Born in 1960, Toshihiko Masuda was one of the major directors at Telecom Animation Film. He joined Telecom in 1980 as a in-between animator and became a director in 1983, taking over Hayao Miyazaki's unit after he left to go work at Topcraft to do Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. Masuda is known for his wacky and fluid animation, and is the one who set the style in Telecom's western productions in the '80s and '90s. He now works as a freelance animator and storyboard artist working on a plethora of different anime projects.