News
Director: Key Animator Shojuro Yamauchi Passes Away
posted on by Egan Loo
Writer/director Akitarō Daichi reported on his Twitter account on Wednesday that key animator Shōjurō Yamauchi had passed away on Tuesday. The two creators had worked together on Prince Mackaroo (Ojarumaru). A fellow writer/director, Sakichi Sato, had reported on his Twitter account earlier on Wednesday that another "legendary anime director" had passed away in addition to Satoshi Kon.
Yamauchi worked on dozens of anime works as a key animator — the artist who draws the key frames for the other artists to model their frames in an animated sequence. His many works include Conan, the Boy in Future, Dagger of Kamui, Lupin III: The Legend of the Gold of Babylon, Lupin III: The Secret of Mamo. After Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro, he worked on several Studio Ghibli films including Isao Takahata's Grave of the Fireflies and Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away.
He also served as animation director on One Pound Gospel, Prince Mackaroo, Sherlock Hound, and Kiteretsu Daihyakka. As recently as last year, he was still drawing frames for Mainichi Kaa-san and Kawa no Hikari.
Thank you to Tadashi Sudo for the news tip.
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