I've looked around and read some interviews with Naoko Yamada and I want to express my thoughts on here.

Naoko Yamada is by far my favorite director of all time because she captures the human soul so well, the way she treats her characters with utmost respect and how she gives them life has always amazed me. In KyoAni & Do Fan Days 2015 - 4 Directors Stage Event she's asked why she shows the legs of her characters often and she states " It might sound awkward, but when you’re nervous, you move your legs around. I think it would be nice to express emotion like that." When I first heard about how she usually does this I never thought much of it, but as I would watch more and more KyoAni works it became apparent just how much a scene can impact you depending on something like how a character moves. It invites you even further into understanding their emotions even if you're not aware of it. I think this is the most prevalent in works such as A Silent Voice and Liz and the Blue Bird where so much of the story lies within how we communicate without words and how we instead use our bodies. Like how Mizore being codependent of Nozomi is represented in how Nozomi's flute reflects light that hits Mizore and Mizore becomes happy, or how Mizore walks behind Nozomi throughout the entire movie except for in the end when the blue bird has been set free. Or how Shoya and Shoko always miss each other's hands when they're trying to catch each other except for the near end when they finally break the barrier and become able to communicate through touch.

"Words, visuals and sound... when a viewer experiences the amount of information that all of them combined has, their feelings may sway."

"Anime is one frame by one frame with something a human has created to move around. It's that 'animation' process that moves people. You have to never forget that intent when creating something." - Naoko Yamada

We're affected or swayed by anime because they contain emotions that have to be deliberately included in order to be able to relate to it. Whenever we cry, laugh or love at an anime it's all because that was what the creator had intended, they wanted us to experience these emotions. I fell in love with A Silent Voice because of my own life experiences and I related to Shoya finding the light, I related to it because it felt like I had watched someone so similar to me find redemption a

Since she uses flowers to convey meaning in most of her works, I was wondering if anyone here understands them.

Edit: Just found out the dandelions at the end of Tamako Love story "provides happiness and is a promise of total faithfulness". Props to Tamako and Mocchizou!

I truly admire Naoko Yamada for her works. My favorite ones being Liz and the Blue Bird and A Silent Voice. I feel like the way she manages to emphasize with the emotions of her characters and treat them accordingly goes far beyond the realm of just animation. I think it can be applied in real life. Just generally understanding the emotions of people is hard to do and it's something I struggle with sometimes. But I think Yamada manages to take her characters and give them life so that it doesn't feel like you're watching animations on a screen. Instead it feels like you're watching the story of a real person even though it's not. Like for me, A Silent Voice was very relatable. I see a lot of the person I used to be in the person Shoya used to be. And even though we've definitely chosen different methods to atone for our sins, I still felt like I could understand why he chose to do some of the things he did. Even if I didn't do those things. In other words it was like watching an alternate universe where I could watch another version of me (in this case it was Shoya) take a completely different path in life then I have. I think that Naoko Yamada is a genius just for this. Being able to understand human emotions and the human spirit even though you haven't gone through everything someone else has is hard but she still manages to do it.

Hello all,

I think it is well established that Naoko Yamada is one of the most interesting directors working in anime currently, especially regarding her style. What I wanted to share with you today is a quick look into the most noticeable and distinctive features of her style, based off a scene that she storyboarded from Sound! Euphonium 2, Ep. 12.

The biggest thing you will notice with Yamada is how she deals with faces, especially regarding the presence and of lack of eyes (within the frame), and how that works in relation to other characters in a scene. In Yamada's world, the camera follows the individual subjectivity.

I hope the images below may be useful in understanding more on her style.

1. https://i.imgur.com/WBMY9Hc.png

2. https://i.imgur.com/eZIKnvv.jpg

3. https://i.imgur.com/HahK9Xh.jpg

4. https://i.imgur.com/2kbA1Vw.jpg

5. https://i.imgur.com/g0j6WVC.jpg

This was made through some research in regard to her interviews, and analyzing the similarities that occur through her other filmography.

If anyone is interested, I go into a bit more in this video that I made here https://youtu.be/9FXGNckBqWg, but I think the general facet speaks a lot to Yamada's focus as an artist and as a storyteller.

Thank you for your time!

(Given recent events, I felt it appropriate to take some time to reflect on the people who brought us the show we all love so much. Unfortunately, some of the crew who worked on K-On are listed among the missing. Yamada-sama is confirmed safe, though.)

In this thread post your appreciation for Naoko Yamada's work. Comments need not be confined to K-On; anything she's done can be freely discussed here.

MAL credits

ANN credits

I'm writing a paper about Naoko Yamada's use of legs in her Cinematography (particularly in The Silent Voice and K-On), and and looking for sources that could help me out! I couldn't find any articles or videos talking about this - probably because I suck at googling - please, help me out!

Naoko Yamada is renowned as one of the best directors to grace anime. She’s been a major KyoAni powerhouse for years and her work has been beloved by anime fans since her directorial debut with K-On. Since then, she’s directed works like Koe no Katachi and Tamako Love Story. Fans of Yamada’s work will quickly notice a key element: the relatable and natural portrayal of adolescence and its associated problems. Yamada claims to be a method director. She prides herself on portraying the feelings of different characters through the usage of film. And most importantly, Yamada’s characters feel very much alive. They grow up and go through important events throughout their adolescence. The key element that separates Yamada’s work from other coming of age stories is the interactions between her characters accounting for most character development. Yamada’s works feature excellent character interaction and most importantly her characters stay true to who they are throughout the entire narrative. Character interaction driving character development is a key feature of Yamada’s work. Before talking about Liz, I would like to talk about Yamada's previous works that serve as a basis for her directorial style in Liz.

Hesitation, Love and Overcoming Barriers in Tamako Market

Tamako Love Story explores hesitation and shyness getting in the way of Mochizou and Tamako’s romance. Tamako and Mochizou are established as characters that have difficulty realizing each other’s feelings. Moreover, their hesitant nature stalls the romance between them for the entirety of their lives before Tamako Love Story. On the other hand, their interactions in Tamako Market, establish chemistry between them while Love Story capitalizes on that chemistry. Yamada establishes Tamako's characters as normal teenagers dealing with internal issues rather than teenagers that don't act their age. Using her characteristic style, Yamada depicts how two shy teenagers would normally communicate with each other. The string cup comes to mind as a stellar example of character interaction here. Tamako and Mochizou are able to clearly express themselves when talking through the cup string. Tamako and Mochizou interact naturally through the cup string and manage to convey their feelings when they’re not burdened by traditional speech. This imperfect nature of Yamada’s characters makes them much more lovable. The way Tamako and Mochizou’s hesitation dwindles and they slowly open up to each other is the main re

She's definitely top 3 directors for me but I don't know where to search for this information.

https://i.imgur.com/TkChRT6.jpg

BEST DIRECTOR