Yoji Takeshige

Birth : , Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Movies

The Boy and the Heron
Art Direction
While the Second World War rages, the teenage Mahito, haunted by his mother's tragic death, is relocated from Tokyo to the serene rural home of his new stepmother Natsuko, a woman who bears a striking resemblance to the boy's mother. As he tries to adjust, this strange new world grows even stranger following the appearance of a persistent gray heron, who perplexes and bedevils Mahito, dubbing him the "long-awaited one."
Mirai
Background Designer
Unhappy after his new baby sister displaces him, four-year-old Kun begins meeting people and pets from his family's history in their unique house in order to help him become the big brother he was meant to be.
Mary and The Witch's Flower
Background Designer
Mary Smith, a young girl who lives with her great-aunt in the countryside, follows a mysterious cat into the nearby forest where she finds a strange flower and an old broom, none of which is as ordinary as it seems.
Napping Princess
Background Designer
Japan, 2020, a few days before the opening of the Tokyo Olympics. Although she should be studying for her final exams, Kokone, a schoolgirl who lives in a small town with her widowed father, a mysterious and talented mechanic, falls asleep often, anywhere, anytime, entering, over and over, a dream-world where a squad of fantastic motorized contraptions fights against magic, a world close to reality where she will find out the keys of her true past.
In This Corner of the World
Background Designer
Japan, 1943, during World War II. Young Suzu leaves her village near Hiroshima to marry and live with her in-laws in Kure, a military harbor. Her creativity to overcome deprivation quickly makes her indispensable at home. Inhabited by an ancestral wisdom, Suzu impregnates the simple gestures of everyday life with poetry and beauty. The many hardships, the loss of loved ones, the frequent air raids of the enemy, nothing alters her enthusiasm…
The Boy and the Beast
Background Designer
Kyuta, a boy living in Shibuya, and Kumatetsu, a lonesome beast from Jutengai, an imaginary world. One day, Kyuta forays into the imaginary world and, as he's looking for his way back, meets Kumatetsu who becomes his spirit guide. That encounter leads them to many adventures.
When Marnie Was There
Background Designer
Upon being sent to live with relatives in the countryside due to an illness, an emotionally distant adolescent girl becomes obsessed with an abandoned mansion and infatuated with a girl who lives there - a girl who may or may not be real.
Mr. Dough and the Egg Princess
Art Direction
The story of a tiny Egg-girl who is forced to serve the evil Boar-like witch Baba Yaga. But after a blob of Dough comes to life, she befriends him and both escape from the witch's home at a Water mill on a cliff and set off to see the world. The soundtrack is Joe Hisaishi's arrangement of Vivaldi's La Folia
The Secret World of Arrietty
Art Direction
14-year-old Arrietty and the rest of the Clock family live in peaceful anonymity as they make their own home from items "borrowed" from the house's human inhabitants. However, life changes for the Clocks when a human boy discovers Arrietty.
Summer Wars
Art Direction
A student tries to fix a problem he accidentally caused in OZ, a digital world, while pretending to be the fiancé of his friend at her grandmother's 90th birthday.
Ponyo
Background Designer
When Sosuke, a young boy who lives on a clifftop overlooking the sea, rescues a stranded goldfish named Ponyo, he discovers more than he bargained for. Ponyo is a curious, energetic young creature who yearns to be human, but even as she causes chaos around the house, her father, a powerful sorcerer, schemes to return Ponyo to the sea.
A Ghibli Artisan - Kazuo Oga Exhibition - The One Who Drew Totoro's Forest
Self
From July 21 through September 10th, 2007, the Museum for Contemporary Art Tokyo held an exhibition honouring Kazuo Oga, the art director and background artist for many famed works from Japan's Studio Ghibli. Over 600 works from the artist were on display, and numerous fans flocked to the one-of-a-kind exhibition celebrating the lush, gorgeous background artwork typifying many a work from Hayao Miyazaki and other Ghibli filmmakers. International fans of Oga and Studio Ghibli have not been left out, however. A Ghibli Artisan - Kazuo Oga Exhibition - The One Who Drew Totoro's Forest allows fans the opportunity to attend the exhibition, as well as watch interviews and testimonials with Oga's contemporaries and collaborators, all subtitled in English.
