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Anime Director, Manga Creator Yōji Kuri Dies

The official Facebook page and website for director Yōji Kuri announced on Sunday that he died of natural causes on November 24. He was 96. His family held a private wake and funeral service.

Kuri, whose real name was Hideo Kurihara, was known for his directorial work on whimsical, experinental animated shorts such as "Tragedy on the G-String," "Clap Vocalism," and "Imagination in the Trousers." He also worked on the animation for such shorts as "The Room", "Au Fou!," and "Winter Days." Kuri created the Gokiburi-chan picture book that inspired a 2005 animated TV series of the same name.

Inspired by newspaper manga artist Taizō Yokoyama, Kuri relocated to Tokyo against his family's initial wishes and began his career as a contractor artist for one-panel contemporary satire manga with Kyodo News. He won the 4th Bungei Shunjū Manga Award in 1958, and a special award at the Vancouver Animation Festival in 1963 for his work "Clap Vocalism." The Japanese government honored him with the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette in 2011. He won the grand prize for his work Crazy Manga at the Japan Cartoonists Association Awards in 2017.

He was also a founding member of the Animation Trio with Ryohei Yanagihara and Hiroshi Manabe. His art gallery Gallery K can be found in his home prefecture Fukui.

Sources: Yōji Kuri's Facebook page, Comic Natalie