Shuichi Kusamori

Shuichi Kusamori (草森秀一), born in 1961 in Kanagawa Prefecture, is an art director. In many productions he is credited as Shuichi Hirata (平田秀一). After marriage he adopted the family name of his wife, Kusamori in 2012.

After studying at the Tokyo Designer College for two years he joined Studio SF for one year as an employee. Afterwards he began working as a freelance illustrator. Kusamori worked as a background artist on Isao Takahata’s Grave of the Fireflies (1988) under art director Nizo Yamamoto. Under the direction of art director Hiromasa Ogura he worked on Patlabor: The Movie (1989). Subsequently, with Production I.G he worked on Oshii’s following projects Patlabor 2: The Movie (1993) and Ghost in the Shell (1995). In 2006 he established his company Taro House, a two-person studio that he still runs with his wife today. He served as art director on Rintaro’s Metropolis (2001), based on Osamu Tezuka’s classic manga. His intricate texture work was an important pillar of Oshii’s Cannes nominated Innocence (2004), and of the Annecy selected XxxHolic: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2005), directed by Tsutomu Mizushima. His latest works as an art director include the Psycho-Pass series (2012) and consequent movie (2015), as well as the latest Psycho-Pass Movie: Providence (2023).

Kusamori works in both media, on paper and digitally.