23 famous anime creators that have passed away

Starting an anime project and finishing it might take years or even decades. The anime’s scope might be quite broad and take a long time to complete. The artists that use this medium put their all into their work. Every time a fan picks up an anime, they can tell that it was truly a labour of love. Tragically, an anime may, on occasion, terminate abruptly owing to the death of its creator. Many talented anime producers perish away after retirement while still enjoying the light of their accomplishments. However, there are times when an anime creator passes away unexpectedly while they are still working on their most recent work. This frequently ends the anime abruptly and leaves it open-ended.

Osamu Tezuka

ABOUT TEZUKA OSAMU|TEZUKA OSAMU OFFICIAL

Osamu Tezuka was a Japanese animator, manga artist, and cartoonist. Born in Osaka Prefecture, his prolific output, pioneering techniques, and innovative genre redefinitions. It earned him titles such as “the God of Manga,” “the Father of Manga,” and “the Godfather of Manga.”

Kaoru Tada

Kaoru Tada · AniList

Tada made her debut as a high school student in 1977 in Shueisha’s “Deluxe Margaret” magazine. Tada’s stories are shojo manga, which features love stories centered on young female characters and their love interests. The plots contain comedic elements and are distinguished by essential and sharp drawings. Tada’s most well-known works include Ai Shite Knight, Itazura na Kiss, and Kimi no Na wa Debora. He is one of the 24 famous anime creators.

Yoshito Usui

Yoshito Usui - Wikipedia

In August 1990, his series Crayon Shin-chan debuted in Weekly Manga Action as a spin-off. It is a spin-off of the Darakuya Store Monogatari character Shinnosuke Nikaido. In 1992, an animated series based on the comics debuted. And a Crayon Shin-chan craze followed the release of a 1993 animated film. Usui’s Super Shufu Tsukimi-San comic strip appeared in the magazine Manga Life for a year beginning in 1995. He is one of the 24 famous anime creators.

Satoshi Kon

Satoshi Kon - Wikipedia

Satoshi Kon was a Japanese film director, animator, screenwriter, and manga artist from Sapporo, Hokkaido. He is also a member of the Japanese Animation Creators Association. His brother is guitarist Tsuyoshi Kon. He graduated from Musashino Art University’s Graphic Design department. He is best known for his critically acclaimed anime films Perfect Blue (1997), Millennium Actress (2001), Tokyo Godfathers (2003), and Paprika (2005). (2006). On August 24, 2010, he died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 46. He is one of the 24 famous anime creators.

Ken Ishikawa

Ken Ishikawa (Person) - Comic Vine

Ken Ishikawa (June 28, 1948 – November 15, 2006) was a Japanese manga artist. He is best known as the co-creator (along with Go Nagai) of the Getter Robo anime series. According to Nagai, Ishikawa was his closest friend and ally. He is one of the 24 famous anime creators.

Takeyuki Kanda

TAKAYUKI KANDA's biography

Takeyuki Kanda was a Sunrise anime director best known for his work on Vifam, The Ultraman anime, Kiko Senki Dragonar, and the first six episodes of Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team. In his works, he was also heavily influenced by Nicolas Roeg, Stanley Kubrick, and Steven Spielberg. He is one of the 24 famous anime creators.

Umanosuke Iida

He collaborated with Go Nagai (who said Iida reminded him of Totoro from My Neighbor Totoro) to create several Devilman OVAs. Devilman: The Birth was the final product, and it was followed by Devilman: The Demon Bird. Iida expressed interest in continuing the series once he felt he had secured the necessary funding, but his death from cancer in late 2010 prevented this from happening. However, in 2000, an OVA based on the Amon manga was released as a follow-up to the Iida films. Towa no Quon, his final series, was released in 2011 as a tribute to the late director. He is one of the 24 famous anime creators.

Shotaro Ishinomori

Shotaro Ishinomori - Wikipedia

Shotaro Ishinomori was a Japanese manga artist who established himself as a major figure in manga, anime, and tokusatsu by creating several hugely popular long-running series such as Cyborg 009, the Super Sentai series, and the Kamen Rider series. He won the Shogakukan Manga Awards twice. In 1968 Sabu to Ichi Torimono Hikae and again in 1988 for Hotel and Manga Nihon Keizai Nyumon. Shotaro Onodera was born in Tome, Miyagi, and was also known as Shotaro Ishimori until 1986. When he changed his surname to Ishinomori by adding the no character in katakana. He is one of the 24 famous anime creators.

