Sōji Yoshikawa

is a Japanese anime director, scriptwriter, animator, character designer, as well as a stage director and novelist. He has occasionally worked under the aliases , , and .

His best known works as a director are Lupin the 3rd: The Mystery of Mamo and Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, as a scriptwriter are Future Boy Conan and Armored Trooper Votoms, and as a character designer is Fang of the Sun Dougram.

He has played most of the roles in anime production, from animator, episode director, storyboard artist, scriptwriter to director, and has directed each production process. In addition to anime, he also created the original story, wrote the script, directed the play, and served as general director for the Theater Company Hikōsen. This began when Masaaki Ōsumi, the director of the 1969 anime TV series Moomin, asked him to help out with the troupe. He also worked as a novelist, mainly on novelizations and spin-offs of animation works.

In an interview with Yasuo Ōtsuka for the Lupin III Perfect Book: Complete Collector's Edition, he cites Yoshikawa as a representative member of the Japanese anime world, along with Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, and Osamu Dezaki.

Early life He was a big anime fan from the beginning, making animation with an 8mm camera. He then worked as an animator on Japan's first anime television series Astro Boy.

In 1978, at the age of 31, he directed the first Lupin III film, The Mystery of Mamo. However, due to the low social status of animation in Japan at the time, this hit did not lead to an increase in his subsequent work. Later, with the rise in popularity of Miyazaki and Cagliostro, this film became neglected, but with the spread of the Internet, the film began to be reevaluated through word-of-mouth and gained a reputation equal to that of Cagliostro. He was deeply involved in the story as the main writer for Armored Trooper Votoms. In an interview, Yoshikawa said that he wanted to do what he left undone in The Mystery of Mamo.

Yoshikawa was the chief director of Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, an anime version of the game Kirby series, which aired from 2001 to 2003. The anime was produced by A-Un Entertainment (later renamed Dyna-Method Inc.), a CG studio where Yoshikawa was a senior director and board member. One of the reasons that the 100th episode of the Kirby: Right Back at Ya! anime contained some problems, inconsistencies, and heavy-handedness in the plot and development is that Yoshikawa, who wrote the final episode, learned that his wife was in critical condition at the time and had to rush through the script and leave it in incomplete form in order to be present for her dying moments.

Works Anime television series Astro Boy (1963 TV series) (1963-1966) - Animation Shin Takarajima (1965) - Animation Son Gokū ga Hajimaruyō Kōfū Daimaō no Maki (1966) - Animation Gokū no Daibōken (1967) - Animation Fight Da!! Pyūta (1968) - Episode director/Animation Star of the Giants (1968-1971) - Episode director/Storyboard Moomin (1969 TV series) (1969-1970) - Storyboard Ashita no Joe (1970-1971) - Episode director Tensai Bakabon (1971 TV series) (1971-1972) - Director of the first half of the series Lupin the Third Part I (1971-1972) - Storyboard (ep. 1 and the last ep. 23) Kunimatsu-sama no Otoridai! (1971-1972) – Episode director Anime Documental: Road to Munich (1971-1972) - Animation director Doraemon (1973 TV series) (1973) – Storyboard Little Wansa (1973) - Episode director Kōya no Shōnen Isamu (1973-1974) - Storyboard Zero Tester (1973-1974) - Script Karate Master (1973-1974) - Storyboard Aim for the Ace! (1973 TV series) (1973-1974) - Storyboard Samurai Giants (1973-1974) - Storyboard Hoshi no Ko Chobin (1974) - Script La Seine no Hoshi (1975) - Script Gamba no Bouken (1975) - Script Time Bokan (1975-1976) - Script The Adventures of Pepero (1975-1976) - Script Gaiking (1976-1977) - Script UFO Warrior Dai Apolon (1976) - Script Blocker Gundan 4 Machine Blaster (1976-1977) - Script Paul's Miraculous Adventure (1976-1977) - Script Robokko Beeton (1976-1977) - Script Ore wa Teppei (1977-1978) - Script Wakusei Robo Danguard Ace (1977-1978) - Script Chogattai Majutsu Robo Ginguiser (1977) - Script Invincible Super Man Zambot 3 (1977-1978) - Script Invincible Steel Man Daitarn 3 (1978-1979) – Script Future Boy Conan (1978) - Script The Rose of Versailles (1979-1980) - Storyboard The Ultraman (1979-1980) - Script Cyborg 009 (1973 TV series) (1979-1980) - Script/Storyboard Marco Polo no Bōken (1979-1980) - Script Fang of the Sun Dougram (1981-1983) - Character design/storyboard Belle and Sebastian (1981-1982) - Script Shiroi Kiba: White Fang Story (1982) - Director/storyboard Game Center Arashi (1982) - Script Combat Mecha Xabungle (1982-1983) - Script The Mysterious Cities of Gold (1982-1983) - Script Armored Trooper Votoms (1983-1984) - Script The Yearling (1983-1985) - Script Galactic Patrol Lensman (1984-1985) - Script Panzer World Galient (1984-1985) - Script Bosco Adventure (1986-1987) - Script Kissyfur (1986-1988) - Japanese side Director/Script City Hunter (1987-1988) - Script Star Street: The Adventures of the Star Kids (1989-1990) - Japanese side Director The Wonderful Galaxy of Oz (1992-1993) - General director/Character design supervisor/Head writer Bit the Cupid (1995-1996) - Head writer/Script (all episodes) Monkey Magic (1999-2000) - Head writer/Script (all episodes) Kirby: Right Back at Ya! (2001-2003) - General director/Head writer/Script/Storyboard

Anime films Lupin the 3rd: The Mystery of Mamo (1978) - Director/Script/Storyboard/Character design (partial) Lensman (1984) - Script Mother: Saigo no Shojō Eve (1993) - Script

Short anime films Garon (2013) - Director/Script

OVA Armored Trooper Votoms: The Last Red Shoulder (1985) - Script Armored Trooper Votoms - The Red Shoulder Document: Roots of Ambition (1988) - Script Umi no Yami, Tsuki no Kaze (1989) - Dramatization Armored Trooper Votoms: Shining Heresy (1994) - Script (all episodes) The Silent Service (1995-1998) - Script Armored Trooper Votoms: Pailsen Files (2007-2008) - Head writer/Script

Stage Star Guardian (1986) - Original story/Script/General director Tanoshii Moomin Ikka - Script Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - Script The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - Director/Script