News tagged as "Staff"

'Dragon Ball' Composer Shunsuke Kikuchi Dies at 89

Doraemon (1979) and Dragon Ball composer Shunsuke Kikuchi died of aspiration pneumonia on April 24. He was 89 years old. Kikuchi was born on November 1, 1931, in Hirosaki-shi, Aomori Prefecture. His prolific career composing music for film, television, and anime began with the film Hachininme no Teki (The Eighth Enemy) in 1961 and spanned nearly six decades. He was a recipient of the Japanese Academy Film Prize for "Excellence in Music" in 1983 for the films Yuukai Houdou (To Trap a Kidnapper)...

Apr 28, 7:38 PM by ImperfectBlue 40 Comments

Life Event Staff

'Beck', 'Paradise Kiss' Director Osamu Kobayashi Dies at 57

Director Osamu Kobayashi died on Saturday after a two-year battle with kidney cancer. He was 57 years old. Kobayashi's death was revealed through a post on his Twitter reading, "I left for heaven. I have been fighting kidney cancer for two years but unfortunately I am exhausted. I regret that there were still things that I would have liked to do and works that I would have liked to make. Surely I will be reborn again and produce great works. Adios from the eternal 23 year old." Kobayashi was bor...

Apr 18, 3:20 PM by Mako995 26 Comments

Life Event Staff

Animator Yasuo Ootsuka Dies at 89

Yasuo Ootsuka (right) with Hayao Miyazaki Animator Yasuo Ootsuka died on Monday, March 15. He was 89 years old. Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki revealed the news on the same day at the 2021 Tokyo Anime Award Festival. Ootsuka was born on July 11, 1931, in Shimane Prefecture, Japan, and joined Toei Animation in 1956. His early contributions included animation for Hakujaden (The Great White Snake) and Wanpaku Ouji no Orochi Taiji (Orochi, the Eight-Headed Dragon), the latter of which he coll...

Mar 16, 9:25 PM by ImperfectBlue 12 Comments

Life Event Staff

Animator Minako Shiba Dies

Studio Pierrot revealed on Tuesday that animator and character designer Minako Shiba has died. The studio did not disclose the date or cause of death. Shiba was born on February 15, 1971, in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. She was a fan of video games and aimed to work in the industry but turned to animation, joining J.C.Staff after graduating from Gakkou Houjin Chiyoda Gakuen's animation department. Shiba joined Studio C-Zoo alongside Yukiko Ban and Tatsuya Oka in 2009. Her credits in the anime ind...

Mar 16, 5:42 PM by ImperfectBlue 12 Comments

Life Event Staff

Animator Tatsufumi Itou Dies at 55

Animator and director Tatsufumi Itou's wife Mariko Itou announced on Twitter on Monday that her husband died of a brainstem hemorrhage. He was 55 years old when he died on May 23. Mrs. Itou wrestled with his death for some time, but said she is calm enough now to share the news. She signed off by thanking friends of the family and everyone who has supported them. Itou—formerly Tatsufumi Tamakawa—began his career as an animator and animation director in the late 1980s with Shounan Bakusouzoku. He...

Jul 1, 2020 3:36 PM by ImperfectBlue 13 Comments

Life Event Staff

Focus: Behind the Scenes of the New 'City Hunter' Movie

City Hunter began as a Weekly Shounen Jump manga series by Tsukasa Hojo in February 1985, where it ran for a total of 35 volumes until November 1991. Between 1987 to 1991, it was adapted to four TV anime series totaling 140 episodes and three animated films, all with director Kenji Kodama at the helm. The series was not only popular in Japan, but also abroad. In France, it was dubbed as Nicky Larson and a live-action movie, Nicky Larson et le Parfum de Cupidon, was released in February 2019. In...

Jan 17, 2020 4:47 AM by Kineta 2 Comments

Staff Interview

Voice Actress Aya Suzaki Marries Writer Takashi Ifukube

Voice actress Aya Suzaki and writer Takashi Ifukube announced on their Twitter accounts on Tuesday that they have gotten married. Suzaki is affiliated with I'm Enterprise. Some of her roles include Mako Mankanshoku from Kill la Kill, Tamako Kitashirakawa from Tamako Market, and Minami Nitta from The iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls. She also voiced herself in Suzakinishi The Animation, which adapted a radio program she recorded with fellow voice actress Asuka Nishi. Ifukube has penned scripts for ani...