Tomohiro Matsu

Tomohiro Matsu · AniList

Matsu, who was born in Fukuoka Prefecture, was best known as the author of the light novel series Mayoi Neko Overrun! and Listen to Me, Girls. I am your biological father! Both have been adapted into anime series. Hatena Illusion, his previous novel series, of which four volumes were published, remained unfinished. Matsu also worked on the anime series Queen’s Blade: The Exiled Virgin as a scriptwriter. Also as a story concept collaborator for Ixion Saga DT. He also participated in Comiket, serving on the event’s Comic Market Preparatory Committee, appearing in various talk events, and writing for Comiket’s 40th-anniversary book. He is one of the 24 famous anime creators.

Noboru Yamaguchi

Noboru Yamaguchi | Author | International Information Network Analysis | SPF

Noboru Yamaguchi was a Japanese author of light novels and game scenarios from Ibaraki Prefecture in Japan. He was well-known as the author of The Familiar of Zero light novels and Frontwing visual novels. Noboru was born on February 11, 1972, in Hitachi, Ibaraki. He received his diploma from Meiji University’s Department of Political Science Division II, School of Political Science and Economics. In July 2011, he revealed on the Media Factory website that he had advanced-stage cancer. Which had been discovered in February of that year and was untreatable at the time. This hampered his work on the final two volumes of Zero no Tsukaima. He is one of the 24 famous anime creators.

Takao Saito

Takao Saito - Wikipedia

Takao Saito was a Japanese manga artist who rejected the term in favor of calling his work gekiga. He was best known for his manga series Golgo 13, which has been serialized in Big Comic since 1968, making it the oldest manga still in print. Golgo 13 holds the Guinness World Record for “Most volumes published for a single manga series,” and it will continue to be serialized after Saito’s death from pancreatic cancer in September 2021, as per his wishes. During his 66-year career, Saito received several awards, including the Shogakukan Manga Award twice and the Medal with Purple Ribbon and Order of the Rising Sun from the Japanese government for his contributions to the arts. He is one of the 24 famous anime creators.

Kayaharuka-san

Japan's Most Popular Anime (That You Probably Aren't Watching)

Kayaharuka-san, the manga artist in charge of “The Misfit of Demon King Academy’s” manga, died on July 6, 2021. We are disappointed by this news because Kayaharuka-sensei has drawn charming illustrations with skill and passion. We in the editorial department are grateful for the illustration drawn by Kayaharuka-sensei and hope that sensei’s soul rests in peace.” He is one of the 24 famous anime creators.

Takashi Yanase 

Takashi Yanase — The Movie Database (TMDB)

Takashi Yanase was a Japanese writer, poet, illustrator, and lyricist who died on October 13, 2013. He was best known for creating the picture book and animated television series Anpanman. From May 2000 to 2012, Yanase was the chairman of the Japan Cartoonists Association. He is one of the 24 famous anime creators.

Cocoa Fujiwara

Cocoa Fujiwara - MyAnimeList.net

Cocoa Fujiwara was a Fukuoka Prefecture-born Japanese manga artist and illustrator. Her first work, Calling, was completed when she was only fifteen years old. She chose not to attend high school to draw manga. Fujiwara was a fan of RPGs like Final Fantasy, which is evident in her work. Jun Mochizuki and Yana Toboso were also close friends of hers. He is one of the 24 famous anime creators.

Daisuke Satou

Daisuke Satou · AniList

Daisuke Sat was a Japanese novelist, manga writer, and board game designer. He was best known for his alternate history novels Seito (Japan divided like Korea) and Red Sun Black Cross (Japan fights Germany), among others. He wrote the story for his manga Imperial Guards (which he co-created with illustrator Y It) and Highschool of the Dead (which he co-created with illustrator Shji Sat). In 2007, Imperial Guards was nominated for the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize, and in 2008, it was nominated for the first Manga Taish. He died of ischaemic heart disease on March 22, 2017. He is one of the 24 famous anime creators.