The Piano Forest
Background Designer
Amamiya Shu transfers to Moriwaki elementary filled with hope and ambition. But it doesn't take long before he gets picked on by the class bullies, and gets involved in a dare to play the mysterious piano in the forest.
Tales from Earthsea
Art Direction
Something bizarre has come over the land. The kingdom is deteriorating. People are beginning to act strange... What's even more strange is that people are beginning to see dragons, which shouldn't enter the world of humans. Due to all these bizarre events, Ged, a wandering wizard, is investigating the cause. During his journey, he meets Prince Arren, a young distraught teenage boy. While Arren may look like a shy young teen, he has a severe dark side, which grants him strength, hatred, ruthlessness and has no mercy, especially when it comes to protecting Teru. For the witch Kumo this is a perfect opportunity. She can use the boy's "fears" against the very one who would help him, Ged.
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
Background Designer
When 17-year-old Makoto Konno gains the ability to, quite literally, "leap" backwards through time, she immediately sets about improving her grades and preventing personal mishaps. However, she soon realises that changing the past isn't as simple as it seems, and eventually, will have to rely on her new powers to shape the future of herself and her friends.
The Day I Bought a Star
Background Designer
The short film is about a boy who lives and works on a farm. One day when going to sell vegetables at a market, his cart breaks down. Two strangers, a frog and a mole, offer him a strange seed in exchange for the vegetables. The boy accepts and finds that the seed grows into a miniature planet. It continues growing as he tends to it, forming an atmosphere, weather systems and life. After being taken back to the city, he meets the stranger who sold the seed to him, and they release the planet into a galaxy of similar planets, where it will grow for years until becoming a real planet.
Inuyasha the Movie 4: Fire on the Mystic Island
Background Designer
The mysterious island of Houraijima has reappeared after 50 years, and with its reappearance has brought the attack of four gods, the Shitoushin, who have their eyes set on the powers that protect and sustain the island. Now it's up to Inuyasha and his friends, along with Sesshoumaru, to find a way to defeat the powerful Shitoushin.
Howl's Moving Castle
Art Direction
Sophie, a young milliner, is turned into an elderly woman by a witch who enters her shop and curses her. She encounters a wizard named Howl and gets caught up in his resistance to fighting for the king.
The Invention of Imaginary Machines of Destruction
Background Designer
Kusoh no kikai-tachi no naka no hakai no hatsumei is an animated short wirtten and directed by Hideaki Anno and produced by Studio Ghibli. It's a Ghibli Museum exclusive.
Ghiblies: Episode 2
Background Designer
Ghiblies (pronounced with a hard "g" as in "gallop") is a short film aired during a TV special about Ghibli. It's about a fictional animation studio named "Ghibli" and the people who work there. This rare Ghibli Comedy is a look into who the people making the films are. Plotlines run from office jokes to Nonaka's first love, bringing together a short feature of random events.
The Whale Hunt
Background Designer
Kujiratori tells the story of school children pretending they are building a boat. As imagination replaces reality, they find themselves on the ocean, hunting for a whale. A big, gentle whale appears, accompanies them back to land and plays with them. Then the fantasy ends and the children are back in their class room.
Spirited Away
Art Direction
A young girl, Chihiro, becomes trapped in a strange new world of spirits. When her parents undergo a mysterious transformation, she must call upon the courage she never knew she had to free her family.
My Neighbors the Yamadas
Art Direction
The Yamadas are a typical middle class Japanese family in urban Tokyo and this film shows us a variety of episodes of their lives. With tales that range from the humorous to the heartbreaking, we see this family cope with life's little conflicts, problems, and joys in their own way.
Princess Mononoke
Art Direction
Ashitaka, a prince of the disappearing Emishi people, is cursed by a demonized boar god and must journey to the west to find a cure. Along the way, he encounters San, a young human woman fighting to protect the forest, and Lady Eboshi, who is trying to destroy it. Ashitaka must find a way to bring balance to this conflict.
