Known for Visual Effects
Toshiyuki Inoue is one of the most important animators in Japan. Nicknamed “the perfect animator” for his proficiency, ability, and range of expression going from cartoony deformation to absolute photorealism, Inoue is a legendary artist. Beginning his career in 1982, he was quickly promoted to character design and animation direction on Gu Gu Ganmo. His work on Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise, Akira, and Kiki’s Delivery Service propelled him to fame in the following years. He became one of the leading artists in the “realist” movement that developed after Akira and worked on many iconic productions such as Ghost in the Shell, Jin-Roh, A Tree of Palme, and Millennium Actress.
Born
June 20, 1961 (age 65)
Filmography
64 films, 27 shows


Look Back
2024 · 58m
country: Japan
Popular, outgoing Fujino is celebrated by her classmates for her funny comics in the class newspaper. One day, her teacher asks her to share the space with Kyomoto, a truant recluse whose beautiful artwork sparks a competitive fervor in Fujino. What starts as jealousy transforms when Fujino realizes their shared passion for drawing.


The Concierge
2023 · 1h 10m
country: Japan
Welcome to the Hokkyoku Department Store! This unusual shop caters exclusively to animals, furry and feathered alike. Akino is a new concierge in training and she's quickly realizing the high demands of her customers—especially those on the extinct species list. From a sea mink searching for a special gift to a laughing owl looking to please his wife, can she fulfill every request?


maboroshi
2023 · 1h 52m
country: Japan
A factory explosion plunges a small town into a timeless freeze, leaving teenage Masamune and his pals to grapple with a quickly collapsing reality.


The Boy and the Heron
2023 · 2h 4m
country: Japan
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."


Lonely Castle in the Mirror
2022 · 1h 56m
country: Japan
Shy outcast Kokoro has been avoiding school for weeks when she discovers a portal in her bedroom mirror. She reaches through and finds herself transported to an enchanting castle where she is joined by six other students. When a girl in a wolf mask explains that they have been invited to play a game, the teens must work together to uncover the mysterious connection that unites them. However, anyone who breaks the rules will be eaten by a wolf.


The First Slam Dunk
2022 · 2h 5m
country: Japan
Shohoku's “speedster” and point guard, Ryota Miyagi, always plays with brains and lightning speed, running circles around his opponents while feigning composure. In his second year of high school, Ryota plays with the Shohoku High School basketball team along with Sakuragi, Rukawa, Akagi, and Mitsui as they take the stage at the Inter-High School National Championship. And now, they are on the brink of challenging the reigning champions, Sannoh Kogyo High School.


Extra-Terrestrial Boys & Girls: Part 2
2022 · 1h 30m
country: Japan
In the year 2045, where the Internet and AI are commonplace even in space, and centers on a group of children stranded in space after a large-scale accident occurs in a space station. By using narrowband, social networking, and a drone that they can manipulate through smartphones and low-intelligence AI, they overcome many crises.


Extra-Terrestrial Boys & Girls: Part 1
2022 · 1h 40m
country: Japan
In the year 2045, where the Internet and AI are commonplace even in space, and centers on a group of children stranded in space after a large-scale accident occurs in a space station. By using narrowband, social networking, and a drone that they can manipulate through smartphones and low-intelligence AI, they overcome many crises.


Belle
2021 · 2h 1m
country: Japan
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.


Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time
2021 · 2h 35m
country: Japan
In the aftermath of the Fourth Impact, stranded without their Evangelions, Shinji, Asuka and Rei find refuge in one of the rare pockets of humanity that still exist on the ruined planet Earth. There, each lives a life far different from their days as an Evangelion pilot. However, the danger to the world is far from over. A new impact is looming on the horizon—one that will prove to be the true end of Evangelion.


Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms
2018 · 1h 55m
country: Japan
Fleeing the war, the immortal Maquia, graced with eternal youth, finds a baby abandoned in the forest and decides to raise it as her own child, sparking a moving story between a mortal and a being who does not age.


Napping Princess
2017 · 1h 51m
country: Japan
Japan, 2020, a few days before the opening of the Tokyo Olympics. Although she should be studying for her final exams, Kokone, a schoolgirl who lives in a small town with her widowed father, a mysterious and talented mechanic, falls asleep often, anywhere, anytime, entering, over and over, a dream-world where a squad of fantastic motorized contraptions fights against magic, a world close to reality where she will find out the keys of her true past.


Pigtails
2015 · 28m
country: Japan
The earth shook. The sea roared. And then… There is a small house solitary standing by the seaside. A young girl has been living there alone since that fateful day. Mail is no longer delivered, but even this morning, she’s hanging out the laundry as usual. She’s unaware that all around her, the clothes pegs are quarreling, the pillow argues with the umbrella about the outside world, and the new toothbrush is unsuccessfully trying to charm the grumpy older ones. Do objects exist to be used until they are consumed or broken? Are they afraid of being thrown away once their life cycle is complete? A delicate story of hope in a cruel and gentle world after an unnamed disaster.


