Kenji Kamiyama

Kenji Kamiyama
神山 健治
Born	(1966-03-20) March 20, 1966 (age 58) Saitama Prefecture, Japan[1]
Occupation(s)	Anime television and film director, artist and screenwriter
Website	www.ph9.jp

Kenji Kamiyama (神山 健治, Kamiyama Kenji, born on March 20, 1966) is a Japanese anime director.

Career

Kamiyama has worked regularly with the anime studio and production enterprise Production I.G, producing works including Jin-Roh, Patlabor, Blood: The Last Vampire, and directing the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex anime television series, which was followed on into a second season, Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG and a TV movie, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society.

After working as a background artist for productions such as Akira and Kiki's Delivery Service, Kamiyama joined Team Oshii at Production I.G, contributing the screenplay of Blood: The Last Vampire and working as an animation director for Jin-Roh. In 2002, Kamiyama made his directorial debut with MiniPato, followed by Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG. In 2007, after almost six years of working on the Stand Alone Complex world, he directed the TV series Guardian of the Sacred Spirit and Eden of the East.

Kamiyama and Shinji Aramaki directed Blade Runner: Black Lotus, an anime for Adult Swim and Crunchyroll, which was released in 2021 and 2022.^[2][3][4]

On August 2, 2021, it was announced that Kamiyama would act as both director and writer of the feature-length anime work, Eien no 831 (transl. Eternal 831). The movie was broadcast in January 2022 on Wowow.^[5]

Filmography

• DuckTales (1987), backgrounds^[6]
• Patlabor (1988–1989), backgrounds^[6]
• Burn Up! (1991), art director
• Hakkenden: Legend of the Dog Warriors (1990–1991, 1993–1995), art director
• Roujin Z (1991), assistant art director
• Genocyber (1994), art director
• Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade (1998), unit director
• Wild Arms: Twilight Venom (1999–2000), scripts for episodes 3, 10 and 21
• Medabots (1999–2000), storyboards for episodes 19, 34, 41, 48 and episode director for 34, 41, 48
• Popolocrois Story II (2000), storyboards
• Blood: The Last Vampire (2000), screenplay, planning assistance
• Mini Pato (2002), director
• Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (2002–2003), director,^[6] series composition, script, storyboard, chief writer
• Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG (2004–2005), director,^[6] series composition, script, storyboard, chief writer
• Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society (2006), director,^[6] script, storyboard
• Eat and Run: 6 Beautiful Grifters (2007), segment director^[6]
• Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit (2007),^[6] director, script
• Eden of the East (2009), director, series composition, script, storyboard, chief writer
• Eden of the East: Air Communication (2009), director, screenplay
• Eden of the East: The King of Eden (2009), director, screenplay
• Eden of the East: Paradise Lost (2010), director, screenplay
• Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society 3D (2011), director, script, storyboard
• 009 Re:Cyborg (2012), director, script
• Mou Hitotsu no Mirai o. (2014), director
• Cyborg 009 Call of Justice (2016), chief director
• Napping Princess (2017), director, screenplay
• Ultraman (2019–2023), co-director with Shinji Aramaki
• Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 (2020–2022), co-director with Shinji Aramaki^[7]
• Star Wars: Visions (2021) ("The Ninth Jedi")
• Blade Runner: Black Lotus (2021–2022), co-director with Shinji Aramaki
• Eien no 831 (2022), director^[5]
• The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (2024), director^[8]

References

1. "神山監督、2020年の日本を予測する!!". Retrieved 2017-07-21.
2. Otterson, Joe (November 29, 2018). "Blade Runner Anime Series". Variety. Retrieved November 29, 2018.
3. Gurwin, Gabe (November 29, 2018). "BLADE RUNNER ANIME SERIES COMING TO CARTOON NETWORK, CRUNCHYROLL". IGN. Retrieved November 29, 2018.
4. Yoo, Noah (November 29, 2018). "Adult Swim Announces New "Blade Runner" Anime Series". Pitchfork. Retrieved November 29, 2018.
5. Loo, Egan (August 3, 2021). "Kenji Kamiyama's Original Anime Feature Eien no 831 to Premiere Next January". Anime News Network. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
6. Wong, Amos (January 2008). "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex". Newtype USA. Vol. 7, no. 1. pp. 58–61. ISSN 1541-4817.
7. Pineda, Rafael Antonio (August 2, 2018). "New Ghost in the Shell Anime Will Have 2 Seasons". Anime News Network. Retrieved November 29, 2018.
8. Pineda, Rafael Antonio (February 14, 2022). "Kenji Kamiyama's The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim Film Opens in April 2024". Anime News Network. Retrieved February 14, 2022.

External links

• Interview with Kenji Kamiyama
• Kenji Kamiyama at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Kenji Kamiyama at IMDb