Neo Tokyo

1987

50 Min

Currently 3.6/5 Stars.
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DIR Yoshiaki Kawajiri, Rintaro, Katsuhiro Ôtomo

CAST Yû Mizushima, Hiroshi Otake, Kazumi Tanaka, Joji Yanami, Hideko Yoshida

Director

Yoshiaki Kawajiri

Yoshiaki Kawajiri (川尻善昭 Kawajiri Yoshiaki?, born November 18, 1950) is a critically acclaimed writer and director of Japanese animation. He is the creator of titles such as Wicked City, Ninja Scroll, and Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust.

Kawajiri was born on November 18, 1950 and grew up in Yokohama, 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… read more

Yoshiaki Kawajiri (川尻善昭 Kawajiri Yoshiaki?, born November 18, 1950) is a critically acclaimed writer and director of Japanese animation. He is the creator of titles such as Wicked City, Ninja Scroll, and Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust.

Kawajiri was born on November 18, 1950 and grew up in Yokohama, 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 Scroll’s sequel, which is listed as being in pre-production with no specific release date as of 2010. —Wikipedia

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Rintaro

Rintaro, one of the most famous Japanese anime directors, began his career as a seventeen-year-old animator for the Toei Animation Studio. In the early 1960s he began working for Mushi Productions and under the pseudonym Rintaro (his real name is Shigeyuki Hayashi) animated many TV series. Starting in 1971, he began working as a freelancer and became known as one of the best directors of TV anime. In the1980s and 90s he directed more for the big screen. His most important films include Ginga tetsudô Three-Nine (Galaxy Express 999, 1979), Sayônara, ginga tetsudô Surî-Nain: Andromeda shûchakueki (Adieu, Galaxy Express 999, 1981), Kamui no ken (The Blade of Kamui, 1985), Teito monogatari (Doomed Megalopolis, 1991), X (1996), Metoroporisu (Metropolis, 2001) and Yonayona pengin (Yona Yona Penguin, 2009). —Film programmes

Katsuhiro Ôtomo

Born in Miyagi, Japan, Katsuhiro Otomo grew up with a passion for American and European comics, and for watching American movies. In 1973 he moved to Tokyo to become a comic book artist, making his debut with “A Gun Report,” published in Action magazine. He continued to write for Action, with a regular comic strip and a series of short stories.

A 1977 trip to New York City inspired Otomo to create “Nippon Sayonara,” about a Japanese martial arts professor living in Manhattan. In 1979, Otomo made his first foray into science fiction with the serial “Fireball.” This was followed by another series, “Domu,” which became his first mainstream success.

Otomo eventually turned his sights to film, directing and writing the screenplay for Give Me a Gun Give Me Freedom (1982). He enjoyed much success with Akira (1988), winning a Silver Scream Award at the 1992 Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival for the film which was based on his highly popular comic series of the same name. For Memories… read more