Ghost in the Shell
Background Designer
In the year 2029, the barriers of our world have been broken down by the net and by cybernetics, but this brings new vulnerability to humans in the form of brain-hacking. When a highly-wanted hacker known as 'The Puppetmaster' begins involving them in politics, Section 9, a group of cybernetically enhanced cops, are called in to investigate and stop the Puppetmaster.
Whisper of the Heart
Background Designer
Shizuku lives a simple life, dominated by her love for stories and writing. One day she notices that all the library books she has have been previously checked out by the same person: 'Seiji Amasawa'.
On Your Mark
Art Direction
This animated short by Miyazaki was created as a music video for the song "On Your Mark" by Japanese duo Chage & Aska. The narrative is non-linear with no dialog and loosely follows the song lyrics and chorus. The video feels like a very compressed version of an epic Miyazaki film. The story follows two police officers in a futuristic setting in their repeated attempts at rescuing a mysterious winged girl.
Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie
Background Designer
Bison, the ruthless leader of the international terrorist organization Shadowlaw, has been desperately searching for the greatest fighter on the planet for years. He finds it in Ryu, a young wanderer who never stays in one place long enough for Bison to find him. He does, however, get a fix on Ken Masters, an American martial arts champion who studied with Ryu as a child under the same master. Meanwhile, Major Guile of the United States Army is forced to team up with Chun Li from China in hopes of apprehending Bison and putting a stop his international ring of crime.
Patlabor 2: The Movie
Background Designer
A Japanese police unit who use giant anthropomorphic robots (called Labors) is caught up in a political struggle between the civilian authorities and the military when a terrorist act is blamed on an Air Force jet. With the aid of a government agent, the team gets close to a terrorist leader to stop things from going out of control when after the military is impelled to impose martial law.
Ninja Scroll
Assistant Art Director
Jubei is a masterless ninja who travels the land alone, lending his services to those with gold—or a worthy cause. His fearsome abilities have served him well, but a plot to overthrow the government threatens to end his wandering ways—and possibly his life.
Porco Rosso
Background Designer
In Italy in the 1930s, sky pirates in biplanes terrorize wealthy cruise ships as they sail the Adriatic Sea. The only pilot brave enough to stop the scourge is the mysterious Porco Rosso, a former World War I flying ace who was somehow turned into a pig during the war. As he prepares to battle the pirate crew's American ace, Porco Rosso enlists the help of spunky girl mechanic Fio Piccolo and his longtime friend Madame Gina.
Roujin Z
Background Designer
Mr. Takazawa, an elderly invalid who is cared for at his home by Haruko, a young nursing student, is chosen by the Japanese Ministry of Public Welfare to test the Z-001, a computerized hospital bed with robotic features that allegedly displays more efficiency and skills than any human nurse, but Haruko mistrusts a machine unable to consider human feelings.
Only Yesterday
Background Designer
It's 1982, and Taeko is 27 years old, unmarried, and has lived her whole life in Tokyo. She decides to visit her family in the countryside, where she begins to reconnect to forgotten longings. In lyrical switches between the present and the past, Taeko contemplates the arc of her life, and wonders if she has been true to the dreams of her childhood self.
Patlabor: The Movie
Background Designer
A mysterious suicide and a series of unmanned robot run-aways sparks off a Police investigation into the suspicious software on-board thousands of industrial robots around Tokyo.
My Neighbor Totoro
Background Designer
Two sisters move to the country with their father in order to be closer to their hospitalized mother, and discover the surrounding trees are inhabited by Totoros, magical spirits of the forest. When the youngest runs away from home, the older sister seeks help from the spirits to find her.
Royal Space Force - The Wings Of Honneamise
Background Designer
On a future Earth, war between the Kingdom of Honneamise and its rival, The Republic, is inevitable. As evolving technology creates new ways to wage war, a small group seeks to propel mankind into space in their world’s first spaceflight program. For astronaut candidate Shirotsugh Lhadatt, it’s a personal odyssey as he grows from an aimless young man into a leader willing to put everything on the line in order to move the human race forward and away from the brink of Armageddon.