Masami Hata

波多正美

He made his debut as an animator on the show Big X, and joined Mushi Production working there as a director. Around 1975, he began working at Sanrio, which was just moving into the anime market, and wound up staying there for over a decade, going on to direct several of Sanrio's full-length theatrical features such as Chirin no Suzu, Sirius no Densetsu and Yousei Florence. He has been working as a freelancer since the breakup of Sanrio's animation department in 1985 following the release of the film Yousei Florence, directing and storyboarding for TV series and movies at various studios.