Mahiro Maeda
This year at Japan Expo, meet Mahiro Maeda, director and designer at khara, the animation studio behind Evangelion He has also worked on Design Works and Storyboard for Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX.
Mahiro Maeda is a director, illustrator, set designer, and animator, whose entire career has had a significant impact on Japanese animation.
Key figure of GAINAX and co-founder of animation studio GONZO, Mahiro Maeda is now affiliated with the animation department at khara, and is attending Japan Expo 2025.
While he was still a student, Mahiro Maeda first made his debut as an animator on The Super Dimension Fortress Macross, then on Hayao Miyazaki's movie Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, and, after participating on the short film Daicon IV, joined animation studio GAINAX. He became actively involved with GAINAX around 1985, contributing key animation, concept design, and direction to works such as Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise, GunBuster, and Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water.
He made his directorial debut in animation with the music video for DANCING WITH THE MOONLIGHT by world-renowned guitarist Tomoyasu Hotei.
In 1992, he co-founded animation studio GONZO and directed critically acclaimed anime such as Blue Submarine N°6 , the world’s first fully digital OVA, and Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo, a Sci-Fi twist on Alexandre Dumas's novel.
He joined khara in 2012. That same year, he served as director, script collaborator, image board artist, storyboard artist, and design works contributor for Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo.
In Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time, he contributed as director, concept art director, storyboard artist, art setting designer, and key animator.
Mahiro Maeda also contributed to George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road, being responsible for concept art and designs, particularly for the character Furiosa.
In the anime TV series Kaiju No. 8, he worked on kaiju design and detail works. Most recently, he has been involved in Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX, which is currently airing, as a design works and storyboard artist, also contributing to detail works.
In Febuary 2025, to celebrate his career's 40 years as a designer, he released his first artbook, Mahiro Maeda Thats Artbook, bringing together four decades of his work.
Meet Mahiro Maeda at Japan Expo 2025 during these events:
- The Evangelion 30th Anniversary Special Event on Saturday, July 5
- The "Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX" Special Event on Sunday, July 6
- A signing session