Isao Takahata
Encyclopedia
is a Japanese anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

 filmmaker that have earned critical international acclaim for his work as a director. Takahata is co-founder of Studio Ghibli
Studio Ghibli
is a Japanese animation and film studio founded in June 1985. The company's logo features the character Totoro from Hayao Miyazaki's film My Neighbor Totoro...

 with long-time collaborative partner Hayao Miyazaki
Hayao Miyazaki
is a Japanese manga artist and prominent film director and animator of many popular anime feature films. Through a career that has spanned nearly fifty years, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a maker of animated feature films and, along with Isao Takahata, co-founded Studio Ghibli,...

. He has directed films such as the war-themed Grave of the Fireflies
Grave of the Fireflies
is a 1988 Japanese animated war tragedy film written and directed by Isao Takahata. This is the first film produced by Shinchosha, who hired Studio Ghibli to do the animation production work...

, the romantic-drama Only Yesterday, the ecological-adventure Pom Poko
Pom Poko
is a 1994 Japanese animated film, the eighth written and directed by Isao Takahata and animated by Studio Ghibli.Consistent with Japanese folklore, the tanuki are portrayed as a highly sociable, mischievous species, able to use "illusion science" to transform into almost anything, but too...

 and the comedy My Neighbors the Yamadas
My Neighbors the Yamadas
is an anime film directed by Isao Takahata and released by Studio Ghibli on July 17, 1999. The movie is a family comedy that is presented in a comic strip style which is unusual since all the other Studio Ghibli movies are presented in the traditional anime style of Studio Ghibli...

. Of these Grave of the Fireflies is considered by film critic Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...

 one of the greatest war films ever made.Unlike most anime directors, Takahata doesn't draw and never worked as an animator before becoming a full fledged director.

According to Hayao Miyazaki, "Music and study are his hobbies". He was born in the same town as fellow director Kon Ichikawa
Kon Ichikawa
was a Japanese film director.-Early life and career:Ichikawa was born in Ise, Mie Prefecture. In the 1930s Ichikawa attended a technical school in Osaka. Upon graduation, in 1933, he found a job with a local rental film studio, J.O. Studio, in their animation department...

, while Japanese film giant Yasujiro Ozu
Yasujiro Ozu
was a prominent Japanese film director and script writer. He is known for his distinctive technical style, developed during the silent era. Marriage and family, especially the relationships between the generations, are among the most persistent themes in his body of work...

 was raised by his father in nearby Matsusaka
Matsusaka, Mie
, sometimes called Matsuzaka, is a city located in central Mie Prefecture, on the island of Honshū, Japan. The city is famous for its beef.-Founding:...

.

Takahata graduated from the University of Tokyo
University of Tokyo
, abbreviated as , is a major research university located in Tokyo, Japan. The University has 10 faculties with a total of around 30,000 students, 2,100 of whom are foreign. Its five campuses are in Hongō, Komaba, Kashiwa, Shirokane and Nakano. It is considered to be the most prestigious university...

 French literature course in 1959.

Career

Takahata was originally intrigued by animation after having seen the French animated cartoon feature Le Roi et l'oiseau
Le Roi et l'oiseau
Le Roi et l'oiseau is a 1980 traditionally-animated feature film directed by Paul Grimault...

 (The King and the Mockingbird) based on the fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author, fairy tale writer, and poet noted for his children's stories. These include "The Steadfast Tin Soldier," "The Snow Queen," "The Little Mermaid," "Thumbelina," "The Little Match Girl," and "The Ugly Duckling."...

. He was impressed by the film, asking "Can these kind of things be done by animation?"

While he was job hunting at his university, Takahata was tempted to join Toei Animation
Toei Animation
Toei Animation Co., Ltd. is a Japanese animation studio owned by Toei Co., Ltd. The studio was founded in 1948 as Japan Animated Films . In 1956, Toei purchased the studio and it was reincorporated under its current name...

 by a friend who knew the company wanted an assistant director. For fun he took the company's entrance examination as he had been originally interested in animation. When he was notified of the informal decision, he joined the company.

