Eiichi Yamamoto

Directing

Eiichi Yamamoto

Born November 22, 1940 · Kyoto, Japan

Died September 7, 2021 · aged 80

Eiichi Yamamoto (山本 暎一, Yamamoto Eiichi, 22 November 1940 – 7 September 2021) was a Japanese film director and screenwriter of anime. He is known for directing the Animerama film series conceived by Osamu Tezuka. Yamamoto directed ten films between 1962 and 1986. His 1973 film Kanashimi no Belladonna was entered into the 23rd Berlin International Film Festival. Besides film work, Yamamoto also se…

Known For

Urotsukidōji: Legend of the OverfiendUrotsukidōji: Legend of the Overfiend · 1989
Urotsukidōji: Legend of the Overfiend
6.01989
MovieAnimationAction
Legend has it that the human race is not the only dominant civilization living on Earth. Two other races exist in this world: the Makai (a demon race) and the Jujinkai (a half-man, half-beast race). Once every 3,000 years, a supreme being known as the Choujin (Overfiend) will emerge and bring balance to all three realms on Earth. In present-day Japan, after 300 years of endless searching, a Jujinkai named Amano Jyaku has discovered the presence of the Choujin inside high school slacker Tatsuo Nagumo. But now, Amano, along with his sister Megumi and their sidekick Kuroko, must protect Nagumo and his new girlfriend Akemi Ito from the Makai, who believe that Nagumo is not the Choujin, but an evil entity bent on destroying all living beings on Earth.
A Thousand and One NightsA Thousand and One Nights · 1969
A Thousand and One Nights
6.71969
MovieAnimationDrama
Aldin, a vagabond water vendor, embarks of a series of fantastical and tragic misadventures through the Middle East in search of love, fortune, and power.
Belladonna of SadnessBelladonna of Sadness · 1973
Belladonna of Sadness
7.31973
MovieAnimationDrama
An evil feudal lord rapes a village girl on her wedding night and proceeds to ruin her and her husband's lives. After she's eventually banished from her village, the girl makes a pact with the devil to gain magical ability and take revenge.
Cleopatra: Queen of SexCleopatra: Queen of Sex · 1970
Cleopatra: Queen of Sex
5.71970
MovieAnimationComedy
Three people from the future, who travel spiritually to the era of the Egyptian queen Cleopatra VII Philopator and her Roman lovers Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, become their closest friends as they try to unravel the nature of the plan developed in their own time by a sinister enemy.
The SensualistThe Sensualist · 1991
The Sensualist
5.51991
MovieAnimationDrama
A story of a man's erotic encounter with a courtesan in the 1700s.
Final YamatoFinal Yamato · 1983
Final Yamato
6.81983
MovieAnimationScience Fiction
The Galman Empire is destroyed but the planet Galmania is not, by a chance collision of galaxies. The Bolar Federation worlds including Planet Bolar are destroyed. The Yamato, back under the command of Captain Okita, encounters the planet Denguil too late to save its humanoid civilization from being flooded by the water planet Aquarius. The surviving Denguil, a warrior race who believe only the strong should survive, plan to use Aquarius to flood Earth and destroy humanity, in order to create a new home for their race.
Space Battleship YamatoSpace Battleship Yamato · 1977
Space Battleship Yamato
7.81977
MovieActionAnimation
When vile aliens known as the Gamilons wreak nuclear havoc on Earth, a group of survivors refit the Japanese battleship Yamato for intergalactic travel and set off on a mission to retrieve a neutralizer that will eradicate the radiation from Earth's atmosphere.
OshinOshin · 1984
Oshin
8.31984
MovieAnimationDrama
Oshin comes from a family of poor rice farmers. Her father and brother must work in the fields and her grandmother and mother, who is expecting another child, barely have enough to eat. In order to make ends meet for her family, 7-year-old Oshin gives up school and decides to become a servant in the household of a wealthy family, where she faces trials and tribulation beyond her worst fears.

