Masterclass - Koji Morimoto

He co-founded the animation production company STUDIO4℃ (Musashino-shi, Tokyo), and after becoming independent in 2009, he co-founded the creative team, Phy. He is one of the few animation directors in the industry who handles all parts of the animation production process, from plotting, storyboarding, layout, character design, key animation, and backgrounds. He has been creating works that blend 3D CGI and hand-drawn animation since the early days of animation and is also a pioneer in the development of software for the fusion of 3D CGI and hand-drawn animation, laying the foundation for Japan's current unique Cel shading animation techniques. He made his debut as an animation director with Franken's Gear in ‘Robot Carnival’ (1988). His representative works include the set design and assistant animation director for the animated film ‘Akira’ (1988). As a director, ‘Magnetic Rose’ directed the anthology film ‘Memories’ (1995), the animated music video ‘Extra’ (1996), and the theatrical short film ‘Noiseman’ (1997), ‘The Animatrix: Beyond’ (2003), a spin-off anthology animation of ‘The Matrix’, and ‘Dimensional Bomb’ (2008), a theatrical short film, ‘Genius Party Beyond’. The ‘Lexus Shorts: A Better Tomorrow’ (2013) and ‘Magic The Gathering 25th Anniversary Exhibition: Animated Short Films Phy’ (2018), among others. Morimoto's major works as an animator include directing ‘Kiki's Delivery Service’, ‘Space Cobra’, ‘Macross Plus’, ‘City Hunter 3’, ‘Street Fighter’, and ‘Lupin III: The Italian Game OP’, among many others. He has had a long career in the animation industry, including numerous TV animation and film productions.
Jury member of the 17th, 18th, and 19th Japan Media Arts Festival, Animation Division Guest Jury Member of Kichijoji Animation Film Festival (~2023).