Birthday:
02-28-1962
(62 years)
Birthplace:
Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan
Biography
Kitarō Kōsaka (高坂 希太郎, born February 28, 1962 in Kanagawa Prefecture) is a Japanese animator and film director.
He began his career in 1979 with the studio Oh! Production. He left the studio in 1986 to become a freelance, and soon went on to work on numerous projects as a key and supervising animation director for the noted animation studio Studio Ghibli, and with the famed director Hayao Miyazaki, of whose work he is himself an acknowledged fan.
In 2003, he directed the cycling anime film, Nasu: Summer in Andalusia, set on the Vuelta a España road bicycle race, adapted from Iō Kuroda's manga Nasu, which Hayao Miyazaki, a fan of cycling, himself recommended to Kōsaka. The film soon went on to become the first Japanese anime film ever to be selected for the Cannes Film Festival.
He has worked on numerous other projects for the studio Madhouse, including adaptations of manga artist Naoki Urasawa's works with the studio, including Yawara, Master Keaton and Monster, and adaptations of two of Clamp's works, including Clover and Double X, both of them being short films.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Kitarō Kōsaka, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
He began his career in 1979 with the studio Oh! Production. He left the studio in 1986 to become a freelance, and soon went on to work on numerous projects as a key and supervising animation director for the noted animation studio Studio Ghibli, and with the famed director Hayao Miyazaki, of whose work he is himself an acknowledged fan.
In 2003, he directed the cycling anime film, Nasu: Summer in Andalusia, set on the Vuelta a España road bicycle race, adapted from Iō Kuroda's manga Nasu, which Hayao Miyazaki, a fan of cycling, himself recommended to Kōsaka. The film soon went on to become the first Japanese anime film ever to be selected for the Cannes Film Festival.
He has worked on numerous other projects for the studio Madhouse, including adaptations of manga artist Naoki Urasawa's works with the studio, including Yawara, Master Keaton and Monster, and adaptations of two of Clamp's works, including Clover and Double X, both of them being short films.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Kitarō Kōsaka, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Read morearrow_drop_down
Their works
- Release swap_vert
- Title swap_vert
- Ratings swap_vert
close
Keigo Higashino Mysteries
(11 ep.)
event2012 star_border 6.7
top_panel_open
11 mysteries, 11 actors. Japan's favorite mystery author, the world of Higashino Keigo comes to life on screen through an assortment of short stories.
Spirited Away
Animation Director (11 ep.)
event2001 star_border 8.5
top_panel_open
A young girl, Chihiro, becomes trapped in a strange new world of spirits. When her parents undergo a mysterious transformation, she must call upon the courage she never knew she had to free her family.
Whisper of the Heart
Character Designer (11 ep.)
event1995 star_border 8
top_panel_open
Shizuku lives a simple life, dominated by her love for stories and writing. One day she notices that all the library books she has have been previously checked out by the same person: 'Seiji Amasawa'.
The Wind Rises
Character Designer (11 ep.)
event2013 star_border 7.8
top_panel_open
A lifelong love of flight inspires Japanese aviation engineer Jiro Horikoshi, whose storied career includes the creation of the A-6M World War II fighter plane.
Princess Mononoke
Animation Director (11 ep.)
event1997 star_border 8.3
top_panel_open
Ashitaka, a prince of the disappearing Emishi people, is cursed by a demonized boar god and must journey to the west to find a cure. Along the way, he encounters San, a young human woman fighting to protect the forest, and Lady Eboshi, who is trying to destroy it. Ashitaka must find a way to bring balance to this conflict.
Akira
Key Animation (11 ep.)
event1988 star_border 7.9
top_panel_open
A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psychic psychopath that only two teenagers and a group of psychics can stop.
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Key Animation (11 ep.)
event1984 star_border 8
top_panel_open
After a global war, the seaside kingdom known as the Valley of the Wind remains one of the last strongholds on Earth untouched by a poisonous jungle and the powerful insects that guard it. Led by the courageous Princess Nausicaä, the people of the Valley engage in an epic struggle to restore the bond between humanity and Earth.
Nasu: Summer in Andalusia
Writer (11 ep.)
event2003 star_border 7.2
top_panel_open
Pepe Benengeli is a second-class cyclist, only there to support the star member of the team. This summer he is participating in the Tour of Spain, which passes through the streets of his hometown of Andalusia. In a coincidence, his brother and ex-girlfriend are getting married on the same day as the climax of the race. Pepe, who left his hometown after suffering a breakdown, is determined to achieve something special on this day.
