Sunghoo Park

The native form of this personal name is Park Sung-hoo. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.

Sunghoo Park
박성후
Nationality	South Korean
Education	Chiyoda Institute of Technology and Art
Occupations	Anime director animator
Years active	2004–present
Known for	The God of High School, Jujutsu Kaisen
Korean name
Hangul	박성후
Hanja	朴性厚
Revised Romanization	Bak Seonghu
McCune–Reischauer	Pak Sŏnghu

Sunghoo Park (Korean: 박성후, Japanese: 朴性厚) is a South Korean anime director and animator based in Japan. He is best known for directing the anime television series The God of High School and the first season of Jujutsu Kaisen.

Biography

Park decided to enter the anime industry after he watched the film Macross: Do You Remember Love? and its anime series. He first studied at a university in South Korea that has an animation department, but eventually moved to Japan to study at the Chiyoda Institute of Technology and Art [ja].^[1][2][3]

In 2004, he joined Studio Comet, working on series such as Onegai My Melody. In 2017, under MAPPA, he made his directorial debut with Garo: Vanishing Line.^[4]

He also worked on the opening sequence for Zombieland Saga, and became the assistant director for Banana Fish.^[4] In 2020, he directed The God of High School, a South Korean webcomic adaptation.^[5] Later that year, he directed Jujutsu Kaisen, which won anime of the year at the 5th Crunchyroll Anime Awards.^[6] Park himself was also nominated for Best Director at the same awards.^[7] In December 2021, Park directed the film prequel, Jujutsu Kaisen 0. Park wanted to make each character's facial expression carefully to give them a proper look when fighting. He considers the new protagonist, Yuta Okkotsu, as a straightforward teenager. He aimed to show Okkotsu's loneliness caused by Rika's Curse. Megumi Ogata surprised Park in the making of the movie for giving Yuta a sensitive characterization when crying.^[8] Park added elements of Chinese movies to the feature which he wanted fans to look forward to. He also praised Seko's script for the movie which is meant to show Okkotsu's transformation into a hero. While the television series was noted for having entertaining fight scenes, MAPPA aimed to make the film cooler.^[9] In 2022, the second cour of Jujutsu Kaisen was nominated for anime of the year. Park was also once again nominated for best director.^[10]

Works

TV series

• Terror in Resonance (2014) (key animator)^[11]
• Yuri!!! on Ice (2016) (key animator)^[11]
• Garo: Vanishing Line (2017–2018) (director)^[11]
• Banana Fish (2018) (assistant episode director) (ep 13)^[4]
• The God of High School (2020) (director)^[12]
• Jujutsu Kaisen (2020–2021) (director)^[13]
• Ninja Kamui (2024) (director)^[14]

ONA

• Monsters: 103 Mercies Dragon Damnation (2024) (director, writer)^[15]
• Bullet/Bullet (2025) (director, original story draft)^[16]

Films

• Jujutsu Kaisen 0 (2021) (director)^[17]

References

1. Coats, Cayla (July 23, 2020). "INTERVIEW: The God of High School's Director Studied Martial Arts on YouTube". Crunchyroll. Retrieved October 19, 2021.
2. Davidson, Danica (July 24, 2020). "Director of The God Of High School Talks Animation, Martial Arts, and an Average Day". Otaku USA. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
3. "The God Of High School Director Answers 20 Questions On Anime Motivation!". Anime Motivation. Retrieved October 19, 2021.
4. Loveridge, Lynzee (July 27, 2020). "Interview with Rising Star Sunghoo Park, Director of The God of High School". Anime News Network. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
5. Pineda, Rafael Antonio (April 28, 2020). "The God of High School Anime's English-Subtitled Trailer Reveals More Cast, Staff". Anime News Network. Retrieved October 19, 2021.
6. Loveridge, Lynzee (February 19, 2021). "Crunchyroll Awards Crown Jujutsu Kaisen as Anime of the Year". Anime News Network. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
7. Loveridge, Lynzee (January 15, 2021). "Crunchyroll Announces Nominees for 5th Annual Anime Awards". Anime News Network. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
8. "『劇場版 呪術廻戦 0』監督が明かす！緒方恵美の驚きの演技【朴 性厚監督インタビュー１】". Fubanet (in Japanese). Retrieved January 8, 2022.
9. "【MAPPAが語る、0からわかる『呪術廻戦』Vol.1 】「TVアニメシリーズとは違うパターンを見せたい」". Yahoo Japan. Retrieved December 27, 2021.
10. Loveridge, Lynzee (January 18, 2022). "Crunchyroll Announces Nominees for 6th Annual Anime Awards". Anime News Network. Retrieved January 18, 2022.
11. Pineda, Rafael Antonio (August 14, 2017). "MAPPA Reveals Original TV Anime Vanishing Line for October Premiere". Anime News Network. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
12. Locksley, Ross (July 23, 2020). "Interview with Sunghoo Park". UK Anime Network. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
13. Pineda, Rafael Antonio (May 20, 2020). "Jujutsu Kaisen Anime's Video Reveals New Cast, Staff, October Premiere". Anime News Network. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
14. Mateo, Alex (May 18, 2022). "Adult Swim Announces Rick and Morty: The Anime, Ninja Kamui Anime". Anime News Network. Retrieved May 18, 2022.
15. Pineda, Rafael Antonio (December 14, 2023). "Anime of Eiichiro Oda's 'Monsters' Manga Reveals Visuals, January 2024 Netflix Debut". Anime News Network. Retrieved December 14, 2023.
16. Pineda, Rafael Antonio (November 20, 2024). "Sung Hoo Park's Original Anime Series Bullet/Bullet Reveals Summer Debut in Teaser". Anime News Network. Retrieved November 20, 2024.
17. 映画『劇場版 呪術廻戦 0』、特報映像解禁。主人公 乙骨憂太役に緒方恵美が決定. Tower Records (in Japanese). July 30, 2021. Retrieved August 30, 2021.

External links

• Sunghoo Park at Anime News Network's encyclopedia