Filmography

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Urotsukidōji: Legend of the OverfiendUrotsukidōji: Legend of the Overfiend · 1989
Urotsukidōji: Legend of the Overfiend
6.01989
MovieAnimationAction
Legend has it that the human race is not the only dominant civilization living on Earth. Two other races exist in this world: the Makai (a demon race) and the Jujinkai (a half-man, half-beast race). Once every 3,000 years, a supreme being known as the Choujin (Overfiend) will emerge and bring balance to all three realms on Earth. In present-day Japan, after 300 years of endless searching, a Jujinkai named Amano Jyaku has discovered the presence of the Choujin inside high school slacker Tatsuo Nagumo. But now, Amano, along with his sister Megumi and their sidekick Kuroko, must protect Nagumo and his new girlfriend Akemi Ito from the Makai, who believe that Nagumo is not the Choujin, but an evil entity bent on destroying all living beings on Earth.

Supervising Animator

Space Battleship YamatoSpace Battleship Yamato · 1974
Space Battleship Yamato
7.81974
SeriesAnimationDrama
Space Battleship Yamato is a Japanese science fiction anime series featuring an eponymous spacecraft. It is also known to English-speaking audiences as Space Cruiser Yamato; an English-dubbed and heavily edited version of the series was broadcast on North American and Australian television as Star Blazers. The first two seasons of this version were broadcast in Greece in 1981-82 as Διαστημόπλοιο Αργώ. An Italian-language version was also broadcast under the name Star Blazers in Italy, and a Portuguese-language version was successfully shown in Brazil under the title Patrulha Estelar and Viaje a la Ultima Galaxia or Astronave Intrepido in Spain and Latin America. It is a seminal series in the history of anime, marking a turn towards more complex serious works and influencing works such as Mobile Suit Gundam and Neon Genesis Evangelion; Hideaki Anno has ranked Yamato his favorite anime and credited it with sparking his interest in anime. Yamato was the first anime series or movie to win the Seiun Award, a feat not repeated until the 1985 Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.

Writer

IzumoIzumo · 1991
Izumo
5.01991
SeriesAnimationAction & Adventure
A historical fantasy set in third century (i.e., mythical) Japan. It tells the story of Izumo, the young prince of Nakatsukuni. He's not very interested in studying, unlike his cousin Dekiru; instead, he wants to see the wider world. One day, a mysterious girl named Sanae shows up as a stowaway on an airship. Although nominally from Yamataikoku, she is actually from the Naga, a shadowy people possessing magical powers. Sanae is kidnapped by Takeru, a warrior from the rival kingdom of Akusa, and placed at the mercy of the evil witch Yomihime. Izumo, helped by an orphaned glider pilot named Navi, must now take up the sacred sword of his country, master its powers, and rescue Sanae. However, before that, he must defeat the reawakened eight-headed snake of legend, Yamata-no-Orochi.

Director

Leo the LionLeo the Lion · 1966
Leo the Lion
1.01966
SeriesAction & Adventure
Leo the Lion is a sequel to the Japanese-American co-produced series "Jungle Emperor", or Kimba the White Lion. Osamu Tezuka had always wanted his story of Kimba to follow Kimba's entire life, and the Jungle Emperor/Kimba series was such a hit in Japan that Dr. Tezuka produced a sequel, without his American partners, in 1966. Making the series without a co-producer gave him complete creative control. For example, Dr. Tezuka changed the conclusion of his original manga story to a happy ending. Leo the Lion does not follow immediately from the end of the Kimba series. Instead, the story begins a couple of years following the end of the previous series. To English-speaking audiences, the behavior of the title character is inexplicably out of line with what was established in the first series. At the end of the first series, in the original Japanese script, Kimba promises to keep his animals separate from humans. It is this promise that drives the seemingly hermit-like Leo in this series. As the series unfolds, the focus shifts from the title character to one of his cubs, the male named Rune. This series as a whole is about Rune's growth, from a whining weakling to a confident leader.

Director