Isao Takahata, renowned Japanese director, screenwriter, animator, producer and co-founder of Studio Ghibli, died on Thursday, due to lung cancer, according to Yahoo! Japan. He was 82.
After directing and doing the storyboards for a number of episodes in TV anime series like “Future Boy Conan” and “Anne of Green Gables”, he accepted Hayao Miyazaki's invitation to join Studio Ghibli. The first movie directed by Takahata for Ghibli was “Grave of the Fireflies” in 1988, while in 1989, Takahata went on to do the music direction for to “Kiki's Delivery Service”. His next projects for Ghibli include “Only yesterday” (1991), “Pom Poko” (1994), “My Neighbors the Yamadas” (1999), and “Winter Days” (2003). His last directorial work was “The Tale of Princess Kaguya in 2013, while he also served as artistic producer in Michael Dudok de Wit's “The Red Turtle“.
On November 4, 2007, Takahata was awarded the Special Award at the Kobe Animation Awards, while he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature for his last film. He was born in the same town as fellow director Kon Ichikawa, while Japanese film giant Yasujirō Ozu was raised by his father in nearby Matsusaka.
