#RIP Isao Takahata

Today is a sad day indeed...

One of my all-time favorite animated films directors and animator, Isao Takahata, has passed away.

Isao Takahata was one of the co-founders of one of the best animation studios out there, Studio Ghibli. And as a director he was directly responsible for so many great influential films, such as Grave of the Fireflies.

He passed away today at the age of 82.
He began his career in animation back in 1959 when he joined Toei Animation. It was at Toei that he met legend Hayao Miyazaki, with whom he worked with for many years before founding Studio Ghibli.

At Studio Ghibli he has worked on many films, his credits include directing but also producing and writing their many films.

Most of his films are classics of mine, specially his groundbreaking film Grave of the Fireflies, but also Only Yesterday, Pom Poko, My Neighbors the Yamadas, and more recently The Tale of Princess Kaguya (which was nominated for an Academy Award, but didn’t end up winning  it against Big Hero 6...).

More recently there were talks of him working on one last feature film, but also a lot of health issues this past year, due to his heart condition....

Today is a sad day indeed... Please rewatch one of his classics this week, in his memory.

Source: Courtesy from kotaku.com.