The reason he decided to join the company was his thought that "If it was animation, I can be something interesting, too." However, there were more than ten people joining the company that same year, two recruited by Toei Animation and the surplus workers sent by Toei head office
Head Office
Head Office is a 1985 American comedy film, produced by HBO Pictures in association with Silver Screen Partners. It stars Judge Reinhold, Eddie Albert, Lori-Nan Engler, Jane Seymour, Richard Masur, Michael O'Donoghue, Ron Frazier, Merritt Butrick and was directed and written by Ken...

. Because of the competition, he had a hard time achieving the status of director.

Takahata finally directed his first film after he was recommended for the spot by Yasuo Ōtsuka
Yasuo Otsuka
is a Japanese animator who worked with Toei Animation and Studio Ghibli.Prior to becoming an animator, Ōtsuka worked in the Kantō-Kōshin'etsu district drug enforcement office at the Ministry of Health and Welfare. As a member of the support staff , he was responsible for the seizure of drugs and...

, who was both his and Hayao Miyazaki's instructor. His directorial debut was Hols: Prince of the Sun
Hols: Prince of the Sun
, also known as The Little Norse Prince or Little Norse Prince Valiant, is an anime film released in 1968. It was director Isao Takahata's feature film début. Hayao Miyazaki, Yasuo Ōtsuka, Yoichi Kotabe, and Yasuji Mori, among others, worked as animators in this movie, providing many designs, story...

. Hols was a commercial failure. He was among the production team deemed responsible for the failure and was accordingly demoted. He also had difficulty making a new film as the remaining staff members who had not been demoted for Hols were working on a different Toei film.

In 1971, to make the animated feature Pippi Longstocking
Pippi Longstocking
Pippi Longstocking is a fictional character in a series of children's books by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren, and adapted into multiple films and television series...

, Takahata left Toei Animation with Yoichi Kotabe
Yoichi Kotabe
, is a Japanese manga artist and animator who has worked with Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki. He is a lecturer at Tokyo Designer Academy in their cartoon film course....

 and Hayao Miyazaki and transferred to "A Production" (present: Shin-Ei Animation
Shin-Ei Animation
is a Japanese animation company owned by TV Asahi Corporation. Founded in Tokyo in 1976, it is the successor to A Production, a previous animation venture by its founder, Daikichirō Kusube, who was previously an animator for Toei Animation...

), an animation studio founded by his former superior, . They travelled to Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 to acquire the animation rights and to hunt for locations, only to be turned away at the door by author Astrid Lindgren
Astrid Lindgren
Astrid Anna Emilia Lindgren , 14 November 1907 – 28 January 2002) was a Swedish author and screenwriter who is the world's 25th most translated author and has sold roughly 145 million copies worldwide...

. Though their plan was frustrated, Miyazaki found inspiration in the fortified town of Visby
Visby
-See also:* Battle of Visby* Gotland University College* List of governors of Gotland County-External links:* - Visby*...

 and would later set both Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

 and Visby as the stage of Kiki's Delivery Service
Kiki's Delivery Service
is a 1989 Japanese animated fantasy film produced, written, and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It was the fourth theatrically released Studio Ghibli film.The film won the Animage Anime Grand Prix prize in 1989...

.

In 1971, Takahata and Miyazaki requested to direct episodes seven and onward of the first Lupin III
Lupin III
, also known as Lupin the 3rd, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kazuhiko Kato under the pen name of Monkey Punch. The story follows the adventures of a gang of thieves led by Arsène Lupin III, the grandson of Arsène Lupin, the gentleman thief of Maurice Leblanc's series of...

 TV series anime, due to the low ratings and, for the time, exceptionally high levels of sex and violence in the initial episodes directed by Masaaki Osumi
Masaaki Osumi
is a Japanese director known for his work in television and movie animations.-Career:Ōsumi was born in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and graduated from School of Media Science at the Tokyo University of Technology. He got his start in the entertainment industry as the leader of a puppet theater in Kobe...

. Since the animation director was Yasuo Ōtsuka, an old acquaintance, they accepted the offer under the condition that "the names of the two people were not released, and direction was credited only to 'A production directors group.'" Unlike Miyazaki, he did not participate in the second series, though his directing in the original was well-received.

