--- name: "Kenji Kamiyama" canonical: "https://film.one/person/kenji-kamiyama" roles: ["Background designer","Director"] born: "20 March 1966" reviewed_on_fi1m: 2 average_over: 1 updated: "2026-09-19T12:59:47.740957+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Kenji Kamiyama Background designer and director. Born 20 March 1966 in Saitama, Japan. ## Details - **Work:** Background designer, Director - **Born:** 20 March 1966, Saitama, Japan - **Active:** 1989–present - **Also known as:** 神山 健治 - **Titles on Fi1m:** 2: 1 directing, 1 crew - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1980s 86 (1), 2020s 55 (1) - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenji_Kamiyama, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2518786, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0436784/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/16137 ## Streaming the US now - **HBO Max:** [*The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim*](https://film.one/film/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-war-of-the-rohirrim.md) (55) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Kenji Kamiyama > Kenji Kamiyama builds worlds and is best with time to fill them; the run from *Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex* to *Eden of the East* is the work to see. Drawing other people's universes since, he has been careful, handsome and seldom surprising. A Kenji Kamiyama scene usually begins with the setting, not the people. Before anyone speaks, the drawing has told you the hour, the weather and how long these people have been sitting there, and the camera moves as though a crew had needed to find somewhere to put it. That is the background artist in him: he spent his early years painting other people's worlds, on *Akira* (1988) and *Kiki's Delivery Service*, before he was given one to run. When he was, on *Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex* (2002–2005), the result was patient, talky and sure of what it thought, and it remains the clearest account of what he does. The career divides cleanly enough. First the apprenticeship at Production I.G, in Mamoru Oshii's workshop, with a screenplay for *Blood: The Last Vampire* and the animation direction on *Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade* (1999). Then a decade in which the worlds were his own or nearly so: *Stand Alone Complex*, *Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit* (2007), *Eden of the East* (2009), which he wrote as well as directed, and later the original feature *Napping Princess* (2017). Since then he has mostly been hired to draw universes that already exist: *Ultraman* (2019), *Blade Runner: Black Lotus* (2021), an episode of *Star Wars: Visions* and *The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim* (2024). Along the way he has twice shared the director's chair with Shinji Aramaki. What works is the thinking. His television gives an idea time to turn: a society, a machine that has changed it, the people who have to live with both, and long conversations about what to do next. Some viewers find that heavy going, too much politics and too many threads, and *Eternal 831* (2022) drew that complaint. We would rather a director who thinks too much than one who does not think. The trouble with the borrowed worlds is that the borrowing shows. The reviews of *Black Lotus* split over its computer animation. *The War of the Rohirrim* is drawn by hand, which suits him, and it still spends a great deal of its 134 minutes looking at a wall with snow on it. Helm Hammerhand gets a page in Tolkien's appendices; Philippa Boyens's story stretches that to feature length, and careful drawing cannot fill the space. We were bored by the second hour of that siege and then slightly cross, because the man who made *Stand Alone Complex* knows what to do with time and here had time and nothing to put in it. Where the film borrows, the tracing shows. He has said of his *Star Wars: Visions* episode, "I’d love to have the chance to make a full length feature out of this." We would sooner see him given a long run of episodes and a world nobody has drawn before. ## Biography Kenji Kamiyama (神山 健治) is a Japanese director and writer. Born on 20 March 1966 in Saitama Prefecture, he began his career as a background artist on films including *Akira* (1988) and *Kiki's Delivery Service* (1989). He later joined Production I.G, where he contributed the screenplay for *Blood: The Last Vampire* (2000) and worked as animation director on *Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade* (1999). Kamiyama made his directorial debut with the short *MiniPato* (2002) and gained prominence as series director and writer on *Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex* (2002) and its follow-ups. His other credits include directing *Eden of the East* (2009), episodes of *Star Wars: Visions* (2021) and *Blade Runner: Black Lotus* (2021), and the feature *The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim* (2024). *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, animecorner.me.