Ueno Ken

Ueno Ken (上野賢) (also credited as 上野ケン ) is an animation supervisor, key animator and character designer working on the various Pretty Cure anime series and movies.

He was the character designer for the Heartcatch Pretty Cure! movie, the Doki Doki! Pretty Cure movie and the Mahou Tsukai Pretty Cure! movie. He has been working in key animation and animation supervision for Pretty Cure since 2010 and has been employed by Toei Animation since 1990.

History
Ueno was born January 7, 1962, in the Iwate prefecture. In the past, he also lectured at Toei Animation Institute. After graduating animation university, he worked at an animation studio located in Ōizumigakuen. He produced inbetween animation at first, then key animation and animation supervision afterwards and worked as a freelancer for several years. In 1986, he worked for Studio Hibari. He also did freelance work for Studio Sunrise, Studio AIC and Studio Deen.

After Toei Animation's Utsunomiko: Heaven Chapter OVA (1990) for which Ueno produced Key Animation and also worked as an Animation Supervisor, he was permanently employed at Toei Animation. He did the character design for the Mamotte Shugogetten anime (1998) and for Gegege no Kitaro (2007). Since 2010, he is heavily involved in Key Animation and Animation Supervision for Pretty Cure.

His animation is known for energetic expressions and for its thick and yet refined linework. His character design features impeccable fashion sense, his Cure Mofurun design especially striking for its refreshing take on Cure concept norms. He was described as "one of Toei’s invaluable animation assets" by Sakuga Blog – The Art of Japanese Animation.