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American Animator Henry Thurlow Is 1st Non-Japanese Episode Director for One Piece Anime

Henry Thurlow, an American animator working in Japan, confirmed on Twitter on Friday that, as reported in the July issue of Newtype magazine, he is the episode director for episode 1,066 of the One Piece anime. According to Thurlow, he and the Toei Animation production staff believe that he is the first non-Japanese episode director for One Piece, or "possibly any Toei Animation television series." The episode is scheduled to air on June 25.

Thurlow has worked at Japanese animation studios Nakamura Productions, Pierrot, and Bang Bang Animation. His credits include Sweetness & Lightning, Nurse Witch Komugi R, ClassicaLoid, Naruto Shippūden, and Tokyo Ghoul. He began working as an animator at Toei Animation in July 2021, where he has worked on One Piece and One Piece Film Red.

Arthell Isom, Darnell Isom, and Thurlow founded D'Art Shtajio, the first Black-owned animation studio in Japan, in 2016.

Other foreign anime directors, none of whom have directed Toei Animation television series, include Sunghoo Park (Jujutsu Kaisen), Kyoung Soon Park (Doraemon movies), Jan Scott Frazier (Susie-chan & Marvy, first foreigner to work in the production department of a Japanese animation studio), and Michael Arias (Tekkonkinkreet).

Source: Henry Thurlow's Twitter account