* ## On Fi1m (2) ### Directed (1) - *The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim* (2024), Fi1m 55, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-war-of-the-rohirrim.md) ### Crew (1) — the average rests on these - *Kiki's Delivery Service* (1989), Fi1m 86, Background Designer — [page](https://film.one/film/kikis-delivery-service.md) ## Complete filmography (40) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Star Wars: Visions Presents - The Ninth Jedi* (2026), series, as Other · Story - *The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim* (2024), Director — Fi1m 55, [page](https://film.one/film/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-war-of-the-rohirrim.md) - *Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 Saigo no Ningen* (2023), Director, Screenplay - *Eternal 831* (2022), Screenplay, Director, Original Story - *Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 Sustainable War* (2021), Director, Screenplay - *Blade Runner: Black Lotus* (2021), series, Director, Teleplay, Creator - *Star Wars: Visions* (2021), series, Writer, Storyboard Artist, Original Film Writer, Director - *Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045* (2020), series, Director, Writer, Series Director, Series Composition - *ULTRAMAN* (2019), series, Director - *Salvation* (2019), Director - *Ancien and the Magic Tablet: Another Story* (2017), Original Story, Director - *Napping Princess* (2017), Original Story, Screenplay, Director, Storyboard Artist, Comic Book - *Cyborg 009: Call of Justice 3* (2016), Director - *Cyborg 009: Call of Justice 2* (2016), Director - *Cyborg 009: Call of Justice 1* (2016), Director - *Haikyu!!* (2014), series, Opening/Ending Animation - *A.U.F.L. : au Unlimited Future Laboratory* (2013), series, Script, Director - *009 Re:Cyborg* (2012), Screenplay, Director - *Xi AVANT* (2011), Screenplay, Director - *009: The Reopening* (2010), Screenplay - *Eden of the East Movie II: Paradise Lost* (2010), Screenplay, Director, Storyboard Artist, Original Story - *Eden of the East Movie I: The King of Eden* (2009), Director, Screenplay, Storyboard Artist, Original Story - *Eden of The East Compilation: Air Communication* (2009), Director, Writer, Original Story - *Eden of the East* (2009), series, Series Director, Storyboard Artist, Series Composition, Writer, Original Story, Director - *The Women of Fast Food* (2007), Director - *Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society* (2007), Writer, Director, Storyboard Artist - *Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit* (2007), series, Writer, Director, Storyboard Artist - *Tachigui: The Amazing Lives of the Fast Food Grifters* (2006), as Manager Kamiyama (voice) - *Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG - Individual Eleven* (2006), Director, Screenplay - *Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - The Laughing Man* (2005), Director, Screenplay - *Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex* (2002), series, Writer, Series Director, Storyboard Artist, Series Composition - *MiniPato* (2002), series, Animation Director, Series Director - *Tachikoma na hibi* (2002), series, Creator - *Blood: The Last Vampire* (2000), Screenplay - *Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade* (1999), Second Unit Director - *Medabots* (1999), series, Storyboard Artist, Director - *Calico Cat Holmes and the Lord of the Haunted Castle* (1992), as Art Direction - *Silent Möbius* (1991), Art Designer - *Kiki's Delivery Service* (1989), Background Designer — Fi1m 86, [page](https://film.one/film/kikis-delivery-service.md) - *Mobile Suit Gundam RG: XARX-ZERO*, series, as Series Composition · Series Director ## Gallery - ![レディ・プレイヤー1 ジャパン・プレミア レッドカーペット 神山健治 (2018)](https://film.one/media/person/336681/gallery-b99719cf550b.jpg) レディ・プレイヤー1 ジャパン・プレミア レッドカーペット 神山健治 (2018) — Dick Thomas Johnson from Tokyo, Japan, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7a/Ready_Player_One_Japan_Premiere_Red_Carpet_Kamiyama_Kenji_%2840712906425%29.jpg/1280px-Ready_Player_One_Japan_Premiere_Red_Carpet_Kamiyama_Kenji_%2840712906425%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Kenji Kamiyama](https://film.one/media/person/336681/gallery-b5b8ec1d129d.jpg) Kenji Kamiyama — Kenji_Kamiyama(left,_taken_by_Danny_Choo(right)).jpg: Danny Choo from Tokyo, Japan derivative work: Puramyun31 (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Kenji_Kamiyama.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Kenji Kamiyama au festival international du film d'animation d'Annecy 2023](https://film.one/media/person/336681/gallery-ab5f3fbf6cfb.jpg) Kenji Kamiyama au festival international du film d'animation d'Annecy 2023 — Boungawa, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/01/Kenji_Kamiyama_2023.jpg/1280px-Kenji_Kamiyama_2023.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/kenji-kamiyama