Koji Morimoto

Categories: 1959 births | Anime directors

Koji Morimoto (森本晃司 Morimoto Kōji, born December 26th, 1959) is an animator and one of Japan's premier anime directors. Born in Wakayama, Japan, he graduated from the Osaka School of Design in 1979 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.

Image:Noiseman Sound Insect Screenshot.jpg

A scene from Noiseman Sound Insect

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 bizzarre 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 short film 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.