Takeshi Koike

[Twitter](https://twitter.com/i/user/168586097) Koike aspired to become an animator after having seeing [Yoshinori Kanada](https://anilist.co/staff/106398/)'s work on [Galaxy Express 999](https://anilist.co/anime/1301/). During his third year of high school Koike came to Tokyo and quickly got a job at [Madhouse](https://anilist.co/studio/11/), and got thrown straight into [Yoshiaki Kawajiri](https://anilist.co/staff/100812/)'s projects. He made his debut as an in-betweener on [Phoenix: Karma Chapter](https://anilist.co/anime/2997/) and as a key animator on [Goku: Midnight Eye](https://anilist.co/anime/1879/). His first venture into directing was in year 2000, when he got to direct the opening of Party 7, a film directed by [Katsuhito Ishii](https://anilist.co/staff/102102/). Koike also acted as the character designer and animation director on the film, getting to fully display his influences from above-mentioned legendary animator Yoshinori Kanada as well as Mike Mignola, an American comic artist of Hellboy fame. Some time after this began the notoriously lengthy seven year production of [Redline](https://anilist.co/anime/6675/). The film was eventually released in August 2009. Despite the positive critical response, with particular praise for its animation, Redline didn't have a successful run at the box office. It did however see a much greater success after its home release and has since been recognized as a cult film.