Hiroyuki Kitakubo (北久保 弘之, Kitakubo Hiroyuki, born November 15, 1963) is a Japanese director, animator, and screenwriter.Kitakubo began work in the anime industry as a teenager, having worked on the 1979 Mobile Suit Gundam television series. He debuted as a director with the Cream Lemon episode "Pop Chaser" in 1985, then worked on films including Black Magic M-66 with Masamune Shirow and Akira with Katsuhiro Otomo.