Takashi Yamazaki (山崎 貴, Yamazaki Takashi, born June 12, 1964) is a Japanese filmmaker, writer, and visual effects supervisor. Known for his blockbusters with advanced visual effects, he is considered a leading filmmaker in the Japanese film industry. He made his feature directorial debut with Juvenile (2000), with Megumi Hayashibara, Shingo Katori, Anne Suzuki, Yuya Endo, Kyôtaro Shimizu, Yuki, and Teruo Takeno. He followed that up with Returner (2002), with Takeshi Kaneshiro, Anne Suzuki, Goro Kishitani, and Kirin Kiki. His third film, Always: Sunset on Third Street (2005), with Hidetaka Yoshioka, Shinichi Tsutsumi, Koyuki, Maki Horikita, Kenta Suga, Kazuki Koshimizu, Tomokazu Miura, and Hiroko Yakushimaru; won twelve awards at the 29th Japanese Academy Awards.
Other notable films include Space Battleship Yamato (2010), with Takuya Kimura, Meisa Kuroki, Toshirō Yanagiba, Naoto Ogata, Hiroyuki Ikeuchi, Maiko, Shinichi Tsutsumi, Reiko Takashima, Isao Hashizume, Toshiyuki Nishida, and Tsutomu Yamazaki; The Eternal Zero (2013), with Junichi Okada, Haruma Miura, and Mao Inoue; Parasyte (2014), with Shota Sometani, Eri Fukatsu, Sadao Abe, Ai Hasimoto, and Masahiro Higashide; Fueled: The Man They Called Pirate (2016), with Junichi Okada, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Shōta Sometani, Ryohei Suzuki, Tōru Nomaguchi, Pierre Taki, Masaomi Kondō, Shinichi Tsutsumi, Haruka Ayase, Jun Kunimura, and Kaoru Kobayashi; and The Great War of Archimedes (2019), with Masaki Suda, Tasuku Emoto, Minami Hamabe, Shōfukutei Tsurube II, Jun Kunimura, Isao Hashizume, Min Tanaka, and Hiroshi Tachi.
He’s also directed or co-directed the animated films Friends: Naki on the Monster Island (2011), Stand by Me Doraemon (2014), Dragon Quest: Your Story (2019), Lupin III: The First (2019), and Stand by Me Doraemon 2 (2020).
Yamazaki gained even more worldwide acclaim directing Godzilla Minus One (2023), with Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Yuki Yamada, Munetaka Aoki, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Sakura Ando, and Kuranosuke Sasaki. He and his team became the first Japanese production crew ever to receive an Academy Award nomination for, and win, Best Visual Effects.
Each review will linked to the title below.
(*seen originally in theaters)
(**seen rereleased in theaters)
- Juvenile (2000)
- Returner (2002)
- Always: Sunset on Third Street (2005)
- Always: Sunset on Third Street 2 (2007)
- Ballad (2009)
- Space Battleship Yamato (2010)
- Friends: Naki on Monster Island (2011) – co-directed with Ryūichi Yagi
- Always: Sunset on Third Street 3 (2012)
- The Eternal Zero (2013)
- Stand by Me Doraemon (2014) – co-directed with Ryūichi Yagi
- Parasyte: Part 1 (2014)
- Parasyte: Part 2 (2015)
- Fueled: The Man They Called Pirate (2016)
- Destiny: The Tale of Kamakura (2017)
- The Great War of Archimedes (2019)
- Dragon Quest: Your Story (2019) – co-directed with Ryūichi Yagi & Makoto Hanafusa
- Lupin III: The First (2019)
- Stand by Me Doraemon 2 (2020) – co-directed with Ryūichi Yagi
- Ghost Book (2022)
- Godzilla Minus One (2023)*
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