Daisuke "Dice" Tsutsumi
Description
Daisuke Tsutsumi, known professionally as Dice Tsutsumi, is a Japanese animator, illustrator, and film director recognized for his work in both major American animation studios and as an independent creator. Born in Tokyo on November 6, 1974, he moved to the United States at the age of 18 to study at the School of Visual Arts in New York, graduating in 1998.
His career in animation began with a position as a staff illustrator at Lucas Learning before moving into visual development and color key artistry. He worked at Blue Sky Studios from 2000, contributing to films such as Ice Age and Robots, and later joined Pixar Animation Studios, where he served as an art director on productions including Toy Story 3 and Monsters University. During this period, he also contributed stories to the Out of Picture anthology series published by Blue Sky artists, with his entries including Noche Y Dia and The Dream of Kyosuke.
In 2014, Tsutsumi left Pixar to co-found the independent animation studio Tonko House with his colleague Robert Kondo. The decision stemmed from a desire to connect more directly with audiences and to find purpose in filmmaking beyond the studio system. Their first project, the animated short film The Dam Keeper, was created during off-hours while still employed at Pixar and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Short Film. The short later expanded into a graphic novel series published by First Second Books.
Tsutsumi gained broader recognition as the creator and showrunner of Oni: Thunder God’s Tale, a stop-motion and CG animated limited series released on Netflix in 2022. The series, set in a world of Japanese folklore and gods, follows a young girl named Onari as she confronts a demon threat to her village. The project received critical acclaim and won two Annie Awards, including Best Animated Series. Tsutsumi has described the work as drawing from his experiences as a Japanese immigrant, using the concept of the Oni as a metaphor for the fear of outsiders and the unknown. He has cited his family connection to acclaimed director Hayao Miyazaki, his uncle by marriage, as an influence on his artistic perspective.
His more recent work includes the short film Bottle George, a stop-motion project directed in 2024. The film explores the theme of alcoholism through a child-friendly lens, continuing a pattern in his work of addressing heavier subjects with honesty while maintaining a sense of hope. The production was a collaboration with the dwarf studio, known for its work on stop-motion animation, and with Japanese comedian and author Akihiro Nishino.
Throughout his career, Tsutsumi has participated in special projects outside of his film work, including the Totoro Forest Project in 2008, a fundraising initiative supporting forest conservation in Japan, and Sketchtravel, a collaborative art project involving an international sketchbook passed among artists. His artistic identity is shaped by his position as a Japanese creator working in the United States, and his work frequently engages with themes of cultural identity, the universal experience of feeling like an outsider, and the ambiguous nature of good and evil found in Japanese folklore.
His career in animation began with a position as a staff illustrator at Lucas Learning before moving into visual development and color key artistry. He worked at Blue Sky Studios from 2000, contributing to films such as Ice Age and Robots, and later joined Pixar Animation Studios, where he served as an art director on productions including Toy Story 3 and Monsters University. During this period, he also contributed stories to the Out of Picture anthology series published by Blue Sky artists, with his entries including Noche Y Dia and The Dream of Kyosuke.
In 2014, Tsutsumi left Pixar to co-found the independent animation studio Tonko House with his colleague Robert Kondo. The decision stemmed from a desire to connect more directly with audiences and to find purpose in filmmaking beyond the studio system. Their first project, the animated short film The Dam Keeper, was created during off-hours while still employed at Pixar and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Short Film. The short later expanded into a graphic novel series published by First Second Books.
Tsutsumi gained broader recognition as the creator and showrunner of Oni: Thunder God’s Tale, a stop-motion and CG animated limited series released on Netflix in 2022. The series, set in a world of Japanese folklore and gods, follows a young girl named Onari as she confronts a demon threat to her village. The project received critical acclaim and won two Annie Awards, including Best Animated Series. Tsutsumi has described the work as drawing from his experiences as a Japanese immigrant, using the concept of the Oni as a metaphor for the fear of outsiders and the unknown. He has cited his family connection to acclaimed director Hayao Miyazaki, his uncle by marriage, as an influence on his artistic perspective.
His more recent work includes the short film Bottle George, a stop-motion project directed in 2024. The film explores the theme of alcoholism through a child-friendly lens, continuing a pattern in his work of addressing heavier subjects with honesty while maintaining a sense of hope. The production was a collaboration with the dwarf studio, known for its work on stop-motion animation, and with Japanese comedian and author Akihiro Nishino.
Throughout his career, Tsutsumi has participated in special projects outside of his film work, including the Totoro Forest Project in 2008, a fundraising initiative supporting forest conservation in Japan, and Sketchtravel, a collaborative art project involving an international sketchbook passed among artists. His artistic identity is shaped by his position as a Japanese creator working in the United States, and his work frequently engages with themes of cultural identity, the universal experience of feeling like an outsider, and the ambiguous nature of good and evil found in Japanese folklore.
Works
- Topics: Anime overview