Kenji Itoso
Script error: No such module "Draft topics".
Script error: No such module "AfC topic".
| Kenji Itoso | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 30, 1978 Hiroshima City, Hiroshima Pref., Japan |
| 🏳️ Nationality | Japanese |
| 💼 Occupation | Film director, Business proprietor, University professor |
| Notable work | Seikilos and I, Coluboccoro, Santa Company |
| 🌐 Website | KENJI STUDIO Co., Ltd. |
Kenji Itoso (born May 30, 1978) is a film director and businessman from Hiroshima, Japan. He is the Professor and Head of the Faculty of Art at Osaka Seikei University and an invited researcher at Waseda University. He is a graduate of Tokyo Zokei University and holds a master's degree from Waseda University.
History[edit]
He participated in commercial animation production while enrolled in university. At this time, he wrote a number of one-shot manga, and won the Shonen Jump Newcomer Award. In 1998, he was accepted to the Higashi Koganeimura Juku training course.[1] , which was held by Studio Ghibli, and studied under the animation director Hayao Miyazaki. After participating in hits such as Yu-Gi-Oh! Official Card Game and Martian Successor Nadesico -The Prince of Darkness, he moved to the U.S. to further his activities.
In 2006, he made his directorial debut with Seikilos and I which was produced by film director Nobuhiko Obayashi. In 2007, he planned an original animation titled Coluboccoro with support from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. He completed a 30-minute video almost completely on his own, and received commendations from former Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara and former Environment Minister Yuriko Koike. Later, he established a company from his own video production environment. He has released works in many different genres, including animation, live-action films, and music videos. He has been on the public stage relatively often, and has had many media exposure opportunities, including being a radio personality, hosting events, and giving lectures.
After participating in director Satoshi Kon's animated feature film Dreaming Machine, he became a professor at the Faculty of Art, Osaka Seikei University at the age of 32. In 2012, in addition to directing a video for the SMAP national tour, he designed the official character of the Finnish Embassy in Japan, Fintan, and met with Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen.[2] Due to his connections with Finland, in 2017, he worked in designing the official logo for the 100th anniversary of Finland's independence, and directed and produced an animation featuring Fintan. In 2013, he was also in charge of designing the official character of Cuba, which was used as the mascot character for the Cuban national team in the 2013 World Baseball Classic.[3]
He has thorough knowledge of using crowdfunding to produce original works, and has successfully raised funds on Kickstarter four times, as well as on Sony Bank GATE and Makuake in 2019, with a total of 850 million yen raised through crowdfunding. Shenmue III, in which he took a leading role, raised more than 240 million yen in eight and a half hours, and was recognized by the Guinness World Records for being the game to raise funds in the quickest amount of time.
He has appeared in TV commercials for Sony's Xperia smartphone, directing and editing the commercials himself, and often takes on many other roles, involving himself in a variety of tasks from planning to completion. He not only produced the original anime Santa Company with his own funds along with directing it and writing the script for it, but he also wrote the lyrics for the theme song. In addition, he was also in charge of writing related books and managing fund-raising activities such as product development and distribution. Santa Company became a hot topic of discussion. Despite being an independent production, it brought together well-known staff and cast members, and also because it developed a unique method of selling educational materials which reused anime materials to school organizations before the film's release, recovering all of the production costs. In 2019, the theatrical version of Santa Company: Christmas no Himitsu] was released nationwide, and a unique troupe that holds all copyrights and makes secondary use of them in educational materials was formed for this work.[4] .
He proposed a project in anticipation of the video game version of the TV animation Fire Force Chapter 2, that would allow viewers to experience the world as it was in the anime. The ending animation was created using the Unreal Engine 4 game engine, and the same material was converted into a video game incorporating the same world from Fire Force and distributed for free. This unprecedented production method, which also contributes to branding, garnered a lot of attention, and the making-of article published in CGWORLD obtained the top spot for most popular article.[5]
Films he has directed have been introduced at the Cannes International Film Festival, won the Grand Prize and International Award at the CMT Awards organized by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the Corporate Award at the Tokyo Anime Award Festival organized by the Tokyo International Anime Fair, the Hokkaido Governor's Award at the Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival, the invitation screening at the Kinotayo Matsuri (Paris, France), and the invitation screening at the JAPAN FILM FESTIVAL (Los Angeles, USA). He has received recognition at film festivals in Japan and abroad, and has been recognized as an up-and-coming artist by the Agency for Cultural Affairs in 2006.
