If one could ever delve into the mind of Japanese animation director Koji Morimoto, extract his creative thoughts and reproduce them in print, the end product will look something very similar to the contents of his artbook, “Orange”.
Morimoto-san is one of the founders of Studio 4°C, one of the top animation studios in Japan that have given us such visually astounding films like Tekkon Kinkreet and the Animatrix.
As the title of the book suggests, “Orange” is very much like a thick scrapbook of Morimoto’s sketches, ideas and artwork, spread rather randomly across the whole volume with no chapters or markers.
(above) Fans of Utada Hikaru might find this drawing familiar; a character designed/animated by Morimoto-san bearing a similar likeness appears in her MTV for the song “Passion”. ( watch video below )
(below) An unmistakable tribute to Akira ( Morimoto-san was the animation director on the film ) and Katsuya Terada’s Blood.
Morimoto-san also directed the more recent “Dimension Bomb”, one of the animated shorts appearing in Studio 4°C “Genius Party”, together with other amazing artists like Tatsuyuki Tanaka. The entire collection of shorts are now available to own in this sumptuous boxset. ( see box art below )
“Orange / Koji Morimoto / Scrapbook” artbook details :
– Dimensions – 11.4 x 9.1 x 0.9 inches
– Softcover with jacket, 254 pages
– Full color / Black & White pencil sketches
Buy From Amazon.com | Buy From Amazon CA | Buy From Amazon UK
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September 22nd, 2010 at 11:29 am
Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve been here. So many great posts! I must say how grateful I am that you, Mr. Yonghow, have introduced me to the truly genius Studio 4°C. Their various artists’ works are absolutely stunning! I love that motorcycle-esque vehicle in the first scan. Wish I had one xD
September 22nd, 2010 at 1:59 pm
That book looks fantastic, but then again, anything affiliated with 4°C will be nothing less than fantastic
September 23rd, 2010 at 7:03 am
Love this book, bought it in Japantown San Fransisco a few years ago and I thumb through this and cannabis works almost every week for inspiration. This is then followed by desperately trawling the net in hope that morimoto or Tanaka might produce something new… or at least something that might be available in the UK.
September 24th, 2010 at 1:01 am
Hina – As do I – that’s Kaneda’s bike from Akira !
Daniel – Much agreed, always looking forward to new work from the studio. :]
adamjkeeper – Was genius Party screened in the UK ? The last time I heard Koji Morimoto is working on his feature film titled “Sachiko”, but there hasn’t been any new updates on that.
September 27th, 2010 at 12:42 am
Sadly not only was genius party not screened, its not available on DVD. Much like 4c’s mindgame and even Tekkon Kinkreet, we can only get these via Region 1 DVD’s from the US. With the exception of Oshii very little hits the big screen here. Animation is not taken terribly serious in the UK unless it involves plasticine.
September 28th, 2010 at 12:12 am
adamjkeeper – :] I see. You guys do indeed dish out the best stop motion animation – I’m still eagerly awaiting Curse of the Wererabbit to arrive on blu-ray, love the film !
January 9th, 2013 at 10:50 am
This comment’s coming two years late…But I was wondering if anyone could help me identify from where are the images shown of someone (an actual person) wearing some kind of costume obviously designed by Morimoto. Thanks!