Nasu: A Migratory Bird with Suitcase
Writer (11 ep.)
event2007 star_border 6.7
top_panel_open
Legendary bicycle racer Marco Rondanini dies as team Pao Pao Beer is set to race in Japan. Team member Ciocci, close friend of Marco, starts to think about quitting. Under heavy rain, Ciocci and Pepe must put that aside as Team Pao Pao struggles to reach another victory. Pepe continues to ride his bicycle both in competition and training. He often spends time with his other team mates while they train in beautiful scenery in Japan. While in Japan a local girl helps out the team before and during the race.
Howl's Moving Castle
Animation Director (11 ep.)
event2004 star_border 8.4
top_panel_open
Sophie, a young milliner, is turned into an elderly woman by a witch who enters her shop and curses her. She encounters a wizard named Howl and gets caught up in his resistance to fighting for the king.
Mr. Dough and the Egg Princess
Animation Director (11 ep.)
event2010 star_border 6.8
top_panel_open
The story of a tiny Egg-girl who is forced to serve the evil Boar-like witch Baba Yaga. But after a blob of Dough comes to life, she befriends him and both escape from the witch's home at a Water mill on a cliff and set off to see the world. The soundtrack is Joe Hisaishi's arrangement of Vivaldi's La Folia
From Up on Poppy Hill
Animation Director (11 ep.)
event2011 star_border 7.5
top_panel_open
Yokohama, 1963. Japan is picking itself up from the devastation of World War II and preparing to host the 1964 Olympics—and the mood is one of both optimism and conflict as the young generation struggles to throw off the shackles of a troubled past. Against this backdrop of hope and change, a friendship begins to blossom between high school students Umi and Shun—but a buried secret from their past emerges to cast a shadow on the future and pull them apart.
Pom Poko
Key Animation (11 ep.)
event1994 star_border 7.2
top_panel_open
The Raccoons of the Tama Hills are being forced from their homes by the rapid development of houses and shopping malls. As it becomes harder to find food and shelter, they decide to band together and fight back. The Raccoons practice and perfect the ancient art of transformation until they are even able to appear as humans in hilarious circumstances.
Angel's Egg
Key Animation (11 ep.)
event1985 star_border 7.8
top_panel_open
In a desolate and dark world full of shadows, lives one little girl who seems to do nothing but collect water in jars and protect a large egg she carries everywhere. A mysterious man enters her life... and they discuss the world around them.
The Dagger of Kamui
Key Animation (11 ep.)
event1985 star_border 6.1
top_panel_open
A young boy named Jiro finds his mother and sister murdered in his home. Falsely accused of the crime, he flees from his village and meets a priest named Tenkai, who has him kill a rogue ninja named Tarouza. After fulfilling that task, Jiro undergoes training to become a master assassin. Many years later, Jiro finds out that he was an orphan and his real father was Tarouza, who had worked for Tenkai until he aborted his mission when he fell in love with an Ainu woman. The young ninja discovers that the Shogunate was to retrieve the lost treasure of Captain Kidd and use it to once again isolate Japan from the rest of the world. Using the clues that Tarouza had kept secret, Jiro - along with the female ninja Oyuki and a slave named Sam - travels to Russia and America to search for the treasure in hopes of using it to extract revenge from Tenkai.
Grave of the Fireflies
Key Animation (11 ep.)
event1988 star_border 8.5
top_panel_open
In the final months of World War II, 14-year-old Seita and his sister Setsuko are orphaned when their mother is killed during an air raid in Kobe, Japan. After a falling out with their aunt, they move into an abandoned bomb shelter. With no surviving relatives and their emergency rations depleted, Seita and Setsuko struggle to survive.
Royal Space Force - The Wings of Honneamise
Key Animation (11 ep.)
event1987 star_border 6.9
top_panel_open
On a future Earth, war between the Kingdom of Honneamise and its rival, The Republic, is inevitable. As evolving technology creates new ways to wage war, a small group seeks to propel mankind into space in their world’s first spaceflight program. For astronaut candidate Shirotsugh Lhadatt, it’s a personal odyssey as he grows from an aimless young man into a leader willing to put everything on the line in order to move the human race forward and away from the brink of Armageddon.
Belle
Key Animation (11 ep.)
event2021 star_border 7.7
top_panel_open
Suzu is a 17-year-old high-school student living in a rural town with her father. Wounded by the loss of her mother at a young age, Suzu one day discovers the massive online world "U" and dives into this alternate reality as her avatar, Belle. Before long, all of U's eyes are fixed on Belle, when, suddenly, a mysterious, dragon-like figure appears before her.