Since 2019, he also serves as the president of WORLD EGGS with social planner Katsunori Namifusa.
Major works[edit]
Live action films[edit]
- Seikilos and I (Director, 2006)
- Casting Blossoms to the Sky (Animation, 2012)
- Rakugo Eiga (Animation, 2013)
- Attack on Titan (Opening producer, 2015)
- Attack on Titan End of the World (Opening producer, 2015)
- Masquerade Night (Animation, Ending Producer, 2021)
- Radiation House (Painting Producer, 2022)
Anime films[edit]
- Martian Successor Nadesico -The Prince of Darkness (Computer graphics, 1998)
- Dreaming Machine (Production, date unknown)
- Santa Company (Supervising director, producer, screenplay, original draft, planning, 2014)
- Gekijōban Macross Delta: Zettai LIVE!!!!!! (Episode Production, 2021)
Animation[edit]
Tekken 3 (Animated parts, computer graphics, 1998) Sakura Wars 2 (Animated parts, computer graphics, 1998) Sanpagîta (Animated parts, computer graphics, 1998) Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere (Animated parts, computer graphics, 1999) Coluboccoro: Pilot (Director, screenplay, original script, planning, animation production, 2007)
- Transformers: Animated (Overall content, episode director, 2007)
- Maple Story (Production, 2008)
- Stitch! -Zutto Saikō no Tomodachi- (Subtitle background, 2010)
- Fruits Basket Season2) (Ending director, picture content, 2020)
- Fire Force (season 2) (Ending 1 director, 2020)
- Fire Force (season 2) (Ending 2 director, 2020)
- Ryan's World - Ninja Adventures Animation (series director, Storyboard, 2023)
Music videos[edit]
- Fumiko Orikasa／Watashino Sukinamono (Kodomo Challenge Best Hits) (Animation, 2011)
- SMAP／CRAZY FIVE（GIFT of SMAP CONCERT'2012） (Director, 2012)
- YOASOBI "Sukida" (Animation director, 2022)
Commercials[edit]
- Xperia: NEW COLLECTION (Planning, production, infomercial, 2013)
- Xperia: XperiaTM Tablet Z eXpress campaign (Production, infomercial, 2013)
- Star Trek Into Darkness: TBS collaboration (Director, editing, infomercial, 2013)
- Xperia: XperiaTM XZ Movie (Director, editing, infomercial, 2016)
- Xperia: XperiaTM XZ Runner (Director, editing, infomercial, 2016)
- Xperia: XperiaTM XZ Cover Store (Director, editing, infomercial, 2017)
- Xperia: XperiaTM XZ Music (Director, editing, infomercial, 2017)
- Xperia: XperiaTM XZs Superhero (Director, editing, infomercial, 2017)
- Xperia: XperiaTM XZs Cover (Director, editing, infomercial, 2017)
- Xperia: XperiaTM XZ Movie (Infomercial)
Games[edit]
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Official Card Game (Card illustration)
- The Prince of Tennis Trading Card Game (Card illustration)
- Captain Tsubasa: Eikou no Kiseki (Card illustration, 2002)
- Hikaru no Go: Heian Gensou Ibunroku (Graphics, 2002)
- Shenmue III (Film direction, 2015)
- Fire Force: Battle of the Flame Road (Planner, director, 2020)
Publications (including co-writing)[edit]
- Santa Company: Present Daisakusen! (Original draft, Poplar Publishing, 2012)
Lyrics[edit]
- ChouCho／Kimi he Okuru Maho（2014）
- Minori Chihara／Kirakira Kagayaku, Sekai no Jikan（2019）
- Minori Chihara／Santa Company The Musical（2019）
Other[edit]
- HOKUSAI〜Hokusai no Uchu〜（Planetarium, picture content, 2007）
- Akiko Suzuki Official Logo（Design, 2014）
References[edit]
- ↑ ORICON NEWS, Published on June 10, 2019.
- ↑ TBS affiliate program Newscaster:Joho 7days, Broadcasted on Saturday, September 8, 2012.
- ↑ Asahi Shimbun, Published on March 1, 2013.
- ↑ Anime!Anime!, Published on July 29, 2019.
- ↑ Monthly CGWORLD, September 2020 issue.
<ref> tag with name "itmedia" defined in <references> is not used in prior text.External links[edit]
This article "Kenji Itoso" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Kenji Itoso. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
