Hirata Toshio was an animator and graduate of Musashino Art University who worked across several major studios—Toei Douga, Mushi Production, Zuiyo, Group Tac, and eventually Madhouse, where he spent his later years.

He started at Toei Douga in 1961 as an inbetweener on feature films like Journey to the West, Anju, Sinbad, and Little Prince. Working under Yasuji Mori proved transformative; Hirata has credited Mori with essentially saving his career, citing him as a master animator and genuinely kind person who approached the craft with rigor and love. Mori's influence—shared with other animators like Miyazaki and Takahata—gave Hirata his characteristic approach: pliant, honest, and deeply soulful.

What's striking about early Toei Douga was how randomly animators ended up there. Unlike today, when people discover anime through anime itself, the studio's early staff often arrived almost by accident—art school graduates who'd caught a Disney film or two, or saw Hakujaden, but had no real animation background. Hirata fell into that camp. During his 1960–1963 stint, he and many peers gravitated toward Animation Sannin no Kai, experimental works like Little Prince & the 8-Headed Dragon that felt artistically unshackled. That exposure to creative risk-taking permanently shaped his graphically-oriented sensibility.

His move to Mushi Pro in 1966 proved equally consequential. He jumped from key animator to director almost immediately on Jungle Taitei, something possible only because Tezuka's studio ran on a chaotic, need-based system rather than Toei's rigid hierarchy. Staff shortages meant fast advancement but also fluidity—ironically, when he assisted on Toei's Gulliver that same year, he got bumped back to inbetweening. Studio credentials apparently didn't transfer.

Date of death: August 25, 2014