Staff

A visionary businessman, entrepreneur, concert violinist, music director, and producer, Hiroaki Yura is also the founder and music director of the Eminence Symphony Orchestra based in Australia. His expertise in audio architecture, sound, and recording direction has elevated leading titles such as "Diablo III," "Soul Calibur V," and "I Am Setsuna." Leveraging his extensive network in Japan and overseas, he collaborates with renowned creators to develop groundbreaking content and new business ventures. He also recognizes the vast potential for Japanese CG production as a valuable export and spearheads SAFEHOUSE alongside Erasmus Brosdau and Takuya Suzuki, shaping a new era of entertainment.

After graduating from college, Takuya Suzuki began his career at Square Enix's Visual Works Department, creating background models for the acclaimed "Final Fantasy" series. Seeking further professional development, he relocated to the U.S. and joined Blizzard Entertainment's Cinematics Team as a Senior Artist. While with Blizzard he contributed his expertise to AAA titles including "Overwatch," "Diablo III," "StarCraft II," and "World of Warcraft," and specialized in background design and modeling. Currently, he is actively involved in seminars mentoring students, and educating in-house artists in the same environment as at Blizzard, and is committed to paving the way for the future of the Japanese CG industry.

Erasmus Brosdau's career as an art director began at Crytek, the renowned German developer of CryEngine and the acclaimed "Crysis" series. Before this, he garnered international recognition for his photorealistic, full CG fan-made works of "METAL GEAR SOLID" and "Warhammer 40K." His expertise in real-time rendering video production encompasses the entire creative process, from concept and modeling to animation and direction. This cinematic approach, coupled with his technical mastery of Unreal Engine, has earned him widespread industry acclaim. Drawing strong inspiration from Japanese entertainment his directorial vision will bring to life the creation of the new Netflix CG animation "Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance."

Koji Moriga has led numerous projects within the consumer game and video industry since the early 2000s and now serves as supervisor of the Kyoto-based art team "CIPHER ROOM" as part of AREA 35. His expertise encompasses lead artistry, character design, and concept design. Within production, he excels at team direction and building, ensuring optimal artistic delivery for each project. His collaborative style emphasizes direct interaction with the project team to proactively generate creative solutions. Representative video game titles include "Paper Mario: Origami King," "Harvestella," "Hero Bank," and "Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise," while his visual works extend to "Captain Harlock" and "Resident Evil: Vendetta."

Throughout his distinguished 14-year tenure at Blizzard Entertainment, Michael Chu served as a senior game designer on legendary titles like "World of Warcraft" and "Diablo III". His exceptional talent as a writer led to his selection as lead writer for the globally acclaimed "Overwatch" series, where he meticulously crafted the universe and compelling narratives for its diverse cast of heroes. He has also worked for Obsidian Entertainment on the design of such milestone RPGs as "STAR WARS KOTOR II". Since 2023 he has brought his expertise to SAFEHOUSE as a supervisor, where he continues to leverage nearly two decades of industry experience to develop scenarios that resonate deeply with audiences.

Upon graduating from the Academy of Art University, Ray Hsu embarked on his professional journey at Sony Pictures Imageworks. He subsequently transitioned to Blizzard Entertainment, contributing his animation expertise as a senior member of their cinematic team. His exceptional skills and the experience he has acquired through the creation of highly-touted cinematics for "Overwatch" and "Diablo III" have established him as one of the top animators in the industry. Following his tenure at Blizzard, he established ANIMGURU, an animation production studio based in Taiwan. Ray has been a supervisor at SAFEHOUSE since 2023.

A graduate of Tama Art University with a specialization in oil painting, Satomi Nakahara's artistic journey took a digital turn with work in live-action compositing and full CG video production. She honed her skills as a digital matte painter at the renowned Canadian VFX production company, MPC and was involved in several Hollywood productions. Her portfolio includes contributions to NHK historical dramas "Reach Beyond the Blue Sky" and "Sanada Maru," Disney's "Artemis Fowl," the game "Left Alive," and the music video "MO-EH-YO" (Ignite) by Fujii Kaze. She joined SAFEHOUSE in 2020 as a lead cinematic artist/supervisor and leverages the Unreal Engine for comprehensive visual creation, encompassing staging, background production, lighting, and final rendering. In her video production work, she is acutely attuned to the studio's signature approach to evocative "picture creation."

A seasoned creative arts and motion technology professional with an associate's degree in 3D animation from the Brekinge Institute of Technology. Soheyl Mohammad started his career at Crytek in Germany and has worked for major game companies and vendors for about 15 years. His expertise was instrumental during his tenure at CD Projekt RED, where he served as a senior animator on the acclaimed RPG "The Witcher 3." In this role, he skillfully crafted the motion of key characters and bosses, while effectively managing the entire animation team. His broad technical proficiency encompasses rigging, storyboarding, pipeline construction, scripting, and MEL. This extensive skillset led him to design SAFEHOUSE's motion capture studio, DEFCON ZERO.

Initially a director of music videos, live performances, short films, and commercials, Yoshihiro Okutou joined Pix Inc. in 2006. His career progressed through a freelance period in 2011, culminating in the establishment of the Yoshihiro Okufuji Film Office in 2016. Recent years have showcased his versatility through various projects, spanning event production, film composition, and national theatrical releases. In 2021, a collaboration with SAFEHOUSE resulted in "The Guardian," a short CG film utilizing virtual production techniques. Notable directorial works include: Music Videos: Kyosuke Himuro, Momoiro Clover Z Live Performances: Seiko Matsuda, Yosui Inoue, L'Arc~en~Ciel, Morning Musume Commercials: SONY Open World Video, ANA, Tokyo Yakult Swallows, NTTdocomo Film: Gekidan Shinkansen