Jan 1, 2020 10:11 AM by Sakana-san 9 Comments

Seiyuu Life Event Staff

Interview: 'Gibiate' Team's Yoshitaka Amano and Ryo Aoki at NYCC 2019

Artist Yoshitaka Amano's career began with a letter of acceptance sent to his home in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan when he was 15 years old. The animation studio Tatsunoko Production, famous for Mach GoGoGo and Space Ace at the time, wanted the teenage Amano working for them. A few weeks prior, Amano toured their studio with a friend while visiting Tokyo, bringing with him a collection of loose leaf illustrations he intended to hand over. He didn't see any harm in putting his name and work out th...

Nov 29, 2019 1:15 PM by ImperfectBlue 1 Comment

NYCC Staff Interview

Interview: 'Bean Bandit' OVA Team on Car Action, Natto-Flavored Candy, and More

Kenichi Sonoda, the veteran mangaka behind Riding Bean and Gunsmith Cats, announced in 2018 that he would be launching a Kickstarter project for a new anime OVA titled Bean Bandit. The project raised ¥23,343,872 (about $215,000 USD at campaign close), and completed Blu-rays are expected to ship some time this month. During Anime Central 2019, MyAnimeList had the opportunity to join a press conference with Kenichi Sonoda and two other members of the Bean Bandit team, composer Marco D'Ambrosio an...

Nov 12, 2019 10:50 AM by Congress 3 Comments

Anime Central Staff Interview

Interview: Studio Trigger Discusses 'Promare' Before North American Premiere

MyAnimeList had the opportunity to sit down with Promare Director Hiroyuki Imaishi (Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Kill la Kill), Producer, Creative Director Hiromi Wakabayashi, and designers Shigeto Koyama and Takashi "Super Log" Shibuya at Anime Expo 2019 to talk about the sci-fi film. Promare was released in Japanese theaters in May 2019 and premiered in North America at Anime Expo on July 5. The film will be screened in North American theaters by GKIDS, in both subtitled and dubbed English. Th...

Aug 27, 2019 9:30 AM by removed-user 11 Comments

Anime Expo Staff Interview

Interview: Kinema Citrus Staff Reflect on 'Made in Abyss'

From left to right: Kevin Penkin, Masayuki Kojima, Hiromitsu Iijima Following the success of its 2017 TV anime adaptation of the Made in Abyss manga, Kinema Citrus announced in early 2018 that it would be releasing two recap movies for the series, titled Made in Abyss Movie 1: Tabidachi no Yoake and Made in Abyss Movie 2: Hourou Suru Tasogare (Made in Abyss: Wandering Twilight), respectively. Members of the Kinema Citrus team were guests at this year's Anime Central to present a special screeni...

Aug 23, 2019 1:17 PM by Congress 5 Comments

Anime Central Staff Interview

Interview: Wit Studio's George Wada and Staff of 2020 TV Anime 'Great Pretender'

From left to right: George Wada, Ryota Kosawa, Hiro Kaburagi, and Yoshiyuki Sadamoto In 2012, George Wada and Tetsuya Nakatake, producers at Production I.G, were named President and Director, respectively, of the newly formed Wit Studio, a subsidiary of IG Port. Wit Studio, which has worked on various anime projects, is most notable for producing the anime adaptation of the Shingeki no Kyojin manga series, as well as its original anime project Koutetsujou no Kabaneri. After Wit Studio premiered...

Aug 18, 2019 11:28 PM by Naruleach 9 Comments

Anime Expo Staff Interview

Police Release Names of 10 Victims in Kyoto Animation Fire

Kyoto Prefectural Police announced on Friday the names of ten victims in last month's apparent arson attack on the No. 1 Studio building of animation production company Kyoto Animation. The incident has killed 35 people in one of Japan's deadliest mass murders since World War II. Police have identified all of the victims using DNA analysis and are seeking approval from family members to release the remaining names. Yuka Kasama (22) A recent graduate of Osaka Seikei University, Kasama joined the...

