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Natsume's Book of Friends Art Director Yukihiro Shibutani Dies at 63
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
Anime background artist, art director, and the GAKIproAstudio art studio's board director Yukihiro Shibutani died in a Tokyo hospital on September 15 due to a worsening chronic illness. He was 63. His close relatives held a private funeral.
GAKIproAstudio's parent company Y.A.P. Ishigaki Production notes that there are plans for a public memorial service for Shibutani, although more details have not been decided.
Shibutani worked as art director for the backgrounds of the Natsume's Book of Friends from the first season in 2008 to the ongoing seventh season, which just premiered earlier this month. The anime's official X (formerly Twitter) account and the X/Twitter account of the studio Shuka, which is producing the anime's seventh season, both posted about Shibutani's death.
Shibutani joined the Y.A.P. Ishigaki Production background art studio when he was 20, and has since been working on background art and directing the art for numerous anime since the early 1980s. Some of the many anime for which Shibutani has been art director include the Patlabor TV anime, the first 283 episodes of Detective Conan, the first 15 Detective Conan films (until 2015's Detective Conan: Sunflowers of Inferno), Key the Metal Idol, the Sakura Wars original video anime (OVA), Kamichu!, Big Windup!, Sasameki Koto, Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters and the film's two sequels, Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai, TONIKAWA: Over The Moon For You, To Your Eternity, The Yuzuki Family’s Four Sons, and An Archdemon's Dilemma - How to Love Your Elf Bride.
Sources: Y.A.P. Ishigaki Production website, Shuka's X/Twitter account, Natsume's Book of Friends anime X/Twitter account, Nikkan Sports (Livedoor News) via Otakomu
