Junichi Sato (born March 11, 1960) is a veteran anime director who mainly works on fairytale-influenced Shoujo series, including some of the best Magical Girl series out there. His first big job was directing the first two seasons of Sailor Moon, after which he handed the reins over to Kunihiko Ikuhara, although he continued to storyboard and direct episodes for the later seasons; later he went on to co-direct Toei's second Cash Cow Magical Girl Franchise, Ojamajo Doremi, as well as the critically acclaimed genre deconstruction Princess Tutu. On the non-shoujo side of things, Sato served as chief director for long-runner Sgt. Frog and in recent years has become more known for his "healing anime" such as ARIA and Umi Monogatari.
Directed:
- Amanchu!
- ARIA
- Goldfish Warning!
- Kaleido Star
- HuGtto! Pretty Cure
- Mahou Tsukai Tai!
- Maple Town Monogatari
- Ojamajo Doremi
- One Off
- Phi-Brain: Puzzle of God
- Prétear — also wrote the manga version
- Princess Tutu
- Sailor Moon
- Sgt. Frog
- Tamayura
- Twin Princess of Wonder Planet, first season only
- Umi Monogatari
- Yume no Crayon Oukoku
