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Speed Racer, Gatchaman Writer Jinzo Toriumi Passes Away
posted on by Egan Loo
Jinzō Toriumi, a screenwriter who first began writing during the "revolutionary era" of Japanese television animation on Mach Go Go Go (Speed Racer), Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (Battle of the Planets/G-Force), and Yatterman, has died on Thursday. He was 78. He succumbed to liver cancer in a hospital in the Tokyo neighborhood of Shinjuku. He leaves behind his wife, Kazuyo.
Toriumi was born in 1929 in the northern Japanese prefecture of Hokkaido. After trying his hand at writing scripts for live-action films at Nikkatsu, he began writing animation scripts at Mushi Productions for Mighty Atom (Astro Boy) in 1964. He then devoted himself fulltime to television animation at Tatsunoko Production in 1965. There, he contributed to Casshern, Tekkaman, and Time Bokan. He later began writing for such Sunrise works as Armored Trooper Votoms, Yoroiden Samurai Trooper (Ronin Warriors), and Mister Ajikko. He also wrote the novel versions of Gatchaman, Shin Heiyōden, and Dororo, as well as the Anime Scenario Nyūmon (The Introduction to Anime Scriptwriting).
He used the Anime Scenario Nyūmon book when he became a vocational school teacher for future generations of scriptwriters. He also chaired Ohtori Koubou, a support organization for scriptwriters. He received the (Scenario) Scriptwriting Award from the Japan Writers Guild on May 26, 2000.
Source: Mainichi Shimbun, animeanime.jp
Thank you to enjin2000 for the news tip.
