Yoshiaki Kawajiri
Encyclopedia
is a critically acclaimed writer and director of Japan
ese animation
. He is the creator of titles such as Wicked City
, Ninja Scroll
, and Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
.
, Kanagawa Prefecture
, Japan
. After he graduated from Yokohama High School in 1968 he began working for a few years as an animator at Mushi Production Animation until it closed in 1972. He then joined Madhouse Studio
and in the 1970s was promoted to animation director and finally debuted as a film director with 1984's Lensman
, directing jointly with the more experienced Kazuyuki Hirokawa (Kawajiri also did the character design along with Kazuo Tomizawa). Gaining an interest in darker animation, he next directed The Running Man. Afterwards, he was instructed to make a 35 minute short based on Hideyuki Kikuchi
's novels, which was released as Wicked City
. After completing it, however, his producers were so impressed, he was asked to make it feature length. Kawajiri enjoyed the dark tone so much he agreed and managed to complete the entire film in under a year.
After Wicked City received such critical and commercial success when released in 1987, Kawajiri gained a lot more freedom and began scripting and designing his own film set in feudal Japan, which was released as Ninja Scroll
, about the Japanese folk hero Jubei Yagyu
. After the western release in 1996, Kawajiri's status as a director received international recognition and was asked in 2002 to direct a segment of The Animatrix
, titled Program, considered as a showcase of the best directors Japanese animation has to offer. Before The Animatrix, he also directed Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
which was based on a novel by Hideyuki Kikuchi
.
Kawajiri directed Highlander: The Search for Vengeance. It was released on DVD on 5 June 2007. In an interview with Ain't It Cool News with producer Galen Walker, about 7–8 minutes of added scenes with no opening exposition text sequence were removed when the film was released and Kawajiri did not like it. But the director's cut will include the footage.
He has script approval for Ninja Scrolls sequel, which is listed as being in pre-production with no specific release date as of 2010.
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese animation
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
. He is the creator of titles such as Wicked City
Wicked City (film)
is an animated horror neo-noir directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri, based on Hideyuki Kikuchi's novel of the same name.The story takes place towards the end of the 20th century and explores the idea that the human world secretly coexists with the demon world with a secret police force known as the Black...
, Ninja Scroll
Ninja Scroll
is a 1993 Japanese animated action thriller film set in feudal Japan, written and directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri who was best known for his previous thriller Wicked City . The character designs were done by Yutaka Minowa. The movie is in homage to the Ninpōchō series, ninja novels by Futaro Yamada...
, and Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
is a 2000 anime film written and directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri. The film is based on Hideyuki Kikuchi's Vampire Hunter D novels, D - Demon Deathchase.The film began production in 1997 and was completed with the intention of being shown in American theaters...
.
Career
Kawajiri was born on November 18, 1950 and grew up in YokohamaYokohama
is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...
, Kanagawa Prefecture
Kanagawa Prefecture
is a prefecture located in the southern Kantō region of Japan. The capital is Yokohama. Kanagawa is part of the Greater Tokyo Area.-History:The prefecture has some archaeological sites going back to the Jōmon period...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. After he graduated from Yokohama High School in 1968 he began working for a few years as an animator at Mushi Production Animation until it closed in 1972. He then joined Madhouse Studio
Madhouse (company)
is a Japanese animation studio, founded in 1972 by ex–Mushi Pro animators including Masao Maruyama, Osamu Dezaki, Rintaro, and Yoshiaki Kawajiri. It has created and helped to produce many well known shows, starting with TV anime series Ace o Nerae! in 1973, and including western favourites Ninja...
and in the 1970s was promoted to animation director and finally debuted as a film director with 1984's Lensman
Lensman (anime)
is an anime TV series and movie based on the Lensman novels by E. E. Smith. Although these were produced with the knowledge and consent of Smith's estate, they were so displeased with the result that for several years they rejected any other suggestions of adaptation...
, directing jointly with the more experienced Kazuyuki Hirokawa (Kawajiri also did the character design along with Kazuo Tomizawa). Gaining an interest in darker animation, he next directed The Running Man. Afterwards, he was instructed to make a 35 minute short based on Hideyuki Kikuchi
Hideyuki Kikuchi
is a Japanese author famous for his horror novels. His most famous works including the Vampire Hunter D series, Darkside Blues and Wicked City. He has been compared to both Stephen King and H. P. Lovecraft.-Biography:...
