Hiroaki Yuasa

Hiroaki Yuasa (湯浅弘章; born 29 August 1978) is a Japanese director and cinematographer who was one of the three episode directors on TV Tokyo’s Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?! (2020). He has since become one of the most frequently used directors in Japanese late-night BL and manga-adaptation drama.

Yuasa was born in Tottori Prefecture and graduated from Kyoto University of Art and Design. He entered the industry from the floor upwards, working as an assistant director for Kaizo Hayashi and Mamoru Oshii before moving into camera work, shooting for Oshii, Kenta Fukasaku and Takanori Tsujimoto on titles including Hard Revenge, Milly (2008) and Iron Girl (2012). He is represented by Stardust Promotion through its directors’ division.

His first commercial directing credit came in 2007 with a segment of the Oshii-supervised omnibus Shin Onna Tachiguishi Retsuden: Kusama no Sasayaki. He then built a television career across networks, most visibly with the long-running Wakako Zake food-drama series, on which he directed and wrote across five seasons from 2015. His feature film directing debut was Shino Can’t Say Her Own Name (志乃ちゃんは自分の名前が言えない, 2018).

Cherry Magic in 2020 was his first major BL credit, and it was not his last. He went on to direct Minato Shouji Coin Laundry (みなと商事コインランドリー, 2022), one of the better-received Japanese BL dramas of its year, along with Boy’s Abyss (2022) and Cool Doji Danshi (2023). He continues to work steadily in television, with credits including Kaseifu Kuromi wa Kusatta Kazoku wo Yurusanai (2025) and Jiko Dairinin (2026).

Alongside drama he is a prolific music-video director, with work for Nogizaka46, NGT48, Aimer, TrySail and HoneyWorks, and he continues to take cinematography assignments on other directors’ films.