 ROADSHOW!!" ["Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Cosmos The Movie" Coming Soon in 2023!]. Sailor Moon Official (in Japanese). April 28, 2022. Retrieved April 28, 2022.

[ann_20080708-9] "Otakon to Host Sailor Moon Designer, Animation Director". Anime News Network. July 8, 2008. Retrieved November 17, 2013.

[10] 劇場アニメ「美少女戦士セーラームーンCrystal 第4期デッド・ムーン編」キャラクターデザイナー只野和子さんインタビュー! [Interview with Anime Film 'Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal Season 4: Dead Moon arc' Character Designer Kazuko Tadano!]. Sailor Moon Fan Club Newsletter (in Japanese). Japan: Kodansha. April 22, 2019.

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