Metropolis
Key Animation (11 ep.)
event2001 star_border 7.1
top_panel_open
Kenichi and his detective uncle, Shunsaku Ban, leave Japan to visit Metropolis, in search of the criminal, Dr. Laughton. However, when they finally find Dr. Laughton, Kenichi and Shunsaku find themselves seperated and plunged into the middle of a larger conspiracy. While Shunsaku searches for his nephew and explanations, Kenichi tries to protect Tima (a mysterious young girl), from Duke Red and his adopted son Rock, both of whom have very different reasons for wanting to find her.
Clover
Director (11 ep.)
event1999 star_border 7.1
top_panel_open
Suu is a Four Leaf Clover. Her power is unrivaled, yet all she has known her whole life is loneliness. One day, a man named Kazuhiko appears and accompanies Suu for her first and last journey, to the place where she can find happiness.
Lupin the Third: The Legend of the Gold of Babylon
Key Animation (11 ep.)
event1985 star_border 6.3
top_panel_open
Lupin squares off with two criminal families and Inspector Zenigata's new female patrol to track down a hoard of biblical-era treasure.
Gauche the Cellist
Animation (11 ep.)
event1982 star_border 7.2
top_panel_open
Gauche is a diligent but mediocre cellist who plays for a small town orchestra and the local cinema in the early 20th century. He struggles during rehearsals and is often berated by his conductor during preparations for an upcoming performance of Beethoven's Sixth Symphony. Over the course of four nights, Gauche is visited at his mill house home by talking animals as he is practicing.
A-Girl
Director (11 ep.)
event1993 star_border 6
top_panel_open
Sisters Mariko and May, along with Mariko's bad-tempered boyfriend, become involved with Ichiro, an arrogant, womanising male model.
Okko's Inn
Director (11 ep.)
event2018 star_border 7.2
top_panel_open
12-year-old Oriko Seki, who lost her parents in a car accident, ended up living in her grandmother's Onsen Ryokan "Haru no Ya." With the ghost "Uribou" cohabitating with her and all the other odds, she ended up training to be a young female innkeeper. At first, she didn't like the training, but gradually felt her admiration for her title and began to train seriously. Thus, the growth of the young warrior Oriko begins.
The Boy and the Heron
Key Animation (11 ep.)
event2023 star_border 7.4
top_panel_open
While the Second World War rages, the teenage Mahito, haunted by his mother's tragic death, is relocated from Tokyo to the serene rural home of his new stepmother Natsuko, a woman who bears a striking resemblance to the boy's mother. As he tries to adjust, this strange new world grows even stranger following the appearance of a persistent gray heron, who perplexes and bedevils Mahito, dubbing him the "long-awaited one."
When Marnie Was There
Key Animation (11 ep.)
event2014 star_border 7.9
top_panel_open
Upon being sent to live with relatives in the countryside due to an illness, an emotionally distant adolescent girl becomes obsessed with an abandoned mansion and infatuated with a girl who lives there - a girl who may or may not be real.
The Boy and the Beast
Key Animation (11 ep.)
event2015 star_border 8
top_panel_open
Kyuta, a boy living in Shibuya, and Kumatetsu, a lonesome beast from Jutengai, an imaginary world. One day, Kyuta forays into the imaginary world and, as he's looking for his way back, meets Kumatetsu who becomes his spirit guide. That encounter leads them to many adventures.
Castle in the Sky
Key Animation (11 ep.)
event1986 star_border 8
top_panel_open
A young boy and a girl with a magic crystal must race against pirates and foreign agents in a search for a legendary floating castle.
Master Keaton
Character Designer (39 ep.)
event1998 star_border 7
top_panel_open
The amazing Taichi Keaton works on cases around the globe that always lead to adventure! He combines his arsenal of multidisciplinary expertise in investigation, archeology, and survival with his experience as a professor, a Falklands Conflict veteran and a SAS agent to unravel the often dangerous challenges in each riveting episode.
Yawara!
Key Animation (3 ep.)
event1989 star_border 7.8
top_panel_open
Inokuma Yawara is just another young high school girl. Well, not quite - for Yawara is being raised by her grandfather, 7th dan Judo master Inokuma Jigorou, to be Japan's great hope for the women's Judo competition at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. All the same, Yawara just wants to live a normal life...
Sherlock Hound
Animation Director (1 ep.)
event1984 star_border 7.1
top_panel_open
Loosely based on the "Sherlock Holmes" series by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Hound turns all the classic characters into dogs. The canine Sherlock Holmes, his assistant Watson, and housemaid Mrs. Hudson work together to solve mysteries. The culprit is usually Professor Moriarty and his gang, who use all kinds of wacky contraptions to steal what they want.
Show more expand_more
keyboard_double_arrow_down