When it was first announced that a new Dragon Ball Z movie was being produced, only a few key members of the production staff were listed — Masahiro Hosoda (細田雅弘) as the director, Yūsuke Watanabe (渡辺雄介) as the script writer, and Tadayoshi Yamamuro (山室直儀) as the animation supervisor. Even when the movie’s official website was launched, only these three were listed, along with the various production companies involved (Fox International Productions Japan, Shueisha, Fuji TV, Toei Animation, Bandai, Bandai Namco Games, and Bird Studio). However, we can now add yet another name to this short list of main staff. Veteran artist Hiroshi Katō (加藤 浩) is now listed on Toei’s main website as the movie’s art director.

Although Hiroshi Katō is a newcomer to the franchise, he has been involved in the anime industry since 1993 and has been the art director for numerous series, including Neon Genesis Evangelion, Ah! My Goddess, and most recently Space Brothers. Hiroshi Katō currently oversees the background art division of Totonyan (short for “To Tony Animation”), an animation company specializing in background art, overseeing scene designs, and CG animation. The company’s CG designer, and founder, is Mitsuko Katō (加藤光子). Totonyan will presumably be overseeing all artistic aspects of the movie’s production, and we can only speculate that the company has thus far provided all of the background and CG work seen on the movie’s official website and in the teaser trailer.