Without a doubt one of the most prolific and exciting animators in Japan has been, and still is, Shinya Ohira. Back in 2000 he was at the helm of the opening for Sci-Fi Harry. The series doesn’t get mentioned around anymore, so I can only speculate that it wasn’t anything special. However, the opening itself is a marvel to look at. Strangely enough, Ohira is credited as Shinnosuke Harada and the animators involved are listed as a group. It seems nobody was supposed to be working on this due to obligations elsewhere, but it’s been figured out who worked on it due to their individual style (it's possible there were more people involved than the ones I'll list, what I'll post is what I've been able to find out through a bit of research on the sites listed to the right).
The biggest thing Ohira has been a part of is the anime section in Kill Bill Vol. 1, where he animated the fight between O-Ren's dad and the thugs. I'd be interested in hearing what people who aren't well-versed in animation thought of that scene, because, as someone who's very interested in animation and the people behind it, I found it to be the highlight of the entire film. Even more than the Crazy 88 fight later on.
The last thing to come from Ohira was his segment in Genius Party, Wanwa the Puppy, that was released in 2008. It's been over two years now since he's worked on any other anime, so one has to wonder when is his next work going to show up.
Back to the Sci-Fi Harry OP, it's a surreal, haunting piece that really conveys the state of mental instability—the wavy, dreamlike state of portraying the world through the viewpoint of these unstable characters sets up an atmosphere that would hard to replicate throughout a TV series. It also sets up some rather high expectations for the rest of the show. I honestly tried to watch a bit of the actual anime after seeing the OP and it pales in comparison. The execution and presentation of the whole thing was clumsy and pedestrian. Too loaded with those reactions that are typical of Japanese voice acting (ie, gasping at seemingly everything) that plague almost every anime, but at least the series allowed for this OP to be created.
This is the best video I could find on Youtube. Too bad that it has subs and fansubbing credits to boot. To think that fansubbers have the audacity to credit themselves along with the show’s original creators makes me want to throw up.
Sci-Fi Harry Opening Staff
Director/Storyboard/Animation Director: Shinya Ohira
Key Animation: Shinya Ohira, Shinji Hashimoto, Osamu Tanabe
Song: "Mysterious" by Janne da Arc