Yoshiyuki Sadamoto

On August 9, 2019, Sadamoto received criticism for his comments on Statue of Peace (2011), a statue by Kim Seo-kyung and Kim Eun-sang. The statue depicted a comfort woman. Comfort women were sex slaves used by the Japanese imperial army. Sadamoto claimed it was propaganda as he called the statue "dirty" and "vulgar". His comments have been viewed as offensive and nationalistic.

During an interview with Japanese Entertainment website Nihongogo done in 2013, it was revealed that Sadamoto is a stickler for details and wouldn't feel comfortable illustrating anything too unfamiliar to him. "In general, I don’t want to draw something that I have to study further in order to draw. For example, I could not draw a medical manga because it’s impossible for me to make a lie about medicine. Also things like Soccer and Baseball. I am unfamiliar with these worlds so it would be too difficult to show the actual plays." When asked about dream collaborations he revealed an interest in working with Robert Westall and Philip K. Dick but apologized "These are all deceased people, sorry."

Before Gainax was founded under the official name (it was originally called Daicon Film), Yoshiyuki served as animator on the second animated project, the Daicon IV opening animation. His first assignment as a character designer in Gainax was for Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise, released in 1987. Sadamoto has since had many works credited to him, one of the most notable being Neon Genesis Evangelion where he worked as a designer for the characters. Yoshiyuki's three most recent films include: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006), Summer Wars (2009), and Wolf Children (2012) for which he was the character designer.

Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (貞本 義行 , Sadamoto Yoshiyuki, born January 29, 1962, in Tokuyama (now Shunan), Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan) is a Japanese character designer, manga artist, and one of the founding members of the Gainax anime studio.