
Takashi Yamazaki
Directing
Biography
Takashi Yamazaki (山崎 貴, Yamazaki Takashi, born June 12, 1964) is a Japanese filmmaker and visual effects supervisor. Known for his blockbusters featuring advanced visual effects, he is considered a leading figure in the Japanese film industry. Yamazaki receives multiple accolades, including an Academy Award, eight Japanese Academy Awards, five Nikkan Sports Film Awards, two Hochi Film Awards, and an Asian Film Award. His films have collectively grossed over $523 million worldwide. Yamazaki found employment at the visual effects and animation studio Shirogumi in 1986 and has remained there throughout his career. His first directorial features were the science fiction films Juvenile(2000) and Returner (2002), for which he became known as the "Japanese James Cameron". He later gained further notice in Japan by directing film adaptations of popular anime, novels, and manga, including Always: Sunset on Third Street (2005), Space Battleship Yamato (2010), The Eternal Zero (2013), and Stand by Me Doraemon (2014); the latter two films both earned a total of nine awards at the 38th Japan Academy Film Prize. Yamazaki's career advanced with The Great War of Archimedes, Dragon Quest: Your Story, Lupin III: The First (2019), and Stand by Me Doraemon 2 (2020). His 2023 kaiju epic, Godzilla Minus One, became the most successful Japanese Godzilla film of all time and one of his highest-grossing films. Yamazaki and the visual effects team also became the first Japanese crew to receive the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. In 2024, Yamazaki was included in Gold House's annual list of 100 Most Impactful Asians. Description above from the Wikipedia article Takashi Yamazaki, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For

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.
Aquarion

After dying to save a boy, delinquent tough guy Yusuke Urameshi is granted another chance at life by redeeming himself as a "Spirit Detective."
Yu Yu Hakusho

An annual American awards ceremony honoring cinematic achievements in the film industry. The various category winners are awarded a copy of a statuette, officially the Academy Award of Merit, that is better known by its nickname Oscar.
The Oscars

In postwar Japan, Godzilla brings new devastation to an already scorched landscape. With no military intervention or government help in sight, the survivors must join together in the face of despair and fight back against an unrelenting horror.
Godzilla Minus One

Dr. Shizuma invented a revolutionary new form of renewable energy drive but had to pay a heavy price for his success in a catastrophic accident that the world wants to forget. 10 years later the secret organization Big Fire have obtained two of three mysterious Shizuma drives as part of their world domination plans. The third drive has however been taken by Dr. Shizuma who during his escape is saved by Giant Robo. A desperate struggle begins between the Giant Robo and Big Fire for the control of the last drive as Big Fire unleashes their ultimate weapon, the Eye of Volger.
Giant Robo: The Day the Earth Stood Still

Heat Guy J is a 26 episode science fiction anime series created by Escaflowne director Kazuki Akane and Satelight. Heat Guy J was licensed and distributed in the U.S. in 2003 by Pioneer. It was re-released by Funimation Entertainment in the fall of 2009. The first 13 episodes of the show also was broadcast on the cable channel MTV2. A one volume manga was created based on the series, and was licensed and distributed by TOKYOPOP. The show was picked up for a UK DVD release by Manga Entertainment starting in March 2006. It was packaged in double DVD sets to make up for the long delayed release of the series.
Heat Guy J

Taiyo Sentai Sun Vulcan is the fifth season in Toei Company's Super Sentai tokusatsu television series. It was broadcast from February 7, 1981, to January 30, 1982, and is the only Super Sentai series to serve as a direct sequel to its previous series and the only all-male Super Sentai team. Its international English title as listed by Toei is simply Sun Vulcan. This was the last Sentai season to be co-produced with Marvel Comics.
Taiyo Sentai Sun Vulcan

Nobita travels to the future to show his beloved grandma his bride, but adult Nobita has fled his own wedding.
Stand by Me Doraemon 2

Sewashi and Doraemon find themselves way back in time and meet Nobita. It is up to Doraemon to take care of Nobita or else he will not return to the present.
Stand by Me Doraemon

Luca follows in his father's footsteps to rescue his mother from evil Ladja. Finding the heavenly hero who wields the Zenithian sword is his only hope.
Dragon Quest: Your Story

Humanity is suffering from a series of mysterious murders across the globe, known as the 'Mincemeat murders'. High school student Izumi Shinichi has a parasite living off him, having replaced his right hand, and he might be the discoverer of truth.
Parasyte: Part 1

In 1949, two years after the tumultuous events of Godzilla Minus One, the Shikishima family face an all-new calamity.
Godzilla Minus Zero

Humanity is under attack by human-mimicking flesh-eating alien parasites. One parasite bonds with his young high school student host, and he convinces the parasite to help him stop the others.
Parasyte: Part 2

The iconic "gentleman thief" Lupin III returns in an action-packed, continent-spanning adventure, as Lupin III and his colorful underworld companions race to uncover the secrets of the mysterious Bresson Diary, before it falls into the hands of a dark cabal that will stop at nothing to resurrect the Third Reich.
Lupin III: The First

A brother and sister learn their biological grandfather was a kamikaze pilot who died during World War II. During their research into his life, they get conflicting accounts from his former comrades about his character and how he joined his squadron.
The Eternal Zero

When the Spirit World is flooded due to an unusual rainfall which overflows the River Sanzu (aka the River Styx), Lord Koenma senses an extremely powerful enemy. He entrusts Death God Botan, to deliver to Spirit Detective Yusuke, a mysterious item which must be protected from the invading enemy. However, by the time Botan finds Yusuke, she's too weak to explain the situation. Yusuke and his friends are left in the dark about the new enemy, but not for long. Soon it is a battle for Earth between mere Spirit Detectives and the almighty king of the Netherworld.
Yu Yu Hakusho: The Movie - Poltergeist Report

It is the early 1930s and the command of the Japanese Imperial Navy determines to construct the world's biggest and most formidable battleship, Yamato. One of the admirals, Yamamoto Isoroku, disagrees. He recruits the upstart and mathematics' expert Tadashi Kai who discovers there are discrepancies between the official cost estimates and the actual figures. They soon find out that they have stumbled upon a conspiracy.
The Great War of Archimedes

In 1958 postwar Tokyo, the residents of a humble Third Street neighbourhood struggle, dream, and grow together as rapid modernisation transforms their lives beneath the shadow of the newly rising Tokyo Tower.
Always - Sunset on Third Street

Set in an alternate universe, the ancient capital of Kamakura is a vibrant town where fantastical creatures live alongside humans. Akiko is a cheerful publishing assistant who moves into town after marrying Masakazu, a popular mystery writer. Akiko is surprised by the unusual town but enjoys the new curiosities surrounding her. However, just as she was beginning to settle in, a trifling incident sweeps her spirit to the underworld too soon. Convinced that destiny has something else in store for his wife, Masakazu journeys into the underworld to bring back Akiko’s spirit.
Destiny: The Tale of Kamakura

In an alternate version of 1949 Japan in which World War II never happened, the Japanese capital of Teito is home to both an ultra rich upper class and the dirt poor masses. The city is thrown into a state of panic when a phantom thief called “The Kaijin (Fiend) with 20 Faces” (K-20 for short) begins to use his mysterious abilities to steal from the rich and give to the poor. One day a circus acrobat named Heikichi Endo (Takeshi Kaneshiro) is framed for K-20’s crimes and becomes determined to clear his name. He teams up with K-20’s next target, a wealthy duchess named Yoko Hashiba (Takako Matsu) and her detective fiancé (Toru Nakamura), to take K-20 down once and for all.