Kenji Kodama
| Kenji Kodama | |
|
| |
| Profile | |
| Gender: | Male |
|---|---|
| Date of birth: | December 13, 1949 |
| Place of birth: | Hokkaido, Japan |
| Position: | Director Organizer Storyboard Episode director |
| Years active: | 1970-present |
| Aliases: | 宮本誠司 上川町人[1] |
| His actual name is written "児玉兼嗣". | |
Kenji Kodama (こだま 兼嗣 Kodama Kenji), born December 13, 1949, is a Japanese anime director, and storyboard artist. He is best known for directing the anime Detective Conan and working with the anime Lupin III. He directed the anime from episodes 1 to 118. He was later replaced by Yasuichiro Yamamoto and became chief director from episodes 119 to 252. He was also the director for the first 7 movies.
Contents
Biography
In 1970, Kodama worked under Tokyo Movie (東京ムービー), afterwards, he joined the production of several anime works such as Star of the Giants (巨人の星) and Ghost Q-Taro (オバケのQ太郎). Which mainly, he worked as director, technical director, key animator, character designer, and animation director etc. Moreover, when he was working on the production of the series Lupin the Third (ルパン三世), he had accepted the training from senior animators, Takeo Kitahara (北原 健雄) and Yuzo Aoki.
From 1997 to 1980, Kodama was responsible for almost 70% of the animation directing work of the series Lupin the Third. Until he was responsible of the episode directing of the 26th episode of the anime The Gutsy Frog (ど根性ガエル) in 1981, he had just officially debuted as a proper technical director. Furthermore, the second season of the anime Cat's Eye (キャッツ・アイ) from 1983 was the first animation work that Kodama served as the director.
In 1987, while Kodama was in charge of the director role in the anime City Hunter (シティーハンター), he consigned the character design role to his wife, whom he had met when he was working on Lupin the Third series. On the other hand, he did storyboard, episode director, and screenplay as well. In 1996, Kodama began to serve as the director of the Detective Conan anime and movies. After Episode 118: The Naniwa Serial Murder Case, he was promoted to the chief director of the series, and on the contrary his disciple, Yasuichiro Yamamoto thus became the director. In 2001, after Episode 252: The Kidnapper in the Picture, Kodama was no longer the director of the Detective Conan anime and quit the anime production. In 2003, after movie 7, Kodama also quit the Detective Conan movie production.
Surprisingly, in 2021, after entirely 18 years, Kenji Kodama, who used the pseudonym Chonin Kamikawa (上川 町人 Kamikawa Chōnin)[Note 1], returned to the Detective Conan anime production team and temporarily did the storyboard work of Episode 999: Troublesome Kindness.
Works in Detective Conan
Anime
Participation in: 30 cases (36 episodes)
| Jpn# | Int# | Episode title | Original broadcast | Role | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Roller Coaster Murder Case | January 8, 1996 | Storyboard, Episode director | |
| 2 | 2 | Company President's Daughter Kidnapping Case | January 15, 1996 | Storyboard | |
| 11 | 11-12 | Moonlight Sonata Murder Case | April 8, 1996 | Organizer, Storyboard | 1 hour |
| 22 | 23 | Luxury Liner Serial Murder Case (Part 1) | July 1, 1996 | Organizer, Storyboard | |
| 27 | 28 | Kogoro's Class Reunion Murder Case (Part 1) | August 5, 1996 | Storyboard | |
| 28 | 29 | Kogoro's Class Reunion Murder Case (Part 2) | August 12, 1996 | Storyboard | |
| 32 | 33 | Coffee Shop Murder Case | September 9, 1996 | Organizer, Storyboard | |
| 43 | 44 | Conan Edogawa Kidnapping Case | January 13, 1997 | Organizer, Storyboard | |
| 67 | 69 | Stage Actress Murder Case | July 14, 1997 | Storyboard | |
| 76 | 78-79 | Conan vs. Kaitou Kid | September 22, 1997 | Organizer, Storyboard | 1 hour |
| 77 | 80 | Distinguished Family's Consecutive Accidental Death Case (Part 1) | October 20, 1997 | Organizer, Storyboard | |
| 80 | 83 | The Wandering Artist Murder Case | November 10, 1997 | Storyboard | |
| 85 | 88 | Ski Lodge Murder Case (Part 2) | December 15, 1997 | Organizer, Storyboard | |
