Koji Morimoto (森本晃司) is an animator and one of Japan's premier anime director. He was born December 26th, 1959 in Wakayama, Japan. In 1979 he graduated from the Osaka School of Design and a couple years later joined the studio Annapuru as a grunt 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 blown away, and it inspired him to quit his job and go freelance.

Morimoto quickly became one of the most interesting animators in Japan, often collaborating with Nakamura, most notably in Katsuhiro Otomo's 'The Order to Stop Construction' segment of the anthology film Neo-Tokyo . It was fluid and expressive in ways that are rarely seen in anime, especially in the realm of direct-to-video releases like Neo-Tokyo. This opened lots of 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 bizzare and full of manic energy. This is best represented by his only animation work in the past fifteen years (the concert scene in Macross Plus) and his infamous OVA Noiseman Sound Insect .

Unfortunately, aside from a small cult following, his films have been ignored outside of Japan. This has begun to change in recent years, with his artwork being featured in Takashi Murakami's superflat exhibitions worldwide, and being invited by the Wachowski Brothers to direct a segment of The Animatrix. He is currently working on his Sachiko, his second feature-length film, which is scheduled to be released in 2007.

Filmography

Director

• Robot Carnival - 'Franken's Gears' (1987)
• Fly! Peek the Whale (1991)
• Nine Love Stories - 'Hero' (1991)
• Memories - 'Magnetic Rose' (1996)
• Noiseman Sound Insect (1997)
• Eternal Family (1997)
• The Animatrix - 'Beyond' (2003)
• Digital Juice - 'Floating Bar' (2003)

Animator

• Tomorrow's Joe (1980)
• Space Adventure Cobra (1982)
• Golgo 13 (1983)
• Harmagedon (1983)
• Fist of the North Star (1984)
• Macross: Do You Remember Love (1984)
• Bobby's Girl (1985)
• Dagger of Kamui (1985)
• Neo-Tokyo - 'The Order to Stop Construction' (1987)
• Akira (1988)
• Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)
• Macross Plus (1995)

External links

• Beyond C (Japanese)
• KojiMorimoto.net