Rintaro is the pseudonym of Shigeyuki Hayashi, a distinguished anime director and one of the medium’s most formative pioneers. As a director, he oversaw Astro Boy and the first-ever full-color TV anime Kimba the White Lion. Prolific, richly layered, and continuing into the modern day, Rintaro’s directorial portfolio in anime TV and cinema is comparable to the history of anime itself. His most recent feature length film, Metropolis, was one of the first anime films to be submitted for consideration for Best Animated Film at the Academy Awards, and the late film critic Roger Ebert, writing for the Chicago Sun-Times, gave Metropolis four out of four stars, calling it “one of the best animated films I have ever seen.” In 2023, Rintaro directed a short film for the smaller film festival circuit, “Manga Movie dedicated to Sadao Yamanaka of ‘Nezumikozō Jirokichi’” about a film director who died at 28 in 1938, and who spurred the Japanese film industry’s transition from silent films to talkies.

"Rintaro’s crisp, lively art evokes period detail and clearly unpacks the ins and outs of animation. He excels at capturing human movement, including movement through time—with an amusing flourish, he draws himself aging and adopting the fashions of the decades."

Rintaro is the pseudonym of Shigeyuki Hayashi, a distinguished anime director and one of the medium’s most formative pioneers. As a director, he oversaw Astro Boy and the first-ever full-color TV anime Kimba the White Lion. Prolific, richly layered, and continuing into the modern day, Rintaro’s directorial portfolio in anime TV and cinema is comparable to the history of anime itself. His most recent feature length film, Metropolis, was one of the first anime films to be submitted for consideration for Best Animated Film at the Academy Awards, and the late film critic Roger Ebert, writing for the Chicago Sun-Times, gave Metropolis four out of four stars, calling it “one of the best animated films I have ever seen.” In 2023, Rintaro directed a short film for the smaller film festival circuit, “Manga Movie dedicated to Sadao Yamanaka of ‘Nezumikozō Jirokichi’” about a film director who died at 28 in 1938, and who spurred the Japanese film industry’s transition from silent films to talkies.

"Rintaro’s crisp, lively art evokes period detail and clearly unpacks the ins and outs of animation. He excels at capturing human movement, including movement through time—with an amusing flourish, he draws himself aging and adopting the fashions of the decades."