Forum - View topicNEWS: Code Geass, GaoGaiGar Character Designer Takahiro Kimura Passes Away
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Kicksville
 Posts: 1260 |
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My favorite character designer and an immensely talented animator. What a loss...
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Wyvern
 Posts: 1604 |
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Oh no! He was possibly my favorite designer in the whole industry. His designs were so expressive, had a retro quality to them that hearkened all the way back to Tezuka but while still feeling cutting-edge and modern. Cartoony, but not so much that they couldn't be used for serious moments.
A great example of his range: Gaogaigar was an upbeat kid-friendly super robot show, Betterman was a dark horror series aimed at adults, but he used the same art style for both shows and made the aesthetic work brilliantly for both, despite their opposite tones! You can also see his versatility in Code Geass, where he managed to fuse his art style with that of CLAMP to create something truly unique. This is such a huge loss. With anime becoming more visually homogenized than ever these days, we need more designers with unique visions, and Kimura did that better than almost anyone else. His absence will be felt for a very long time. |
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Zhou-BR
Posts: 1463 |
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Damn, he was one of my favorites as well. Even when he was adapting other people's designs for animation, his style was always easily recognizable and incredibly appealing. May he rest in peace.
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theotheranimeman
Posts: 74 |
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He was amazing, there was something in his designs that made them instantly recognizable and just fun to look at.
Rest in peace |
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mrsatan
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 915 |
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I've been binging the new GaoGaiGar Blu-ray for several days now, so this hits me especially hard. I was just thinking about how fun and expressive these character designs are. I was a big fan of all the works he did with Yonetani, and I hope the rest of them get re-released on Blu-ray.
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JohnRhogan
Posts: 164 |
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I loved his character designs, from Godannar!! to Code Geass, where hea adapted Clamp's character designs to animation. He (among other character designers) had a giveaway style to which was recognizable. I hope the Hathaway movies will be to be finished. My condolences. He shall be missed, and always remembered in animation.
I toast my drink to Takahiro Kimura. |
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Silver Kirin
Posts: 1254 |
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I can't believe it, Kimura's designs were always very distinct, I know there are people who say that some of his characters had odd proportions, especially the women, but he had quite a stylized drawing style. I think his best work was designing the characters in GaoGaiGar, there was a large variety of character designs there, quite "cartoonish" in some aspects but very dynamic, something you don't see a lot nowadays.
I also feel that he never got enough credit for designing the characters for Code Geass, I know CLAMP designed the characters but Kimura was the one who polished their designs for the animation so the final designs share the drawing styles of both artists. I give my condolences to his family and hope he rests in peace. R.I.P |
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njprogfan
 Collector Extraordinaire Posts: 1233 Location: A River Named Toms |
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I'm a huge fan of his GUNxSword anime, so this is unfortunate news. Here's to all the anime he's showcasing up in the heavens, RIP!
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tintor2
 Posts: 2170 |
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RIP.
For some reason Kimura's designs reminded me of the second Yugioh anime when there is a heavy emphasis on the character's hands.
Now that you mention it I think Kimura is responsible for the strong sex appeal the cast has. Clamp tends to be more innocent with their designs but I remember there was even one occasion where a drawing of C.C was sold. Considering his other works, it seems legit. The thing I wonder if Kimura was also responsible for Kallen since most of her gags involved her losing her clothes. |
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Silver Kirin
Posts: 1254 |
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Oh yeah, I remember that C.C. drawing. Honestly, I'd like to know more about how CLAMP got involved in the character design for Code Geass, it's not like CLAMP haven't made a series with plenty of sex appeal before, there's Miyuki-chan in Wonderland which is a ecchi retelling of Alice in Wonderland, and there are some female characters in Magic Knight Rayearth that wouldn't look out of place in Geass in terms of fanservice appearence. Looking back at Kimura's designs for shows like Godannar, perhaps the Code Geass staff hired him especifically because of his talent at drawing sexy female characters. I think Kimura also worked in a H-Game called Viper. |
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TheSleepyMonkey
Posts: 960 |
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At least according to Wikipedia, which sites the first DVD volume as the source, CLAMP got involved because of Sunrise producer Yoshitaka Kawaguchi. |
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MFrontier
Posts: 14216 |
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We lost another legend, one who contributed to so many iconic series and designs.
RIP Kimura-san. |
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Silver Kirin
Posts: 1254 |
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I should look up some info regarding that, although I always imagined the decision to have CLAMP and Kimura designing the characters was to differentiate Code Geass from Goro Taniguchi's previous works like Infinite Ryvius and s-CRY-ed, whose character designs were done by Hisashi Hirai who also designed the characters for Gundam SEED and Fafner |
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Blazi
 Posts: 502 |
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Very distinct, and beautifully done character designs. A legend of the industry. Rest in peace.
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bagman
Posts: 111 |
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RIP kimura-san
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