Shoji Kawamori

Director

February 20, 1960 (66 years)

Taira, Toyama, Japan [now Nanto, Toyama, Japan]

Biography

Shoji Kawamori is an anime creator, director and mechanical designer, best known as the original creator for nearly every Macross chapter.

Filmography

6.5

Aquarion

Set in the future, a giant fighting machine called the Aquarion is humanity's only effective weapon in the fight against the technologically advanced species called the Shadow Angels.

7.8

Macross Frontier

A human space colony fleet is trying to find a habitable planet near the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. The story focuses on three young adults and the events that occur around them as the fleet faces a crisis of alien origin.

6.4

Macross Δ

Macross Delta is set in the year 2067, 8 years after the events of the latest Macross TV series, Macross Frontier. The story focuses on Walküre, a team of talented idols and the Delta Squadron, a team of experienced Valkyrie pilots as they battle against the Var Syndrome, a mysterious phenomena that is consuming the galaxy and there is also the mysterious Aerial Knights Valkyrie fighter team of the Kingdom of Wind.

8.1

The Vision of Escaflowne

High school student Hitomi is transported from Earth to the magical world of Gaea, where she meets boy prince Van Fanel, and is caught up in his quest to unite the countries of Gaea against the ominous Zaibach empire. On the way, she discovers an hidden ability and strives to unravel layers of mystery surrounding Van, his past, and the giant machine known as Escaflowne.

5.8

AKB0048

AKB0048, sometimes stylized AKB∞48, is a 2012 Japanese anime television series based on the popular AKB48 idol group. The anime is produced by Satelight, with Shōji Kawamori as chief director and writer. The first season aired in Japan between April and July 2012 whilst the second season aired between January and March 2013.

7.8

Super Dimension Fortress Macross

After a mysterious spaceship crashes on Earth a fleet of spaceships belonging to a race of aliens known as the Zentradi descend upon Earth sparking an intergalactic war.

5.3

LAST HOPE

After causing the near extinction of mankind seven years ago, genius scientist Leon Lau must now fight the ecological disaster he unwittingly created.

6.6

Earth Maiden Arjuna

When a girl named Ariyoshi Juna has a severe accident, her spirit turns to light and rises up out of her body into the night sky where she gets a glimpse of Earth a few months into the future. What she sees is the Earth on the brink of total destruction, ruled by the merciless demon forces called the Raajas. Then, a person named Chris Hawken gives Juna a "power stone" and tells her to use it to save the Earth. The power stone gives her the ability to call up an "aura suit", which activates and enhances a person's dormant special powers.

5.8

Ani*Kuri15

Ani-Kuri 15 is a series of fifteen 1-minute shorts that aired on the Japanese TV station, NHK between May 2007 and 2008. Intended as companion pieces to the AniKuri program and as filler between regularly scheduled programs, the shorts were broadcast in three seasons of 5 episodes. Each short was directed by a different director and the episodes were collected and uploaded to the official AniKuri15 website in 2008.

7.6

Macross Zero

Taking place one year before the events of the original Macross series, Macross Zero chronicles the final days of the war between the U.N. Spacy and anti-U.N. factions. After being shot down by the anti-U.N.'s newest fighter plane, ace pilot Shin Kudo finds himself on the remote island of Mayan, where technology is almost non-existent. While Shin stays on the island to heal his wounds, the tranquility of the island is shattered by a battle that involves the UN's newest fighter - the VF-0.

7.0

Macross Plus

The year is 2040 and the galaxy is flourishing with several colonies and advanced technology. AI is near perfection and the current top idol is the near-completed Virturoid Idol Sharon Apple. All that is missing are her actual feelings, which instead are supplied by Myung Fang Lone. Sharon's debut concert is on planet Eden, where at the same time, fighter pilots Isamu Dyson and Guld Bowman battle over air superiority for the Supernova Project. Isamu, Guld and Myung were once childhood friends, but after an accident seven years ago, they went their own separate ways. With Myung back in the picture, the old disputes are once again awakened. And when an unstable and illegal AI technique is installed in Sharon, the situation is worsened.

7.2

Macross: Do You Remember Love?

