Akio Watanabe (渡辺 明夫, Watanabe Akio), also known as Poyoyon♥Rock (ぽよよん♥ろっく, Poyoyon♥Rokku), is a Japanese animator, character designer and animation director who has contributed to many popular franchises. He is known for being the character designer for the anime adaptation of the Monogatari Series, and later, for the Zaregoto Series as well.
Biography[]
Akio Watanabe is a illustrator born on July 13th 1969, currently living in Tokyo, Japan. He has been working in the industry since at least 1989, being involved in the production of the movie Kiki's Delivery Service. After graduating from an animation vocational school, he joined Studio Hibari, where he worked for a while, before leaving to start working freelance. He is also a member of the Doujin Circle Pokopii (ぽこぴー, Pokopī). He is known for working with Akiyuki Shinbou on Studio Shaft's works, such as The Monogatari Series anime, The Kubikiri Cycle anime and recently, the anime film Fireworks, Should We See It from the Side or the Bottom?.
Style[]
Akio Watanabe's style is very much inspired by the modern "anime artstyle", also possessing some identifiable traits which make it unique. Some of these traits include drawing the skin to look "shiny", having an almost plastic-like quality, making his female characters wear translucent green bracelets (Mayoi Hachikuji being a good example of this), and, probably the most recognizable feature of his artstyle, the so-called "flesh fang" that he often draws his characters with.
Other Works[]
- Nurse Witch Komugi OVA (Character Design)
- The World God Only Knows Anime Series (Character Design)
- Hoshizora Kiseki (Direction and Character Design)
- Grisaia Visual Novel Series and Anime Series (Character Design and Illustration)
- Akiba's Trip Video Game (Character Design)