Ki Hyun Ryu

Ki Hyun Ryu
Biographical information
First credit	The Boondocks (2005 - assistant director)
Further information
Link(s)	IMDb Wikipedia Blogspot DeviantART YouTube

Ki Hyun Ryu (Hangul: 류기현) is a television director of animated cartoons. He helped with character design for the episode "Jet" in Avatar: The Last Airbender and later returned for The Legend of Korra, directing every episode of Book One: Air. He has also worked as a character designer and supervising producer across all four books.

Avatar: The Last Airbender credits

Character designer

• 110. "Jet"

The Legend of Korra credits

Art director

12 episodes
101. "Welcome to Republic City" 102. "A Leaf in the Wind" 103. "The Revelation" 104. "The Voice in the Night" 105. "The Spirit of Competition" 106. "And the Winner Is..." 107. "The Aftermath" 108. "When Extremes Meet" 109. "Out of the Past" 110. "Turning the Tides" 111. "Skeletons in the Closet" 112. "Endgame"

Director

12 episodes
101. "Welcome to Republic City" 102. "A Leaf in the Wind" 103. "The Revelation" 104. "The Voice in the Night" 105. "The Spirit of Competition" 106. "And the Winner Is..." 107. "The Aftermath" 108. "When Extremes Meet" 109. "Out of the Past" 110. "Turning the Tides" 111. "Skeletons in the Closet" 112. "Endgame"

Main character designer

52 episodes

101. "Welcome to Republic City" 102. "A Leaf in the Wind" 103. "The Revelation" 104. "The Voice in the Night" 105. "The Spirit of Competition" 106. "And the Winner Is..." 107. "The Aftermath" 108. "When Extremes Meet" 109. "Out of the Past" 110. "Turning the Tides" 111. "Skeletons in the Closet" 112. "Endgame" 201. "Rebel Spirit" 202. "The Southern Lights" 203. "Civil Wars, Part 1" 204. "Civil Wars, Part 2" 205. "Peacekeepers" 206. "The Sting" 207. "Beginnings, Part 1" 208. "Beginnings, Part 2" 209. "The Guide" 210. "A New Spiritual Age" 211. "Night of a Thousand Stars" 212. "Harmonic Convergence" 213. "Darkness Falls" 214. "Light in the Dark" 301. "A Breath of Fresh Air" 302. "Rebirth" 303. "The Earth Queen" 304. "In Harm's Way" 305. "The Metal Clan" 306. "Old Wounds" 307. "Original Airbenders" 308. "The Terror Within" 309. "The Stakeout" 310. "Long Live the Queen" 311. "The Ultimatum" 312. "Enter the Void" 313. "Venom of the Red Lotus" 401. "After All These Years" 402. "Korra Alone" 403. "The Coronation" 404. "The Calling" 405. "Enemy at the Gates" 406. "The Battle of Zaofu" 407. "Reunion" 408. "Remembrances" 409. "Beyond the Wilds" 410. "Operation Beifong" 411. "Kuvira's Gambit" 412. "Day of the Colossus" 413. "The Last Stand"

Supervising producer

52 episodes

101. "Welcome to Republic City" 102. "A Leaf in the Wind" 103. "The Revelation" 104. "The Voice in the Night" 105. "The Spirit of Competition" 106. "And the Winner Is..." 107. "The Aftermath" 108. "When Extremes Meet" 109. "Out of the Past" 110. "Turning the Tides" 111. "Skeletons in the Closet" 112. "Endgame" 201. "Rebel Spirit" 202. "The Southern Lights" 203. "Civil Wars, Part 1" 204. "Civil Wars, Part 2" 205. "Peacekeepers" 206. "The Sting" 207. "Beginnings, Part 1" 208. "Beginnings, Part 2" 209. "The Guide" 210. "A New Spiritual Age" 211. "Night of a Thousand Stars" 212. "Harmonic Convergence" 213. "Darkness Falls" 214. "Light in the Dark" 301. "A Breath of Fresh Air" 302. "Rebirth" 303. "The Earth Queen" 304. "In Harm's Way" 305. "The Metal Clan" 306. "Old Wounds" 307. "Original Airbenders" 308. "The Terror Within" 309. "The Stakeout" 310. "Long Live the Queen" 311. "The Ultimatum" 312. "Enter the Void" 313. "Venom of the Red Lotus" 401. "After All These Years" 402. "Korra Alone" 403. "The Coronation" 404. "The Calling" 405. "Enemy at the Gates" 406. "The Battle of Zaofu" 407. "Reunion" 408. "Remembrances" 409. "Beyond the Wilds" 410. "Operation Beifong" 411. "Kuvira's Gambit" 412. "Day of the Colossus" 413. "The Last Stand"

Storyboard artist

• 104. "The Voice in the Night"
• 203. "Civil Wars, Part 1"
• 408. "Remembrances"

Selected other credits

Television work

• Voltron: Legendary Defender (supervising producer)
• Batman: Year One (storyboard artist)
• Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic (character designer)
• Hercules and Xena - The Animated Movie: The Battle for Mount Olympus (in-between artist)
• Random! Cartoons (overseas animation director)
• Recess: School's Out (animator)
• The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes (storyboard artist)
• The Boondocks (assistant director)
• The Goode Family (storyboard artist)

Trivia

• Ryu has been credited by Bryan Konietzko as the one who conceived fartbending, an airbending technique employed by Tenzin and Pema's son, Meelo.
• Ryu's creative insight has been influencing the Avatar franchise for far longer than the beginning of The Legend of Korra: he created the original character design of Jet, suggesting that he has had a part in the show since quite early in production.
• Interestingly, Ryu's name has been worded as "Ryu Ki Hyun" by Konietzko on occasion, likely in concern to Ryu's Korean origin; Korean names are spoken in a format that starts with a surname, followed by the given name.
• The design of the character Ryu was based on Ki Hyun Ryu.