Matsuno

Yasumi Matsuno mente dietro FFVII lavora su un nuovo titolo

In 2016, he founded his own company, Algebra Factory, and was commissioned by Square Enix to create a scenario for Final Fantasy XIV’s expansion Stormblood (2017). He made a raid called “Return to Ivalice,” with Ivalice being a setting from previous Final Fantasy games he worked on. Matsuno was later asked to create another scenario, “Save the Queen: Blades of Gunnhildr,” which was included in Shadowbringers, another expansion for the game.

Fujio F. Fujiko

Fujiko Fujio - Wikipedia

Hiroshi Fujimoto and Motoo Abiko, two Japanese manga artists, formed the manga writing duo Fujiko Fujio. They formed their partnership in 1951 and used the Fujiko Fujio name from 1954 until the partnership was dissolved in 1987 due to Fujimoto’s illness. The duo was best known for their popular comedies such as Obake no Q-Tar, Ninja Hattori-Kun, Kaibutsu-Kun, and Doraemon, the main character of which is officially recognized as a modern Japanese cultural icon.

Kentaro Miura

Berserk' manga artist Kentaro Miura dies at 54 - The Mainichi

Kentaro Miura was a manga artist from Japan. He was best known for his acclaimed dark fantasy series Berserk, which he serialized from 1989 until his death. Berserk had sold over 50 million copies by 2021, making it one of the best-selling manga series of all time. Miura received the Award for Excellence at the 6th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prizes in 2002.

Mitsuteru Yokoyama

Mitsuteru Yokoyama - MyAnimeList.net

Mitsuteru Yokoyama was a Japanese manga artist who was born in the Suma Ward of Kobe City, Hygo Prefecture. His given name was originally spelled Mitsuteru, and it was pronounced the same way. Tetsujin 28-go, Giant Robo, Akakage, Babel II, Sally the Witch, Princess Comet, and adaptations of Chinese classics Water Margin and Romance of the Three Kingdoms are among his works.

Shigeru Mizuki

Shigeru Mizuki, Influential Japanese Cartoonist, Dies at 93 - The New York  Times

Shigeru Mizuki was a Japanese manga artist and historian best known for GeGeGe no Kitar. He was born in an Osaka hospital and raised in the Tottori city of Sakaiminato before moving to Chfu, Tokyo, where he died. His pen name, Mizuki, comes from when he ran an inn called ‘Mizuki Manor’ while drawing pictures for kamishibai. He is a specialist in Ykai stories and is regarded as a master of the genre. Mizuki was also a well-known historian, writing about world history, Japanese history, and his own World War II experiences.

Machiko Hasegawa

Machiko Hasegawa - Wikipedia

Machiko Hasegawa was a manga artist from Japan and one of the first female manga artists. Sazae-san, her comic strip, debuted in 1946. It was first published in the Asahi Shimbun in 1949 and ran daily until Hasegawa decided to retire in February 1974. All of her comics were published in digest format in Japan, and by the mid-1990s, Hasegawa’s estate had sold over 60 million copies in Japan alone.

Keiji Nakazawa

My Life: Interview with Keiji Nakazawa, Author of “Barefoot Gen,” Part 11 |  中国新聞ヒロシマ平和メディアセンター

Nakazawa was born on March 14, 1939, in Hiroshima’s Naka-Ku and was present when an atomic bomb destroyed the city in August 1945. Except for his mother and an infant sister, the majority of his family members who had not evacuated died as a result of the explosion after becoming trapped under the debris of their house (who died several weeks later whether from malnutrition or radiation from her mother afterward). Nakazawa moved to Tokyo in 1961 to work as a full-time cartoonist, producing short pieces for manga anthologies such as Shnen Gaho, Shnen King, and Bokura.

Osamu Kobayashi 

Osamu Kobayashi (illustrator) - Wikipedia

Osamu Kobayashi was a Japanese animator, illustrator, mechanical designer, and animation director best known for BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad and Paradise Kiss, as well as his guest appearances as director of episodes 4 and 15 of Gurren Lagann. He worked as a designer and manga artist after graduating from high school, but after he participated in Grandia, he was primarily active in the field of animation. He began his career directing avant-garde shorts and music videos for Studio 4°C and has since directed two TV series for Madhouse Studios. On April 17, 2021, he died of kidney cancer.

That’s all folks! These were the 24 famous anime creators that have passed away. If you know any more anime creators do mention them in the comment section below. We would love to hear from you!

Also, check out-> Top 18 Manga With Beast Girls

We will be happy to hear your thoughts

Leave a reply

Anime Rankers
Logo