Later in 1971 Zuiyo Enterprise invited Takahata, Kotabe and Miyazaki to direct an animated series of the novel Heidi
Heidi
Heidi is a Swiss work of fiction, published in two parts as Heidi's years of learning and travel and Heidi makes use of what she has learned.It is a novel about the events in the life of a young girl in her grandfather's care, in the Swiss Alps...

 and all three took the offer. The result was Heidi, Girl of the Alps
Heidi, Girl of the Alps
is a 1974 anime series by Zuiyo Enterprises based on the Swiss novel "Heidi's Years of Wandering and Learning" by Johanna Spyri . It was directed by Isao Takahata and features Yoichi Kotabe , Hayao Miyazaki .Heidi is one of several World Masterpiece Theater titles produced around the "classical...

. Afterward, when the production section of Zuiyo was established as a subsidiary company of the animated cartoon production of Zuiyo Eizo (present: Nippon Animation
Nippon Animation
is a Japanese animation studio. The company is headquartered in Tokyo, with chief offices in the Ginza district of Chūō and production facilities in Tama City....

), they both joined the company. On the picture side, animators drew carefully the nature of Europe and a change of season, and the everyday life of people on location in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

. On the other hand, on the story side, Takahata made the animation version easy to accept by thinning a Christian element of the original besides the earnest Christian (especially, in the latter half).

In the case of 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother
3000 Leagues in Search of Mother
is an anime series directed by Isao Takahata and aired in 1976. It is loosely based on a small part of the novel Heart by Edmondo De Amicis, i.e...

, the summary of the story followed the original, but he created many episodes and original characters because the story was less than 100 pages. He expressed the protagonist Marco as a boy of independent spirit who did not flatter adults too much and adults as onew who committed the crime even if they were comparatively good men. He brought the world of this anime close to the reality or more by doing so. However, Kotabe and Miyazaki felt frustrated by his direction and did not feel pleasure even as they drew it, and they left Takahata.

In Anne of Green Gables
Anne of Green Gables (anime)
is an animated television series, part of Nippon Animation's World Masterpiece Theater. It was adapted from the novel Anne of Green Gables by Canadian writer Lucy Maud Montgomery. Produced by Nippon Animation in 1979, it was first broadcast on Fuji TV from January 7, 1979 to December 30, 1979...

, Takahata directed it along the original basically, but he was able to deepen an impression about Marilla and Anne by describing it as the para-parenthood which was heavier than the original.

In Jarinko Chie, じゃりん子チエ (meaning of Chie the Brat) in 1981, Yasuo Otsuka who belonged to Tokyo Movie Shinsha/Telecom Animation Film Co., Ltd. offered Miyazaki, a Telecom colleague, to make this comic an animated cartoon, but he refused. Therefore, Otsuka consulted Takahata, but he also expressed disapproval first. However, Takahata who had visited Osaka
Osaka
is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...

 (which was the stage for the story) felt that the world drawn in the comic was actually there. He took the request, left Nippon Animation, and moved to Telecom. This work, which paired Yasuo Otsuka and Yoichi Kotabe, was praised and settled for a TV animation series because it got a favorable reception, and Takahata became the chief director.

In 1982, Takahata was elected the director of Little Nemo
Little Nemo
Little Nemo is the main fictional character in a series of weekly comic strips by Winsor McCay that appeared in the New York Herald and William Randolph Hearst's New York American newspapers from October 15, 1905 – April 23, 1911 and April 30, 1911 – July 26, 1914; respectively.The...

 — the work that tried to be produced so that Telecom could move to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. With Miyazaki and Otsuka, who started at Telecom earlier, Takahata went to America, but the discord between in the Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

-U.S. difference in production technique, meant Takahata resigned and left Telecom. Miyazaki and others followed him. On the other hand, the cultural exchange was born between Japanese animator and seniors of Disney who had been cooperating in this project.

Afterward, Takahata was invited by Miyazaki to join his animation production company Studio Ghibli
Studio Ghibli
is a Japanese animation and film studio founded in June 1985. The company's logo features the character Totoro from Hayao Miyazaki's film My Neighbor Totoro...

 after the success of Miyazaki's Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. The first movie directed by Takahata for Ghibli was Grave of the Fireflies
Grave of the Fireflies
is a 1988 Japanese animated war tragedy film written and directed by Isao Takahata. This is the first film produced by Shinchosha, who hired Studio Ghibli to do the animation production work...

. It got good reviews in foreign countries partly because it was taken up by Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...

.

In Kiki's Delivery Service
Kiki's Delivery Service
is a 1989 Japanese animated fantasy film produced, written, and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It was the fourth theatrically released Studio Ghibli film.The film won the Animage Anime Grand Prix prize in 1989...

