Shinji Kimura is a Japanese animation art director, director, and illustrator, recognized as one of the country’s leading figures in animation美术指导. Born in 1962 in Saitama Prefecture, Kimura began his career at Kobayashi Production, where he studied under the influential art director Shichiro Kobayashi. His early work included background art for landmark films such as Akira and My Neighbor Totoro. He made his debut as an art director in 1986 with the anime Project Ako and has since worked extensively as a freelance artist.

As an original creator, Kimura is best known for his work on the short film Attack of Higashimachi Nichōme and the manga and anime project Hipira: The Little Vampire. Attack of Higashimachi Nichōme, also known as Attack of Higashimachi 2-chome, was released in 2007 as part of NHKs animation anthology series 15 Animators, also referred to as ANIKURI 15. For this short, Kimura served as director, writer, art director, character designer, and storyboard artist, demonstrating his range as a complete auteur on a small scale.

Hipira: The Little Vampire began as a manga style illustrated story book written by acclaimed manga artist Katsuhiro Otomo, with illustrations by Kimura. The book was published in Japan in September 2002. Kimuras artwork for Hipira was noted for blending creepy and cute visual elements, creating a distinctive supernatural comedy atmosphere. This original work was later adapted into a twelve episode anime television series, which aired on NHK BS-2 in December 2009. For the anime adaptation, Kimura stepped into the role of director, bringing his original visual conception for the characters and world to the screen.

Beyond these creator driven projects, Kimura has left a significant mark on the industry as an art director. His most acclaimed work in this capacity is the 2006 film Tekkonkinkreet, for which he spent approximately two years creating 129 setting design drawings. His approach to the films cityscape was to design the urban environment as a character in its own right, with colors and architectural details that serve the narrative directly. Kimuras artistic identity is characterized by a pursuit of emotional realism rather than strict photographic accuracy. He is known to deliberately ignore perspective and break details to create surreal, dreamlike backgrounds, a technique he refined under his mentor Shichiro Kobayashi. Kimura has also served as art director on major productions including Steamboy, The Boy and the Beast, Children of the Sea, Dorohedoro, and the 2024 series Kaiju No. 8. He is closely associated with the studio STUDIO4℃ and founded his own studio, Studio A10, following the bankruptcy of Kobayashi Production. His work is widely considered to represent the highest standard of Japanese animation art direction, influencing both domestic and international productions.