Toshihiro Kawamoto

Toshihiro Kawamoto (川元 利浩, Kawamoto Toshihiro, born July 15, 1963, in Mie Prefecture) is a Japanese animator. He is co-founder and director of the anime studio Bones. He was character designer and animation director of Cowboy Bebop.

Kawamoto in 2019

Biography

Early period

Upon graduating from high school, Kawamoto was first employed in the making and designing of precision machinery.[1][2] During this early period, he became interested in becoming an animator due to the ongoing Macross series, Yoshiyuki Tomino's Mobile Suit Gundam and Gainax's amateur Daikon films.[1][3] In particular, Yoshikazu Yasuhiko's character designs were a major influence.[3] Within a year, Kawamoto left his previous profession and enrolled in the Nagoya branch of Tokyo Designer Gakuin College (currently known as Nagoya Designer Gakuin), which he later attended for two years.[1][2]

Career

After graduating, he applied for a job at Group Donguri and was accepted.[1][3] In 1986, he made his debut in Yasuhiko's 1986 film Arion, where he was supervised by Yoshinobu Inano and mentored by lead character designer Sachiko Kamimura, with whom he later collaborated on numerous productions, including being her assistant in Venus Wars, which was also directed and written by Yasuhiko.[1][3] Soon after, he began working in numerous other Sunrise series, being the lead character designer in the Gundam OVA series Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory and Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Last Blitz of Zeon, Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team and Cowboy Bebop.[1][3][4] While designing the characters for Bebop, Kawamoto modeled the character of Ed on composer Yoko Kanno, Spike Spiegel on Arsène Lupin III and City Hunter, and Ein on a friend's dog, from a suggestion by writer Keiko Nobumoto.[5]

In 1998, he co-founded Bones with fellow Sunrise staff members Masahiko Minami and Hiroshi Ōsaka.[6] He has recently provided the character designs for Wolf's Rain and Tenpō Ibun Ayakashi Ayashi, and the key animation to series such as Eureka Seven, Witch Hunter Robin, Sword of the Stranger, Fullmetal Alchemist, Ouran High School Host Club and Michiko to Hatchin.[1]

On March 11, 2010, Anime Expo announced Kawamoto will be an official Guest of Honor at the July Anime Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Works

Artbooks
  • 2004 - Toshihiro Kawamoto:COWBOY BEBOP Illustrations ~ The Wind ~ (SoftBank Creative)
  • 2006 - Toshihiro Kawamoto Artworks The Illusives I&II (SoftBank Creative)

Games

Sources:[1][3][5][7][8][9][10][11]

References
  1. "川元利浩". Weblio. Retrieved February 4, 2009.
  2. David Ho (1999). "Anime Expo 1999 - Character Design Panel". EX. Archived from the original on January 12, 2013. Retrieved February 4, 2009.
  3. Charles McCarter (1999). "Ein's Best Friend: An Exclusive interview With Kawamoto Toshihiro". EX. Archived from the original on January 12, 2013. Retrieved February 4, 2009.
  4. Patten, Fred (2004). Watching Anime, Reading Manga: 25 Years of Essays and Reviews. Stone Bridge Press. pp. 357–360. ISBN 978-1-880656-92-1.
  5. Charles McCarter (1999). "Ein's Best Friend: An Exclusive interview With Kawamoto Toshihiro". EX. Archived from the original on September 23, 2012. Retrieved February 4, 2009.
  6. "Bones Co-Founder Masahiko Minami to Attend Anime Expo (Updated)". Anime News Network. July 1, 2008. Retrieved February 4, 2009.
  7. 川元利浩 (in Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. Retrieved February 4, 2009.
  8. "Toshihiro Kawamoto joins web animation project". Anime News Network. September 8, 2000. Retrieved December 20, 2008.
  9. "Toshihiro Kawamoto at ACen". Anime News Network. February 13, 2002. Retrieved December 20, 2008.
  10. "New Otakon Guest of Honor: Toshihiro Kawamoto". Anime News Network. June 3, 2001. Retrieved December 20, 2008.
  11. Mateo, Alex (March 22, 2023). "Fuji TV Announces New Metallic Rouge Anime by BONES". Anime News Network. Retrieved April 22, 2023.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.