Yanase Takashi, Creator of 'Anpanman', Passed Away at 94

by symbv
Oct 15, 2013 5:23 AM | 32 Comments

Yanase Takashi, creator of the "Anpanman" series, passed away due to heart failure at 03:08 on October 13th. He was 94.

Yanase was born on February 6, 1919 and after graduating from an industrial design course, he worked on many jobs including industrial copywriting, publishing columns for newspapers, writing movie reviews for magazines, writing for and hosting radio programs, working on marketing for a department store chain, writing screenplays for television, writing songs and lyrics, as well as writing children's literature. In 1973, he created the character Anpanman, a superhero with a head that looked like "anpan", a bun filled with red bean paste which is very popular in Japan. The illustrated stories of "Anpanman" were serialized in the monthly picture book "Kinderbook".

In 1988, "Anpanman" was adapted into a TV anime series named "Sore Ike! Anpanman". The show proved to be extremely popular with children and their parents and is still ongoing with more than 1,200 episodes aired (it holds the Guinness record for "the animation series with the most characters" with almost 1,800 characters). Moreover, every year a movie on "Anpanman" has been released, with 25 films to date. "Anpanman" is also a huge merchandise franchise, with sales in 2010 estimated to be 1.1 trillion Yen (sponsorship deals excluded). It has also been adapted into games on many platforms.

Yanase was awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure by the Japanese government in 1991. At the time of his death, he was the chairman of Nihon Mangaka Kyoukai (Japan Comic Artists' Association) and editor for the literature quarterly "Shi to Fantasy" (Poem and Fantasy).

Wikipedia page for Anpanman: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anpanman

Official Anpanman website: http://anpanman.jp/

Source: NHK, Yomiuri, Nikkei

20 of 32 Comments Recent Comments

symbv said:

kokoroanime said:
Anpanman will be the 4th series that will be continued after creator's death, right?

From the comments of the producer they have not yet made a decision of what to do with the show after the creator's death. Chances are it will continue given its high popularity but it is not guaranteed.

Or maybe it would be like Doraemon? 40 years passed since the author died but the show is still popular.

Oct 19, 2013 9:44 AM by seikipunch

kokoroanime said:
Anpanman will be the 4th series that will be continued after creator's death, right?

Oct 19, 2013 8:35 AM by symbv

Anpanman will be the 4th series that will be continued after creator's death, right?

Oct 18, 2013 3:05 PM by kokoroanime

Lived a long life. RIP. Wish I had more to say.

Oct 18, 2013 10:24 AM by MyNameSucks

That sucks. RIP.
Watched Anpanman when I was a kid. I loved it.
I love the Currypanman and Dokin-chan xD

Oct 16, 2013 12:10 AM by TragicGenocider

R.I.P.

Oct 15, 2013 9:50 PM by j0x

Rest in Peace sir...

Oct 15, 2013 9:42 PM by Hiryu12

Never heard of him until now, but RIP

Oct 15, 2013 4:33 PM by BiiteYouToDeath

May his soul rest in peace.

Oct 15, 2013 2:44 PM by LaOveja

When I was little I used to have an Anpanman squeaky toy but I never knew what it was... I had used to play with it for as long as I could remember, and I had it for so long that I didn't even remember when I got it. I'm happy that I finally managed to figure it out after a potential 18 years where I didn't. RIP, I didn't really know who you were or any of your works, but living until 94 is truly quite a feat, no doubt a fulfilling life was had.

Oct 15, 2013 2:37 PM by Minagatachi

MaceTheDon said:
RIP

Oct 15, 2013 2:00 PM by AL19

Anpanman was my first anime
Rest in peace

Oct 15, 2013 12:48 PM by TriZen

RIP i must say that for a human he lived a long life.

Oct 15, 2013 11:19 AM by Mr_Gutts

RIP =(

Oct 15, 2013 10:52 AM by FireHeart

He lived a long life. RIP :3

Oct 15, 2013 10:51 AM by minimiau

Ahhh Anpanman was one of my childhood favourites even with the awful dub i got here, loved it so much as a kid D: , didn't know it was still airing..dam..

R.I.P Thanks for a brighter childhood ^_^

Oct 15, 2013 10:46 AM by Aozure

Let's offer him a requiem

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDVsi7_m0dA

R.I.P

Oct 15, 2013 10:43 AM by seikipunch

R.I.P

Oct 15, 2013 10:23 AM by bakatengu

Vaya con dios, senior.

Oct 15, 2013 10:12 AM by Nasty001

Nooo : (
Anpanman was one of my childhood favorites.

Oct 15, 2013 10:00 AM by Chibi-Alice

See All Comments