Kōichi Mashimo was born in Tokyo, Japan and from his early years showed interest in photography, under the influence of his father.
[1] Some time after that,[ambiguous] he founded a small freelance studio called Mashimo Jimusho that was mainly producing in-between animation for larger companies.
The famous "girls with guns" trilogy (Noir, Madlax, El Cazador de la Bruja) have all featured female characters in lead roles.
One of his earlier films, The Weathering Continent, also featured a young woman who takes matters into her own hands to save her people.
[3][4] Mashimo once remarked that he would like to have met the photographers Richard Avedon, Jeanloup Sieff, and Helmut Newton and film directors John Ford and Alfred Hitchcock.