Kōji Morimoto

is a Japanese anime director. Some of his works include being an animator in the '' Akira'' film; shorts in '' Robot Carnival'', '' Short Peace'', and '' The Animatrix''; and key animation in anime such as ''Kiki's Delivery Service'', '' City Hunter'', and ''Fist of the North Star''. He is the co-founder of Studio 4°C. He has hosted the independent creative team "phy" since 2009.

Biography

Born in Wakayama, Japan, he graduated from the Osaka Designers' college in 1979 and a couple of years later joined the studio Annapuru as an animator for the TV series '' Tomorrow's Joe''. While working there, he saw some animation by Takashi Nakamura in '' Gold Lightan'', an otherwise standard mecha TV series by a rival studio. He was impressed, and it inspired him to quit his job and become a freelance animator.

Morimoto often collaborated with Nakamura, most notably in Katsuhiro Otomo’s "The Order to Stop Construction" segment of the anthology film '' Neo-Tokyo''. This opened many doors for him, from working as animation director on Otomo's landmark feature '' Akira'' and a chance to direct a short for the '' Robot Carnival'' anthology. Around this time he founded Studio 4°C with producer Eiko Tanaka and fellow animator Yoshiharu Sato.

Since then, Morimoto has focused almost exclusively on his directing work. His work became increasingly unusual with time. This is best represented by the concert scenes in ''Macross Plus'' and his short film '' Noiseman Sound Insect''.

Aside from a small cult following, his films have been ignored outside Japan. This has begun to change in recent years, with his artwork being featured in Takashi Murakami's Superflat exhibitions worldwide, the Proto Anime Cut exhibition, and was invited by The Wachowskis to direct " Beyond", a segment of '' The Animatrix''. He is currently working on '' Sachiko'', his second feature-length film.

Filmography

Film

* '' Robot Carnival'' – "Franken's Gears" (1987)
* '' Akira'' (animator, 1988)
* (1991)
* ''Nine Love Stories'' – "Hero" (1991)
* (1995)
* ''Memories'' – "Magnetic Rose" (1995)
* '' Noiseman Sound Insect'' (1997)
* '' Eternal Family'' (1997)
* '' Dimension Loop'' (2001)
* '' The Animatrix'' – " Beyond" (2003)
* '' Digital Juice'' – "The Saloon in the Air" (2003)
* '' Mind Game'' (2004)
* '' Genius Party Beyond'' – "Dimension Bomb" (2008)
* '' Short Peace'' (2013) – opening sequence
* ''A Better Tomorrow'' (2013) (Director HIKARI) – LEXUS SHORT FILMS Animation’s Part
* '' 25 Anniversary Magic: The Gathering Exhibition'' (2018) "φ(Phy)"

TV

* ''Italian game'' (2016) "Lupin the III" Opening Animation
* '' 18if'' (2016)– Episode#10 "α Dream Dimension"
* '' Rinishii!! Ekoda Chan'' (2019) – Episode　#12

Music video

* KEN ISHII – "EXTRA" (1996)
* The Bluetones – " 4-Day Weekend" (1998)
* Glay – (1999)
* Hikaru Utada – "You Make Me Want To Be A Man" (2005)
* Hikaru Utada – " Passion" (2005)

References

External links

*

Kōji Morimoto
at Anime News Network

KojiMorimoto.net


Karisuma Animators: Koji Morimoto
at Pelleas.net

Koji Morimoto anime works
at Media Arts Database
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morimoto, Koji
1959 births
Living people
Anime directors
Japanese animators
Japanese animated film directors
Japanese film directors
Japanese music video directors
People from Wakayama Prefecture
Studio 4°C