Aug 3, 2019 10:50 PM by arsonal 33 Comments

Companies Life Event Staff

Interview: Atsushi Nakayama and Ryoma Ebata Talk 'Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken'

In a unique spin on the thriving isekai subgenre, Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken (That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime) tells the tale of a 37-year-old man who reincarnates as a slime after he dies. Aired over two cours beginning in October of 2018, the anime adaptation of the best-selling light novel currently holds a score of 8.21 on MyAnimeList. A second season was announced in March, with a planned air date in 2020. A number of Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken's anime staff were guests at...

Jul 30, 2019 11:26 PM by Congress 8 Comments

Anime Central Staff Interview

Interview: 'Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari' Team Talks Music and Direction

From left to right: Kevin Penkin, Takao Abo, Hiromitsu Iijima A year after the completion of its critically-acclaimed anime adaptation of Made in Abyss, Kinema Citrus released a new project in early 2019: Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari (The Rising of the Shield Hero). While not as highly-rated as Made in Abyss, Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari was the most-watched show of Winter 2019 on MyAnimeList, ranking in the top 200 most popular anime of all time despite the recent saturation of isekai ("other wo...

Jul 17, 2019 11:24 AM by Congress 8 Comments

Anime Central Staff Interview

Interview: 'Yakusoku no Neverland' Team Discuss Their Winter 2019 Success

Released in Winter 2019, studio CloverWorks' TV adaptation of the dark fantasy manga, Yakusoku no Neverland (The Promised Neverland), currently sits as MyAnimeList's 39th highest rated anime of all time. A second season is in production and is slated to air in 2020. Courtesy of Aniplex of America, MyAnimeList had the honor of joining a group interview at this year's Sakura-con with four members of The Promised Neverland's team: director Mamoru Kanbe, producers Shinobu Ono and Kenta Suzuki, and...

May 26, 2019 12:26 AM by Congress 26 Comments

Sakura-con Staff Interview

Interview: 'Code Geass' Production Team Discuss Latest Movie

From left to right: Eiji Nakada, Yuriko Chiba, Gorou Taniguchi, Koujirou Taniguchi After its first episode aired in October 2006, Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion went on to capture the hearts and minds of millions of fans around the world. Even now, over ten years after they finished airing, the two seasons of Code Geass's original saga rank as the 11th and 25th most popular anime on MyAnimeList, respectively. In late 2016, Sunrise announced that Code Geass would be getting four new movies...

Apr 27, 2019 9:16 PM by Congress 15 Comments

Sakura-con Staff Interview

Director Yutaka Yamamoto Files Debt to Ultra Super Pictures

On Monday, Mizonokuchi Law Office released a statement regarding director Yutaka Yamamoto's filing. According to Mizonokuchi, Yamamoto has no money to pay a debt of over one hundred million yen that Ultra Super Pictures requested. The reason the company requested this payment is unknown. Regarding the movie Hakubo, scheduled to premiere in Fukushima movie theaters on May 24, Yamamoto's lawyer explained that the debt does not affect it, though production may be delayed. Yamamoto will concentrate...

Mar 11, 2019 2:43 AM by tsubasalover 26 Comments

Life Event Staff More Info

Illustrator loundraw Establishes His Own Animation Studio

Illustrator loundraw announced on Friday that he has established his own animation studio called Flat Studio. loundraw has been active as an illustrator since his teens. He has been drawing book novel covers and manga art, including Kimi no Suizou wo Tabetai, which received an anime adaptation and where loundraw was involved as an original character designer. He was also involved in producing Kimi no Iru Basho, Tsuki ga Kirei, and an anime promotional video to Boku wa Robot-goshi no Kimi ni Koi...

Jan 11, 2019 7:06 PM by tsubasalover 22 Comments

Staff

Akira Miyazaki, Writer of World Masterpiece Theater Anime Titles, Dies at 84

Akira Miyazaki, the screenwriter who was responsible for writing half a dozen of Nippon Animation's World Masterpiece Theater anime titles in the 1970s and 1980s, died on Sunday from bile duct cancer. He was 84. Japanese news agency Jiji Press reported Miyazaki's death on Monday evening. Miyazaki, who grew up in Tokyo and began his career in the film industry in 1961 at the production company Shochiku, had no background in animation before writing for animation productions. Prior to the mid-1970...

Nov 26, 2018 4:09 PM by arsonal 7 Comments

Life Event Staff