Yoshinori Kanada Dead at 57

Japanese animator resource site Anido reports that influential veteran animator Yoshinori Kanada died of a heart attack on the evening of July 21. He was 57. Kaneda was a prominent animator from the 1970s through the 1990s, especially well known for his mastery of animating action and fluid movement. Some of Kanada’s prominent work includes providing key animation on Studio Ghibli’s Laputa, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Porco Rosso, and Princess Mononoke; animating the opening credits sequences of Genesis Climber Mospeada, Ginga Senpu Braiger, Makyo Densetsu Acrobunch, and Fushigi Yuugi; serving as character designer, animation director, and main animator on the 1984 OVA Birth; and animating the opening anime sequence of Square Enix’s action game Musashiden II: Blade Master (seen below).

Yoshinori Kanada is credited with pioneering the “Kanda style” animation now used by animators including Hiroyuki Imaishi (FLCL, Gurren Lagann), Takeshi Koike (Dead Leaves, Samurai Champloo), Kenichi Shimizu (Roujin Z, Afro Samurai Resurrection), Shinya Hasegawa (Evangelion, Utena), and Masahito Yamashita (Ghost in the Shell 2, Spriggan).

Source: Anime News Network