Bubu & Bubulina
2015 · 8m
country: Japan
A mean older sister “Bubulina” and a serious younger sister “Bubu.” A unique movement special to animation depicts a cute but noisy trouble. “A thrilling noisy action animation” by director Takashi Nakamura with all his might.


The Boy and the Beast
2015 · 1h 59m
country: Japan
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.


Miss Hokusai
2015 · 1h 30m
country: Japan
A daughter is constantly overshadowed by her famous father, but she is determined to make her own mark in the world.


Tomcat's Big Adventure
2014 · 1h 22m
country: Japan
Unreleased animated feature film directed by Ryutaro Nakamura (Serial Experiments Lain). The story is adapted from the children's book "Adventures of Tom the Small Cat" by Masumi Lino and Yumiko Imai.


Giovanni's Island
2014 · 1h 42m
country: Japan
In the aftermath of the most devastating conflict mankind had ever experienced, the tiny island of Shikotan became part of the Sakhalin Oblast... and on the unhealed border in this remote corner of the world, friendship among children from two different countries timidly blossomed, striving to overcome language barriers and the waves of history. Inspired by true events.


Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo
2012 · 1h 36m
country: Japan
Fourteen years after Third Impact, Shinji Ikari awakens to a world he does not remember. He hasn't aged. Much of Earth is laid in ruins, NERV has been dismantled, and people who he once protected have turned against him. Befriending the enigmatic Kaworu Nagisa, Shinji continues the fight against the angels and realizes the fighting is far from over, even when it could be against his former allies. The characters' struggles continue amidst the battles against the angels and each other, spiraling down to what could inevitably be the end of the world.


Wolf Children
2012 · 1h 57m
country: Japan
After her werewolf lover unexpectedly dies in an accident, a woman must find a way to raise the son and daughter that she had with him. However, their inheritance of their father's traits prove to be a challenge for her.


A Letter to Momo
2012 · 2h
country: Japan
A shy 11-year-old's life takes a strange turn when she discovers three hungry goblins living in the attic of her new house. She misses her old life. She misses her father so very much. Until she makes some new ghoulish friends.


The Sky Crawlers
2008 · 2h 1m
country: Japan
Youngsters called Kildren, who are destined to live eternally in their adolescence. The Kildren are conscious that every day could be the last, because they fight a war as entertainment, organized and operated by adults. But as they embrace the reality they are faced with, they live their day-to-day lives to the full.


Paprika
2006 · 1h 30m
country: Japan
Dr. Atsuko Chiba is a research psychologist who uses a device called the DC Mini to enter her patients' dreams, wherein she adopts the alter-ego "Paprika". When the device is stolen, she must stop rogue elements from merging the dream and waking worlds.


Inuyasha the Movie 4: Fire on the Mystic Island
2004 · 1h 28m
country: Japan
The mysterious island of Houraijima has reappeared after 50 years, and with its reappearance has brought the attack of four gods, the Shitoushin, who have their eyes set on the powers that protect and sustain the island. Now it's up to Inuyasha and his friends, along with Sesshoumaru, to find a way to defeat the powerful Shitoushin.


Steamboy
2004 · 2h 6m
country: Japan
In 1860s Britain, a boy inventor finds himself caught in the middle of a deadly conflict over a revolutionary advance in steam power.


Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence
2004 · 1h 40m
country: Japan
Cyborg detective Batou is assigned to investigate a series of murders committed by gynoids—doll-like cyborgs, which all malfunctioned, killed, then self-destructed afterwards. The brains of the gynoids initialize in order to protect their manufacturer's software, but in one gynoid, which Batou himself neutralized, one file remains: a voice speaking the phrase "Help me."


Tokyo Godfathers
2003 · 1h 32m
country: Japan
On Christmas Eve, three homeless people living on the streets of Tokyo discover a newborn baby among the trash and set out to find its parents.


Millennium Actress
2002 · 1h 27m
country: Japan
Documentary filmmaker Genya Tachibana has tracked down the legendary actress Chiyoko Fujiwara, who mysteriously vanished at the height of her career. When he presents her with a key she had lost and thought was gone forever, the filmmaker could not have imagined that it would not only unlock the long-held secrets of Chiyoko’s life... but also his own.


A Tree of Palme
2002 · 2h 16m
country: Japan
A Tree of Palme is an interpretation of the Pinocchio tale. It concerns a small puppet, Palme, who was tasked by his creator to look over his ailing wife, Xian. After her passing, Palme is visited by a mysterious woman who he mistakenly believes to be Xian. Shaken out of his sadness, Palme accepts her request to deliver something special to a far-off place known as Tama. This sets Palme off on a journey to discover his own emotions, and what it truly means to be human.


Blood: The Last Vampire
2000 · 48m
country: Japan
In Japan, the vampire-hunter Saya, who is a powerful original, is sent by her liaison with the government, David, posed as a teenage student to the Yokota High School on the eve of Halloween to hunt down vampires. Saya asks David to give a new katana to her. Soon she saves the school nurse Makiho Amano from two vampires disguised of classmates and Makiho witnesses her fight against the powerful demon.


Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade
1999 · 1h 42m
country: Japan
A member of an elite paramilitary counter-terrorism unit becomes traumatized after witnessing the suicide bombing of a young girl and is forced to undergo retraining. However, unbeknownst to him, he becomes a key player in a dispute between rival police divisions, as he finds himself increasingly involved with the sister of the girl he saw die.


M.D. Geist II: Death Force
1996 · 45m
country: Japan
Less than a year after Geist activated the Death Force, which decimated most of Jerra's population, he has kept himself busy by dismantling the Death Force machines one by one. Most of the remaining human population have fled to a remote haven run by a warlord named Krauser. Krauser is another MDS unit, MD-01, who has a technology that hides his mobile fortress from the Death Force.


Ghost in the Shell
1995 · 1h 23m
country: Japan
In the year 2029, the barriers of our world have been broken down by the net and by cybernetics, but this brings new vulnerability to humans in the form of brain-hacking. When a highly-wanted hacker known as 'The Puppetmaster' begins involving them in politics, Section 9, a group of cybernetically enhanced cops, are called in to investigate and stop the Puppetmaster.


Macross 7: The Galaxy Is Calling Me!
1995 · 37m
country: Japan
Basara, on one of his frequent trips across the galaxy to spread the message of his music, folds in on an icy planet. The natives are hostile, and take him prisoner until he begins to sing for them and a little boy named Pedro recognizes his voice. They release Basara, and almost as soon as they don, a strange wailing voice comes from the nearby mountains. Basara and Pedro head out in Basara's valkyrie to investigate the noise. Little do they know, an ambush is waiting for them.


Run, Melos!
1992 · 1h 47m
country: Japan
The movie tells the story of Melos, a Greek country man that gets arrested and accused of conspiracy against the king. He gets three days to travel to his sister's wedding while Selinentius (Selinae), a genius sculptor that Melos just met stays as a hostage.


Roujin Z
1991 · 1h 20m
country: Japan
Mr. Takazawa, an elderly invalid who is cared for at his home by Haruko, a young nursing student, is chosen by the Japanese Ministry of Public Welfare to test the Z-001, a computerized hospital bed with robotic features that allegedly displays more efficiency and skills than any human nurse, but Haruko mistrusts a machine unable to consider human feelings.


Only Yesterday
1991 · 1h 59m
country: Japan
In lyrical switches between the present and the past, Taeko contemplates the arc of her life, and wonders if she has been true to the dreams of her childhood self.


Fly! Peek the Whale
1991 · 1h 20m
country: Japan
As a little boy Kei saw his fisherman father lost at sea only seconds after catching his parting gift of a pan flute carved from whalebone. A few years later young Kei and his kid brother Moito discover a baby whale trapped by a rock in a shallow inlet near the Spanish coast.


Kiki's Delivery Service
1989 · 1h 43m
country: Japan
A young witch, on her mandatory year of independent life, finds fitting into a new community difficult while she supports herself by running an air courier service.


Venus Wars
1989 · 1h 42m
country: Japan
The new frontier of Venus has degenerated into a dystopia ravaged by the civil war between Ishtar and Aphrodia. Bubbly reporter Susan Sommers arrives in the capitol of Aphrodia just before it's captured by Ishtar. She falls in with a bunch of teen-agers who live for a sort of motorcycle version of Roller Derby. Daredevil rider Hiro and his friends reluctantly join the struggle to free Aphrodia from the invaders. Not surprisingly, Hiro proves an ace at piloting the mono-cycles that are the Aphrodians' secret weapon in the key battle.


Akira
1988 · 2h 4m
country: Japan
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.


Twilight of the Cockroaches
1987 · 1h 45m
country: Japan
The cockroaches of Saito's apartment live in peace with their human host, who gives them lots of space to breed and plenty of leftovers to munch on. In the midst of these high living times, Naomi and Ichiro plan to get married and start a family. But when a hard-bitten stranger roach named Hans appears with news of war with the humans across the lawn, it foretells disruption-not only of Naomi and Ichiro's relationship, but of the hive's entire way of life.


Foxes of Chironup
1987 · 1h 12m
country: Japan
Foxes Ken and Chin become the proud parents of cubs, Koro and Kan, who enjoy a carefree life on the northern Japanese island of Chironup. They befriend a fisherman and his wife but are forced to run for their lives when soldiers on a military exercise decide to take home some fox pelts as souvenirs. A sweet little film that obliquely symbolizes the plight of Japan's aboriginal Ainu people and the northern islands that have been contested with Russia since they were occupied by Stalin's soldiers in 1945.


Royal Space Force - The Wings of Honneamise
1987 · 2h 1m
country: Japan
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.


Romance of the Three Kingdoms II: Tensho's Heroes
1986 · 1h 30m
country: Japan
The sequel to 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms' (1985)


Barefoot Gen 2
1986 · 1h 25m
country: Japan
Three years after the Hiroshima bombing, a teenager helps a group of orphans to survive and find their new life.


The Three-Eyed One: The Prince of Devil Island
1985 · 1h 25m
country: Japan
Sharaku and Wato investigate a mysterious old ship, only to find themselves getting involved in a sea voyage around strange islands.