Atsushi Okui

History

Director of Photography on many films from Studio Ghibli.

Movies

The Boy and the Heron
Director of Photography
While the Second World War rages, the teenage Mahito, haunted by his mother's tragic death, is relocated from Tokyo to the serene rural home of his new stepmother Natsuko, a woman who bears a striking resemblance to the boy's mother. As he tries to adjust, this strange new world grows even stranger following the appearance of a persistent gray heron, who perplexes and bedevils Mahito, dubbing him the "long-awaited one."
Tomorrow's Leaves
Director of Photography
The annual arrival of the message leaf causes concern – something is undeniably wrong. Its usually vibrant and lasting colours quickly fade, and it suddenly withers and crumbles. Five envoys, from five diverse lands, are dispatched to find out what has happened. The envoys travel to a distant land, quietly guided by tiny spirits. Each envoy has its own strengths and vulnerabilities. They compete and support each other as they draw closer to their destination, facing treacherous terrain and difficult conditions. Through athletic challenges and the uniting power of sport, they discover the positive fundamental values that come with playful competition. Together, the envoys approach near the source of the message leaf. Can they restore life to a future in peril?
Never-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki
Self
A look at legendary Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki following his retirement in 2013.
When Marnie Was There
Director of Photography
Upon being sent to live with relatives in the countryside due to an illness, an emotionally distant adolescent girl becomes obsessed with an abandoned mansion and infatuated with a girl who lives there - a girl who may or may not be real.
From Up on Poppy Hill
Director of Photography
Two high schoolers find hope as they fight to save an old wartime era clubhouse from destruction during the preparations for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
Mr. Dough and the Egg Princess
Director of Photography
The story of a tiny Egg-girl who is forced to serve the evil Boar-like witch Baba Yaga. But after a blob of Dough comes to life, she befriends him and both escape from the witch's home at a Water mill on a cliff and set off to see the world. The soundtrack is Joe Hisaishi's arrangement of Vivaldi's La Folia
The Secret World of Arrietty
Director of Photography
14-year-old Arrietty and the rest of the Clock family live in peaceful anonymity as they make their own home from items "borrowed" from the house's human inhabitants. However, life changes for the Clocks when a human boy discovers Arrietty.
A Sumo Wrestler's Tail
Director of Photography
Chu Zumo is the story of an old farmer who discovers a group of rats heading to a sumo wrestling bout. After they lose miserably he decides to feed the rats to boost their chances of winning.
Ponyo
Director of Photography
When Sosuke, a young boy who lives on a clifftop overlooking the sea, rescues a stranded goldfish named Ponyo, he discovers more than he bargained for. Ponyo is a curious, energetic young creature who yearns to be human, but even as she causes chaos around the house, her father, a powerful sorcerer, schemes to return Ponyo to the sea.
Have a Nice Day
Director of Photography
Compilation film featuring short works from directors Hitoshi Yasaki ("Short Cakes"), Yuki Tanada (scriptwriter "Sakuran," "Tsuki to Cherry"), Hiroyuki Nakano ("Stereo Future," "Samurai Fiction"), Masahiko Nagasawa ("Yoru no Picnic"), Masaya Kakehi ("Bijokan), and more for a total of 18 shorts. This time around the theme is "24 hours," where filming for each work must have been completed in 24 hours in order to appear in this film.
House Hunting
Director of Photography
A girl goes exploring to find a new house. Along the way, she encounters many of Japan's guardian spirits.
The Day I Bought a Star
Director of Photography
The short film is about a boy who lives and works on a farm. One day when going to sell vegetables at a market, his cart breaks down. Two strangers, a frog and a mole, offer him a strange seed in exchange for the vegetables. The boy accepts and finds that the seed grows into a miniature planet. It continues growing as he tends to it, forming an atmosphere, weather systems and life. After being taken back to the city, he meets the stranger who sold the seed to him, and they release the planet into a galaxy of similar planets, where it will grow for years until becoming a real planet.