's novels, which was released as Wicked City
Wicked City (film)
is an animated horror neo-noir directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri, based on Hideyuki Kikuchi's novel of the same name.The story takes place towards the end of the 20th century and explores the idea that the human world secretly coexists with the demon world with a secret police force known as the Black...
. After completing it, however, his producers were so impressed, he was asked to make it feature length. Kawajiri enjoyed the dark tone so much he agreed and managed to complete the entire film in under a year.
After Wicked City received such critical and commercial success when released in 1987, Kawajiri gained a lot more freedom and began scripting and designing his own film set in feudal Japan, which was released as Ninja Scroll
Ninja Scroll
is a 1993 Japanese animated action thriller film set in feudal Japan, written and directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri who was best known for his previous thriller Wicked City . The character designs were done by Yutaka Minowa. The movie is in homage to the Ninpōchō series, ninja novels by Futaro Yamada...
, about the Japanese folk hero Jubei Yagyu
Yagyū Jūbei Mitsuyoshi
Yagyū Jūbei Mitsuyoshi is one of the most famous and romanticized of the samurai in Japan's feudal era.Very little is known about the actual life of Yagyū Mitsuyoshi as the official records of his life are very sparse. Yagyū Jūbei Mitsuyoshi grew up in his family's ancestral lands, Yagyū no Sato,...
. After the western release in 1996, Kawajiri's status as a director received international recognition and was asked in 2002 to direct a segment of The Animatrix
The Animatrix
is a 2003 direct-to-video anthology film based on The Matrix trilogy. The film is a compilation of nine animated short films.-Production:Development of the Animatrix project began when the film series' writers and directors, the Wachowski brothers, were in Japan promoting the first Matrix film...
, titled Program, considered as a showcase of the best directors Japanese animation has to offer. Before The Animatrix, he also directed Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
is a 2000 anime film written and directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri. The film is based on Hideyuki Kikuchi's Vampire Hunter D novels, D - Demon Deathchase.The film began production in 1997 and was completed with the intention of being shown in American theaters...
which was based on a novel by Hideyuki Kikuchi
Hideyuki Kikuchi
is a Japanese author famous for his horror novels. His most famous works including the Vampire Hunter D series, Darkside Blues and Wicked City. He has been compared to both Stephen King and H. P. Lovecraft.-Biography:...
.
Kawajiri directed Highlander: The Search for Vengeance. It was released on DVD on 5 June 2007. In an interview with Ain't It Cool News with producer Galen Walker, about 7–8 minutes of added scenes with no opening exposition text sequence were removed when the film was released and Kawajiri did not like it. But the director's cut will include the footage.
He has script approval for Ninja Scrolls sequel, which is listed as being in pre-production with no specific release date as of 2010.
Films
- LensmanLensman (anime)is an anime TV series and movie based on the Lensman novels by E. E. Smith. Although these were produced with the knowledge and consent of Smith's estate, they were so displeased with the result that for several years they rejected any other suggestions of adaptation...
(1984) - Director - Neo TokyoNeo Tokyo (film), also titled Manie-Manie on its title card, is a 1987 anime science fiction anthology film produced by Project Team Argos and Madhouse. Conceived and produced by Madhouse founders Masao Maruyama and Rintarō, it adapts short stories by Taku Mayumura featured in the 1986 collection of the same...
(1987) (segment The Running Man) - Director, Screenwriter - Wicked CityWicked City (film)is an animated horror neo-noir directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri, based on Hideyuki Kikuchi's novel of the same name.The story takes place towards the end of the 20th century and explores the idea that the human world secretly coexists with the demon world with a secret police force known as the Black...
(1987) - Director - A Wind Named AmnesiaA Wind Named Amnesia, also known as Wind of Amnesia in the United Kingdom, is a Japanese novel authored by Hideyuki Kikuchi, originally published in 1983 by Asahi Sonorama. An anime film adaptation was released theatrically on December 22, 1990, directed by Kazuo Yamazaki...
