Hirokazu Kojima

**[Twitter](https://twitter.com/cunepero)** Kojima got started in the industry one day while he was working as a freelancer in various industries and somehow ended up with a job in anime at the age of 23. His first project was on the show "[Shima Shima Tora no Shimajirou](https://anilist.co/anime/9768/Shima-Shima-Tora-no-Shimajirou/)" under [Studio Kikan](https://anilist.co/studio/256/Studio-Kikan), where he got started of by doing in-between animation. At the time he was very unexperienced with anime production and has [said](https://www.arabnews.jp/article/arts-culture/article_26145/) he likely would have been fired for his lack of knowledge and poor quality work, if not for the in-between animation checker teaching him everything from scratch. Later down the line after establishing himself more in the anime industry, he would go on to work on "[Gurren Lagann](https://anilist.co/anime/2001/Tengen-Toppa-Gurren-Lagann/)" as a challenge to himself, where he would put forth mecha and effects animation he had no idea how to prior. Kojima [states](https://www.arabnews.jp/article/arts-culture/article_26145/) he feels a lot of inspiration from manga artists who are able to think about a story, break it up into panels, and express it in pictures. He has thought about drawing a manga himself, even if it's something simple. Some of his favorite anime are "[Inital D](https://anilist.co/anime/185/Initial-D/)," "[Natsume's Book of Friends](https://anilist.co/anime/4081/Natsume-Yuujinchou/)," "[Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-](https://anilist.co/anime/21355/ReZero-kara-Hajimeru-Isekai-Seikatsu/)," "[Neon Genesis Evangelion](https://anilist.co/anime/30/Shin-Seiki-Evangelion/)," "[A KITE](https://anilist.co/anime/320/A-KITE/)," "[JIN-ROH](https://anilist.co/anime/570/JINROH/)," "[FLCL](https://anilist.co/anime/227/FLCL/)" and "[Doukyuusei -Classmates-](https://anilist.co/anime/21096/Doukyuusei/)." Some of his favorite manga are "[HI Score Girl](https://anilist.co/manga/74501/Hi-Score-Girl/)" and "[A White Rose in Bloom](https://anilist.co/manga/108360/Mejirobana-no-Saku/)."