This Wednesday, animator Yoshinori Kanada passed away after suffering a sudden heart attack. He was 57 years old. A “Superanimator” since the 1970s, Kanada left his mark on Square Enix as well.
After working at Toei, he moved on to become the Key Animator on a number of Studio Ghibli’s biggest titles: Kiki’s Delivery Service, My Neighbour Totoro, Porco Rosso, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and Princess Mononoke.
He later went on to work for Square Enix as a layout artist on movie Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within and also was an animation director for Final Fantasy XI and did story boards for Final Fantasy IV on the DS.
The Spirits Within was a commercial failure; however, it was the first photorealistic 3D animated feature film. Critic Roger Ebert called the film a “technical milestone”.
Kanda’s style was exciting and he always found new ways to thrill audiences — making him of the most influential animators of his generation. He will be missed
Kanada [AniPages Daily via Moon Chase]
APK
Thursday, July 23, 2009 at 1:53 PMR.I.P
You great Animator…
Blah2
Thursday, July 23, 2009 at 2:31 PMSpirits within was a great animated film, the terrible plot was not his fault.
Dunnowhathuh
Thursday, July 23, 2009 at 2:33 PMRIP.
FeralJim
Thursday, July 23, 2009 at 3:43 PMRest in peace Kanada-san.
Pete
Thursday, July 23, 2009 at 4:27 PMPrincess Mononoke is def in my top 10. Such an awesome movie.
legless
Thursday, July 23, 2009 at 4:54 PMRest in Peace
Aaron K
Thursday, July 23, 2009 at 5:00 PMR.I.P Kanada.
I remember seeing Princess Mononoke at the last day of school because my teacher was a fan and showed it.
He really had a unique animation style. =]
SCAT01
Thursday, July 23, 2009 at 11:43 PMI suspect that SPIRITS WITHIN has a cult following that actually like the film for what it stands for, etc
Princess Mononoke and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind are great movies and are in my top 10 of all time. The other movies and animations he worked on are good as well :)
RIP
Paul Hudson
Friday, July 24, 2009 at 12:48 AMNuuuuuuuu QQ
Jamie Norwood
Saturday, July 25, 2009 at 11:00 AMIt’s a sad day.
And I loved Spirit’s Within.