Dead Leaves

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Hiroyuki Imaishi directs. Makoto Kogawa behind the camera. Daisuke Asakura scores. Junichi Uematsu cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in Japan, United States of America. Dialogue in Japanese.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Tight 52-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.
• 2Released 22 years ago.
• 3International production across 2 countries: Japan, United States of America.
• 4Directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi, shot by Makoto Kogawa. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 5Original score by Daisuke Asakura. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 6Editor Junichi Uematsu shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 7Kappei Yamaguchi and Takako Honda and Mitsuo Iwata carry the top of the cast.
• 8Marketing tagline: "Breaking out of prison was never this much… fun?".
• 9IMDB entry: tt0439533 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 10Classified under 10 themes, including "prison", "prisoner", "sexual humor", "slapstick comedy".

The technical file

Cinematography

Makoto Kogawa

Original score

Daisuke Asakura

Editing

Junichi Uematsu

Runtime

52 min · 0h 52m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Original language

JA

IMDB

Dead Leaves (2004) ↗

Also by

Hiroyuki Imaishi

• 
  New PANTY & STOCKING with GARTERBELT

  2025 · ★ 8.6
• 
  Medabots

  1999 · ★ 8.3
• 
  Gurren Lagann

  2007 · ★ 8.2
• 
  Kill la Kill

  2013 · ★ 8.2
• 
  Gurren Lagann the Movie: The Lights in the Sky Are Stars

  2009 · ★ 7.9
• 
  Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt

  2010 · ★ 7.7

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Dead Leaves trailer

  Trailer

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  Production I.G

  JP

• 

  Manga Entertainment

  US

Key crew

• Storyboard ArtistHiroyuki Imaishi
• Sound DirectorFusanobu Fujiyama
• Character DesignerHiroyuki Imaishi
• Art DirectionHiromasa Ogura
• Animation DirectorHiroyuki Imaishi
• Executive ProducerMitsuhisa Ishikawa
• ProducerKaoru Mfaume
• ProducerKatsuji Morishita
• Color DesignerIzumi Hirose
• EditorJunichi Uematsu
• Original StoryToonz Imai
• Storyboard ArtistKazunobu Fuseki
• Key AnimationYasunori Miyazawa
• Key AnimationTakeshi Koike
• Key AnimationYoh Yoshinari
• Key AnimationNobutoshi Ogura
• Key AnimationSushio
• Key AnimationShinji Suetomi
• Key AnimationYusuke Yoshigaki
• Key AnimationChikashi Kubota
• Key AnimationTomo Maruyama
• Key AnimationHiroyuki Imaishi
• Key AnimationIkuo Kuwana
• Key AnimationShin Itagaki

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• prison
• prisoner
• sexual humor
• slapstick comedy
• prison escape
• cloning
• robot
• criminal
• space prison
• anime

Release history · US

When it landed

• Physical2004-08-28· DVD

Also known as

International titles

• Deddo RibusuJP
• Negyvi Lapai: Kosminis KalėjimasLT
• Мёртвые листья: звёздная тюрягаRU
• Звездная тюрягаRU