Born in 1971 in Ishikawa Prefecture, Sasahara Kazuya is a CG designer and director best known for founding Studio Anima, which he's led since 2002.

He studied at Musashino Art University but didn't finish—his real education came from a class by Kaneko Mitsuru that got him hooked on 3DCG. Early success followed: he won a prize in Sony Music Entertainment's Digital Entertainment Program in 1995, then founded Studio Sasahara two years later. The studio was rebranded as Studio Anima in 2002 and has been his base ever since.

Beyond directing, Sasahara is known for teaching CG production to others. He's a longtime LightWave user, and fans of animation history often credit him with helping popularize the software across Japan's CG industry.