Mon Mon the Water Spider
Director of Photography
The short film's main character is a diving bell spider who seems to have fallen in love with a water strider. Although she is scared of him at first, the water strider soon gets used to the presence of the spider.
Howl's Moving Castle
Director of Photography
Sophie, a young milliner, is turned into an elderly woman by a witch who enters her shop and curses her. She encounters a wizard named Howl and gets caught up in his resistance to fighting for the king.
Mei and the Kittenbus
Director of Photography
Mei has an adventure with a Kittenbus and her relatives. Totoro appears.
Ghiblies: Episode 2
Director of Photography
Ghiblies (pronounced with a hard "g" as in "gallop") is a short film aired during a TV special about Ghibli. It's about a fictional animation studio named "Ghibli" and the people who work there. This rare Ghibli Comedy is a look into who the people making the films are. Plotlines run from office jokes to Nonaka's first love, bringing together a short feature of random events.
Koro's Big Day Out
Director of Photography
The film is about Koro the puppy, who runs away from his mistress, experiences some adventures around town and who is finally happily returned home.
The Whale Hunt
Director of Photography
Kujiratori tells the story of school children pretending they are building a boat. As imagination replaces reality, they find themselves on the ocean, hunting for a whale. A big, gentle whale appears, accompanies them back to land and plays with them. Then the fantasy ends and the children are back in their class room.
Spirited Away
Director of Photography
A young girl, Chihiro, becomes trapped in a strange new world of spirits. When her parents undergo a mysterious transformation, she must call upon the courage she never knew she had to free her family.
Ghiblies
Director of Photography
Ghiblies, a totally different look on the staff of Studio Ghibli as they go through life, work on new animation projects, office jokes, off the wall events, and deciding what to have for lunch.
My Neighbors the Yamadas
Director of Photography
The Yamadas are a typical middle class Japanese family in urban Tokyo and this film shows us a variety of episodes of their lives. With tales that range from the humorous to the heartbreaking, we see this family cope with life's little conflicts, problems, and joys in their own way.
Princess Mononoke
Director of Photography
Ashitaka, a prince of the disappearing Emishi people, is cursed by a demonized boar god and must journey to the west to find a cure. Along the way, he encounters San, a young human woman fighting to protect the forest, and Lady Eboshi, who is trying to destroy it. Ashitaka must find a way to bring balance to this conflict.
Whisper of the Heart
Director of Photography
Shizuku lives a simple life, dominated by her love for stories and writing. One day she notices that all the library books she has have been previously checked out by the same person: 'Seiji Amasawa'.
On Your Mark
Director of Photography
This animated short by Miyazaki was created as a music video for the song "On Your Mark" by Japanese duo Chage & Aska. The narrative is non-linear with no dialog and loosely follows the song lyrics and chorus. The video feels like a very compressed version of an epic Miyazaki film. The story follows two police officers in a futuristic setting in their repeated attempts at rescuing a mysterious winged girl.
Pom Poko
Director of Photography
The Raccoons of the Tama Hills are being forced from their homes by the rapid development of houses and shopping malls. As it becomes harder to find food and shelter, they decide to band together and fight back. The Raccoons practice and perfect the ancient art of transformation until they are even able to appear as humans in hilarious circumstances.
Ocean Waves
Director of Photography
At Kichijōji Station, Tokyo, Taku Morisaki glimpses a familiar woman on the platform opposite boarding a train. Later, her photo falls from a shelf as he exits his apartment before flying to Kōchi Prefecture. Picking it up, he looks at it briefly before leaving. As the aeroplane takes off, he narrates the events that brought her into his life...
Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Afterglow of Zeon
Director of Photography
U.C. 0083 - Three years after the end of the catastrophic One Year War, peace on Earth and the colonies is shattered by the presence of the Delaz Fleet, a rogue Zeon military group loyal to the ideals of the late dictator Gihren Zabi. Delaz Fleet's ace pilot Anavel Gato, once hailed as "The Nightmare of Solomon", infiltrates the Federation's Torrington base in Australia and steals the nuclear-armed Gundam GP02A "Physalis" prototype. Rookie pilot Kou Uraki - with the aid of Anaheim Electronics engineer Nina Purpleton and the crew of the carrier Albion - pilots the Gundam GP01 "Zephyranthes" prototype in an attempt to recover the stolen Gundam unit and prevent another war from breaking out.
Porco Rosso
Director of Photography
In Italy in the 1930s, sky pirates in biplanes terrorize wealthy cruise ships as they sail the Adriatic Sea. The only pilot brave enough to stop the scourge is the mysterious Porco Rosso, a former World War I flying ace who was somehow turned into a pig during the war. As he prepares to battle the pirate crew's American ace, Porco Rosso enlists the help of spunky girl mechanic Fio Piccolo and his longtime friend Madame Gina.
Mobile Suit Gundam F91
Director of Photography
U.C. 0123. After a generation of peace, the Earth Federation has begun to build new space colonies to house humanity's growing population. But a new force, the aristocratic Crossbone Vanguard, plans to seize the colonies of the newly constructed Frontier Side for itself. As their home becomes a battlefield, a handful of young civilians struggle to escape the conflict. To save his friends and family, the reluctant warrior Seabook Arno becomes the pilot of a new Gundam which bears the code name F91.
Mobile Suit SD Gundam Mk IV
Director of Photography
The SD Gundams are at it again: first with a race among all of the prior SD Gundam characters, then the SD Zeons run a space travel agency in the second episode.
Mobile Suit SD Gundam Mk III
Director of Photography
The third installment of SD Gundam shorts.
Dirty Pair: Flight 005 Conspiracy
Director of Photography
Kei and Yuri are called in to solve the mystery of a vanishing starship.
Mobile Suit SD Gundam's Counterattack
Director of Photography
The first theatrically release of the SD Gundam series. Contains two shorts, "The Storm-Calling School Festival" and "The Tale of the SD Warring States: The Chapter of the Violent Final Sky Castle".
Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket
Director of Photography
In the final days of the One Year War, a Zeon special forces group infiltrates a colony to gather information on a new Gundam unit. Alfred Izuruha, a 10-year-old student, befriends Zeon rookie pilot Bernie Wiseman during a brief mobile suit combat. Meanwhile, Al meets up with Christina MacKenzie, his former neighbor and babysitter. Little does he know that not only is Christina a member of the Earth Federation, she's the test pilot of the new Gundam NT-4 prototype.
Mobile Suit SD Gundam
Director of Photography
A collection of short parodies of the Mobile Suit Gundam saga. Episode 1 pokes fun at key events that occurred during the One Year War. In episode 2, Amuro, Kamille and Judau fight over who runs the better pension when Char comes in to crash their party. Episode 3 is the SD Olympics, an array of athletic events pitting man with mobile suit.
Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack
Director of Photography
In UC 0093, the Federation has recovered from its defeat and has created a new anti-colonial special forces unit to deal with rebel forces: Londo Bell. Elsewhere in space, Char Aznable re-appears out of self imposed hiding with a declaration that he now commands his own Neo-Zeon movementand intends to force the emigration of Earth's inhabitants to space by bringing about an apocalypse.
Aura Battle Dunbine: The Tale of Neo Byston Well
Director of Photography
Taking place 700 years after the Dunbine TV Series, "The Tale of Neo Byston Well" revolves around Shion Zaba, the reincarnation of series protagonist Sho Zama. Together with Silkie Mau, Reml Jilfried (the reincarnation of Remile Luft), and the Aura Battler Silbine, Shion must stop a twisted Shot Weapon from launching a custom-made nuclear ICBM missile that's poised to wipe out the realm.
Dirty Pair: Project Eden
Director of Photography
Sent to the planet Agerna to investigate a feud between two opposing factions, Kei and Yuri must find out why strange creatures are attacking vezorium test plants.