| 87 | 90 | The Crane's Return of a Favor Murder Case | January 19, 1998 | Storyboard | |
| 103 | 109 | The Historical Actor Murder Case (Part 2) | May 25, 1998 | Organizer, Storyboard | |
| 109 | 115 | Detective Club Pursuit Case | July 13, 1998 | Storyboard | |
| 111 | 117 | Cooking Classroom Murder Case (Part 2) | August 3, 1998 | Storyboard | |
| 114 | 120 | Scuba Diving Murder Case (Part 1) | August 24, 1998 | Organizer, Storyboard | |
| 119 | 126 | The Kamen Yaiba Murder Case | October 12, 1998 | Storyboard | |
| 124 | 131 | A Mysterious Sniper Murder Case (Part 1) | November 16, 1998 | Storyboard | |
| 146 | 156 | Metropolitan Police Detective Love Story (Part 1) | May 24, 1999 | Organizer, Storyboard | |
| 147 | 157 | Metropolitan Police Detective Love Story (Part 2) | May 31, 1999 | Organizer, Storyboard | |
| 153 | 163 | Sonoko's Dangerous Summer Story (Part 1) | July 19, 1999 | Organizer, Storyboard | |
| 154 | 164 | Sonoko's Dangerous Summer Story (Part 2) | July 26, 1999 | Organizer, Storyboard | |
| 159 | 169 | The Legend of the Mysterious Five Storied Pagoda (Part 1) | September 6, 1999 | Storyboard | |
| 160 | 170 | The Legend of the Mysterious Five Storied Pagoda (Part 2) | September 13, 1999 | Storyboard | |
| 161 | 171 | The Murder Floating in the Water Stream Restaurant | September 20, 1999 | Storyboard | |
| 162 | 172-173 | The Locked Room in the Sky: Shinichi Kudo's First Case | September 27, 1999 | Organizer, Storyboard | 1 hour |
| 190 | 205 | The Desperate Revival - The Third Choice | May 15, 2000 | Organizer, Storyboard | |
| 201 | 216 | The Tenth Passenger (Part 1) | July 31, 2000 | Storyboard | |
| 202 | 217 | The Tenth Passenger (Part 2) | August 7, 2000 | Storyboard | |
| 208 | 224-225 | The Entrance to the Maze: The Anger of the Colossus | October 9, 2000 | Storyboard | 1 hour |
| 236 | 255 | The Nanki Shirahama Mystery Tour (Part 1) | June 4, 2001 | Storyboard | Mystery tour |
| 237 | 256 | The Nanki Shirahama Mystery Tour (Part 2) | June 11, 2001 | Storyboard | Mystery tour |
| 263 | 282-285 | The Osaka Double Mystery - The Naniwa Swordsman and Toyotomi's Castle | January 7, 2002 | Organizer, Storyboard | 2 hours |
| 999 | 1056 | Troublesome Kindness | February 27, 2021 | Storyboard | Under pseudonym 上川町人 |
Openings and Endings
Participation in: 3 openings and 3 endings
| # | Song name | Original title | Role | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OP | ||||
| OP1 | Mune ga Dokidoki | 胸がドキドキ | Storyboard, Technical director | |
| OP2 | Feel Your Heart | Feel Your Heart | Storyboard, Technical director | |
| OP3 | Nazo | 謎 | Storyboard | |
| ED | ||||
| ED1 | STEP BY STEP | STEP BY STEP | Storyboard, Technical director | |
| ED2 | Meikyū no Lovers | 迷宮のラヴァーズ | Storyboard, Technical director | |
| ED3 | Hikari to Kage no Roman | 光と影のロマン | Storyboard | |
Movies
Participation in: 7 movies
| Movie | Title | Original airdate | Role | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Time-Bombed Skyscraper | April 19, 1997 | Director, Storyboard | |
| 2 | The Fourteenth Target | April 18, 1998 | Director, Storyboard | |
| 3 | The Last Wizard of the Century | April 17, 1999 | Director, Storyboard | |
| 4 | Captured in Her Eyes | April 22, 2000 | Director, Storyboard | |
| 5 | Countdown to Heaven | April 21, 2001 | Director, Storyboard | |
| 6 | The Phantom of Baker Street | April 20, 2002 | Director, Storyboard | |
| 7 | Crossroad in the Ancient Capital | April 19, 2003 | Director, Storyboard |
Other notable works
Anime
- City Hunter series: Director
- Crayon Shin-chan: Action Kamen vs Haigure Maô: Inbetweener
- Flanders no Inu, Boku no Patrasche: Director
- Lupin III: Part II: Storyboard, Character design
- Sonic X: Key animation
- Tokyo Mew Mew: Key animation
Non-anime
- Heathcliff and the Catillac Cats: Layout artist
See also
References
- ^ Note: This is a pseudonym based on the fact that Kodama is born in a town named Kamikawa, of Hokkaido. The literal translation would be "person from Kamikawa".