(1990) - Screenwriter - Ninja ScrollNinja Scrollis a 1993 Japanese animated action thriller film set in feudal Japan, written and directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri who was best known for his previous thriller Wicked City . The character designs were done by Yutaka Minowa. The movie is in homage to the Ninpōchō series, ninja novels by Futaro Yamada...
(1993) - Director, Screenwriter - Vampire Hunter D: BloodlustVampire Hunter D: Bloodlustis a 2000 anime film written and directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri. The film is based on Hideyuki Kikuchi's Vampire Hunter D novels, D - Demon Deathchase.The film began production in 1997 and was completed with the intention of being shown in American theaters...
(2000) - Director, Screenwriter - The AnimatrixThe Animatrixis a 2003 direct-to-video anthology film based on The Matrix trilogy. The film is a compilation of nine animated short films.-Production:Development of the Animatrix project began when the film series' writers and directors, the Wachowski brothers, were in Japan promoting the first Matrix film...
(2003) (segment World Record) - Screenwriter - The AnimatrixThe Animatrixis a 2003 direct-to-video anthology film based on The Matrix trilogy. The film is a compilation of nine animated short films.-Production:Development of the Animatrix project began when the film series' writers and directors, the Wachowski brothers, were in Japan promoting the first Matrix film...
(2003) (segment Program) - Director, Screenwriter - Azumi 2: Death or LoveAzumi 2: Death or Loveis the sequel to the Japanese film Azumi based on the manga series by Yū Koyama.- Plot :Azumi 2 continues shortly after the end of the previous film with Aya Ueto returning in the title role of a young assassin charged with keeping the nation from falling into a new civil war.Azumi and her only...
(2005) - Screenwriter - Highlander: The Search for Vengeance (2007) - Director
OVA
- Demon City ShinjukuDemon City Shinjukuis a novel by Hideyuki Kikuchi that was adapted into an original animated video in 1988, directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri. The title has also been translated as Hell City Shinjuku and Monster City....
(1988) - Director - Goku: Midnight EyeGoku Midnight Eyeis a manga series by Buichi Terasawa about a detective named who gains a cybernetic eye implant that can control any computer system. The manga has been published in English by ComicsOne and DrMaster....
(1989) - Director - Goku II: Midnight EyeGoku Midnight Eyeis a manga series by Buichi Terasawa about a detective named who gains a cybernetic eye implant that can control any computer system. The manga has been published in English by ComicsOne and DrMaster....
(1989) - Director - Cyber City Oedo 808Cyber City Oedo 808is a seminal Cyberpunk anime set in the year 2808 in the megalopolis of Oedo . It was directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri.- Plot :To combat computerised crime more effectively, the Cyber Police unit of the future Japanese city of Oedo has restarted the feudal practice of hōmen , employing hardened...
(1990) - Director - The Cockpit (1994) (segment Slipstream) - Director, Screenwriter
- Biohunter (1995) - Screenwriter
- Birdy the MightyBirdy the Mightyis a manga by Masami Yuki, who is best known for producing the long-running series Patlabor. His initial work on the series was quickly abandoned, but it was made into an anime, which was produced and, on the last episode, scripted by Yoshiaki Kawajiri, who is known for anime titles such as Vampire...
(1996) - Director, Screenwriter - XX (manga), also known as X/1999, is a Japanese shōjo manga series created by Clamp, a creative team made up by Satsuki Igarashi, Nanase Ohkawa, Tsubaki Nekoi, and Mokona. It premiered in Monthly Asukas May 1992 issue and ran there until the magazine's editors showed concern with the increasingly violent...
(2001) - Director, Screenwriter
TV series
- XX (manga), also known as X/1999, is a Japanese shōjo manga series created by Clamp, a creative team made up by Satsuki Igarashi, Nanase Ohkawa, Tsubaki Nekoi, and Mokona. It premiered in Monthly Asukas May 1992 issue and ran there until the magazine's editors showed concern with the increasingly violent...
(2001) - Director, Script - Ninja Scroll: The SeriesNinja Scroll: The Seriesis a 2003 Japanese animated television series based on Yoshiaki Kawajiri's Ninja Scroll. The series is directed by Tatsuo Sato and animated by Madhouse Studios.- Plot :...
- (2003) - Script, Original Creator