Shoko Kitamura is a VFX and CG director at D-Rockets, and one of the art directors of Metroid: Other M. She joined the company along with Ryuichi Snow, the animation director of Other M, in December 2008. They had previously worked at a "major CG production company" in Japan in 1994, before they broke off to do work independently. They moved to Australia after participating in the production of Acri, a 1996 film in Japan, and worked on many CG projects for US TV dramas. They returned to Japan in 2000 and worked on films, television and game cinematics until joining D-Rockets.