Born in Osaka in 1936, Kinoshita Renzo started his career making commercials before landing at Mainichi Broadcasting. He founded Peppe Productions in 1963 and worked on early TV anime like Big X and Qtaro the Ghost, then spent time at Mushi Production on Cleopatra: Queen of Sex. In 1970, he established Studio Lotus, which became the foundation for what would make him a major figure in global animation.

Kinoshita is best known for his festival-winning short films, especially Made in Japan (1972), which took the Grand Prix at the inaugural New York Animation Festival. His other celebrated works include Japonese (1977), a tongue-in-cheek take on Japanese culture, and Pikadon (1978), a sobering depiction of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. These shorts showcase what became his trademark style: thoughtful, socially conscious animation that reached international audiences during an era when few Japanese animators had that kind of visibility abroad.

His later work, often made with his wife Sayoko, increasingly reflected his pacifist and antinuclear beliefs, seen in pieces like Tobiwao is Taken Ill and his unfinished film about Okinawa. Beyond individual projects, Kinoshita shaped the field itself. He became vice president of ASIFA (The International Animated Film Association) and founded ASIFA-Japan in 1981. He and Sayoko were instrumental in establishing the Hiroshima Animation Festival in 1985, a lasting legacy born from years of dedication to the medium.

Kinoshita died on January 15, 1997. To many in the animation world, he and Sayoko embodied the spirit of independent filmmaking in Japan.