Kenji Itoso

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==
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.
, 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.
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.
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.
because, 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.
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.
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==
===Live action films===
* Seikilos and I (Director, 2006)
* Bara wa 13 de Mate/Tantei Jimusho 5 Series (Director, screenplay, animation, editing, 2007)
* ICHI (Image boards during planning stage, 2009)
* Yôjû Mameshiba (Animation supervising, 2009)
* 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===
* 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)
* Coluboccoro (Director, screenplay, original script, animation production, 2019)
Santa Company: Christmas no Himitsu (Director, screenplay, original script, 2019)
* Gekijōban Macross Delta: Zettai LIVE!!!!!! (Episode Production, 2021)
==Animation==
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)
* Kotonakare Hero Gingerman (Director, producer, 2009)
* Stitch! -Zutto Saikō no Tomodachi- (Subtitle background, 2010)
* Fintan (Supervising director, producer, character design, 2017)
* Fruits Basket Season2 (Ending director, picture content, 2020)
* Fire Force Chapter 2 (Ending 1 director, 2020)
* Fire Force Chapter 2 (Ending 2 director, 2020)
* SPACE IDOL (series director, 2023)
* Ryan's World - Ninja Adventures Animation (series director, Storyboard, 2023)
==Music videos==
* dorlis×SOFFet／Waku Waku♥Nukegake Daisakusen (Director, 2007)
* Misako Sakazume／Koi no Tanjobi (Animation director, 2008)
* dorlis／Suiheisen to Yuyake to Kataomoi (Director, 2008)
* Oira Kurotchi, Noraneko Dai! (Director, 2008)
* Yuka Koide ＆ Mami Sakamoto（YUKA∞MAMI）／CANDY BOX (Director, 2008)
* dorlis×Asako Toki／Room 305 (Director, 2010)
* Skoop On Somebody／Akiuta（Akiuta ep., featuring Ken Yasuda） (Director, 2010)
* Skoop On Somebody／Donnani Hanaretemo（Yukiuta ep., featuring Haruna Ai） (Planning, supervising, 2010)
* Fumiko Orikasa／Watashino Sukinamono (Kodomo Challenge Best Hits) (Animation, 2011)
* Skoop On Somebody／Tokutemo Tokutemo (Director, 2011)
* Natsuko Kondo／Jinjin Jingle Bells (Director, 2011)
* Maiko Fujita／Ne (Production, 2012)
* CASCADE／Yasashi Sagishi no Negoto no Yoni (featuring Natsuki Okamoto) (Director, 2012)
* SMAP／CRAZY FIVE（GIFT of SMAP CONCERT'2012） (Director, 2012)
* Well Stone bros.／OVERCOME (featuring Yoshifumi Okada) (Director, 2014)
* Saori Yoshida×Well Stone bros.／Me wo Samase (featuring Saori Yoshida) (Director, 2015)
* Rush×300／Forever blue (Director, 2019)
* YOASOBI "Sukida" (Animation director, 2022)
==TV dramas==
* Yôjû Mameshiba (Animation supervising, 2009)
* Azamijô no Lullaby (Animation supervising, computer graphics, 2010)
==Commercials==
* Kuzuha Mall: GW Happy Price (Director, editing, infomercial, 2010)
* 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)
* Kendama World Championship CATCH & FLOW (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==
* 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)
* RAVE (Card illustration)
* Kami no Kijutsu (Card illustration)
* Hikaru no Go: Heian Gensou Ibunroku (Graphics, 2002)
* Shenmue III (Film direction, 2015)
* Fire Force: Battle of the Flame Road] (Planner, director, 2020)
* Wind Boys (Animation Director, 2021)
==Character design==
* Official character of the Finnish Embassy in Japan, Fintan (2012)
* Mascot character Almiki for the Cuban national team in the 2013 World Baseball Classic (2013)
==Publications (including co-writing)==
* Santa Company: Present Daisakusen! (Original draft, Poplar Publishing, 2012)
* Adobe After Effects CC/CS6 Super Techniques (Co-author, Sotechsha, 2012)
* Anime ni Manabu Miryokutekina Character to Ugoki no Egakikata (Author, MyNavi, 2014)
* Character Design & Animation Curriculum (Author, KENJI STUDIO, 2018)
* Santa Company (Original author, LINE Comics, 2019, currently serialized)
==Lyrics==
* ChouCho／Kimi he Okuru Maho（2014）
* Monori Chihara／Kirakira Kagayaku, Sekai no Jikan（2019）
* Monori Chihara／Santa Company The Musical（2019）
==Other==
* HOKUSAI〜Hokusai no Uchu〜（Planetarium, picture content, 2007）
* TOPGUN AWARD 2012（Film for event, director, 2012）
* Gamushara Oendan/8th Hana Grand Ball (Film for event, director, 2012）
* Akiko Suzuki Official Logo（Design, 2014）
* Logo for the 100th anniversary of Finland's independence（Design, 2017）
* LINE Stamp for the 100th anniversary of Finland's independence（Design, 2018）
==Appearances==
* Tsunagaru TV ＠ Human（NHK）
* WORLD BUSINESS SATELLITE（TV TOKYO）
* SHORT de Anime Damashi（MXTV, etc.）
* imagine-nation（NHK）
* Obiraji R（TBS）
* News Caster :Joho 7days（TBS）
* ZIP! （Nippon Television）
* Hodo Runner（Kansai Television）
* Inori no Natsu（NHK）
* Mint! （Mainichi Broadcasting）
* Hiruobi（TBS）
* Zoom In!! Saturday（Nippon Television）
* Mezamashi Doyobi（Fuji Television）
* Live News days（Fuji Television）
* Mezamashi TV（Fuji Television）
* news zero（Nippon Television）
==Radio==
* Cinema Street (Kawasaki FM Radio)
* Kenji Itoso’s Fantasy Universe! (Nippon Cultural Broadcasting Cho! A & G+, October 1, 2019-present)
Category:1978 births
Category:Japanese people
Category:Film directors
Category:Businesspeople
Category:Professors