It is A.D. 2009 and the human race is caught in a war between giant humanoids, male Zentrans and female Meltrans. Returning from the edge of our solar system after making a space fold, the SDF-1 Macross makes the long journey back to Earth with survivors of South Ataria Island.

7.1

Macross Plus: The Movie

Three decades after the great war between the humans and the Zentradi, the U.N. government is developing new technologies to use in their transforming fighter aircraft by running tests on the colony planet Eden. Military test pilots and former childhood friends, loose cannon Isamu Alva Dyson and the Zentradi mixed race Guld Goa Bowman, are selected to each pilot a new aircraft (Shinsei Industries' YF-19 & General Galaxy's YF-21) for Project Super Nova, to choose the newest successor to the VF-11 Thunderbolt variable fighter which is currently still in use by the U.N. Spacy military forces. Their own personal grudges end up disrupting the tests, and begin to wreak havoc on the program.

6.9

Macross Frontier: The False Songstress

Half retelling of the original Frontier series, half new story. Conspiracies arise within the Frontier government when Sheryl Nome arrives to the colonial fleet for her concert and is soon marked as a spy for Galaxy while childhood friends, Alto Saotome and Ranka Lee both try to achieve their dreams as the battle between Frontier and the Vajra draws closer.

7.4

Genius Party

The seven short films making up GENIUS PARTY couldn’t be more diverse, linked only by a high standard of quality and inspiration. Atsuko Fukushima’s intro piece is a fantastic abstraction to soak up with the eyes. Masaaki Yuasa, of MIND GAME and CAT SOUP fame, brings his distinctive and deceptively simple graphic style and dream-state logic to the table with “Happy Machine,” his spin on a child’s earliest year. Shinji Kimura’s spookier “Deathtic 4,” meanwhile, seems to tap into the creepier corners of a child’s imagination and open up a toybox full of dark delights. Hideki Futamura’s “Limit Cycle” conjures up a vision of virtual reality, while Yuji Fukuyama’s "Doorbell" and "Baby Blue" by Shinichiro Watanabe use understated realism for very surreal purposes. And Shoji Kawamori, with “Shanghai Dragon,” takes the tropes and conventions of traditional anime out for very fun joyride.

6.6

Labyrinth

Shiori is a typical high school student who dreams of online stardom, but struggles to capture attention. After an embarrassing video of her goes viral, she gets trapped in her smartphone and replaced by a charismatic alter ego. As the doppelganger charms the internet and devises a nefarious plot to replace mankind with brainrot, Shiori must partner with other online outcasts to stop her digital counterpart and reclaim her life in the real world.

7.1

Macross Frontier: The Wings of Farewell

Picking up from where the previous movie left off, Ranka's star career flourishes while Sheryl's health rapidly deteriorates after collapsing during a live performance. At the same time, separate factions are maneuvering behind the scenes seeking to control the Vajra horde by utilizing the singing abilities of the two songstresses. As the entire Macross Frontier fleet begins to wage its final war on the Vajra, Alto finally makes a choice between Ranka and Sheryl.

6.5

Genius Party

6.1

Macross Delta: Passionate Walküre

Macross Delta is set in the year 2067, eight years after the events of Macross Frontier. The story focuses on Walküre, a team of talented idols and the Delta Squadron, a team of experienced Valkyrie pilots as they battle against the Var Syndrome, a mysterious phenomena that is consuming the galaxy, alongside the mysterious Aerial Knights Valkyrie fighter team of the Kingdom of Wind. This film recompiles scenes from the television anime with new scenes to tell a different story.

5.6

For Whom the Alchemist Exists

Set in the continent of Babel, where the Tower of Babel looms large over seven nations. After the invention of alchemy led to its use as a tool of war that brought humanity to the brink of extinction, the seven nations struck an uneasy peace that led to a prohibition on alchemy for hundreds of years since. In the Continental Year 911, the nation of Lustrice broke the pact by assembling an army bolstered by alchemy, with ambitions of conquest over the continent. Led by Envylia, the six nations allied and struck down the rogue nation, casting alchemy once again to darkness. But 20 years after the war, alchemy once again begins to cause chaos in the land.