, Takahata did the music direction for Miyazaki.

Takahata was awarded the Special Award at the Kobe Animation Awards on November 4, 2007.

In September 2011, Takahata confirmed a new project, however he stated that it is still in a conception stage, and may take at least two years until completion.

Influences and style

Takahata has been influenced by Italian neorealism
Italian neorealism
Italian neorealism is a style of film characterized by stories set amongst the poor and working class, filmed on location, frequently using nonprofessional actors...

, Jacques Prévert
Jacques Prévert
Jacques Prévert was a French poet and screenwriter. His poems became and remain very popular in the French-speaking world, particularly in schools. Some of the movies he wrote are extremely well regarded, with Les Enfants du Paradis considered one of the greatest films of all time.-Life and...

, and French New Wave
French New Wave
The New Wave was a blanket term coined by critics for a group of French filmmakers of the late 1950s and 1960s, influenced by Italian Neorealism and classical Hollywood cinema. Although never a formally organized movement, the New Wave filmmakers were linked by their self-conscious rejection of...

 films during the 1960s. The Bicycle Thief has been cited as specifically influencing 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother
3000 Leagues in Search of Mother
is an anime series directed by Isao Takahata and aired in 1976. It is loosely based on a small part of the novel Heart by Edmondo De Amicis, i.e...

. These influences make Takahata's work different from most animation, which focus on fantasy. His films, by contrast, are realistic with expressionistic overtones.

Neo-realism's influence on his film is evident in the amount of attention to detail he takes in displaying everyday mundane events. Entire episodes of his early TV shows were devoted to looking at events such as going to church every week, having a job cleaning out bottles, or detailing the work farmers do out in fields. All of these events are shown in meticulous detail and often form a major part of his work. With the exception of Horus: Prince of the Sun (a Disney-esque musical with darker and more political overtones), Pom Poko (an environmentalist film about magical tanuki
Tanuki
is the common Japanese name for the Japanese raccoon dog . They have been part of Japanese folklore since ancient times...

 trying to save their land), and Gauche the Cellist
Gauche the Cellist
is a short story by the Japanese author Kenji Miyazawa. It is about Gauche, a struggling small town cellist who is inspired by his interactions with anthropomorphized animals to gain insight into music. The story has been translated into English and Italian, and was adapted into a critically...

 (a film about a struggling cellist who is helped by talking forest animals), the majority of his works are dramas set in mostly realistic environments.

One of Takahatas' most praised films is Omohide Poro Poro (literally, 'Memories Like Falling Raindrops'). The film was released in 1991 in Japan to critical acclaim, and was re-titled as Only Yesterday for release to English-speaking audiences. A film aimed squarely at an adult audience, Omohide Poro Poro revolves around Taeko, a single woman working a desk job in Tokyo, who takes her annual vacation in the countryside with the family of her brother-in-law to work as a farmhand. During her holiday, Taeko finds herself looking back nostalgically at her youth as a schoolgirl growing up in 1966, while simultaneously attempting to resolve her current issues with love and career.

The expressionistic influences in Takahata's work are usually marked by scenes where a character's imagination comes to life on screen. For instance, in Omohide Poro Poro, after Taeko encounters her first love she, defying gravity, runs up into and floats through the red-colored sky. The scene ends with her slowly gliding into bed and then cuts to an outside shot of her house where a giant heart emerges from her window. These expressionistic sequences run counter to Takahata's realistic storyline and animation, but are consciously used by the director to transition back and forth from realism to the unreal world of animated fantasy, thereby further enhancing the character. These scenes can be found to some degree in all of Takahata's work, beginning with the "forest of delusion" sequence in Horus: Prince of the Sun.

Takahata's films have had a major influence on Hayao Miyazaki
Hayao Miyazaki
is a Japanese manga artist and prominent film director and animator of many popular anime feature films. Through a career that has spanned nearly fifty years, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a maker of animated feature films and, along with Isao Takahata, co-founded Studio Ghibli,...

, prompting animator Yasuo Ōtsuka
Yasuo Otsuka
is a Japanese animator who worked with Toei Animation and Studio Ghibli.Prior to becoming an animator, Ōtsuka worked in the Kantō-Kōshin'etsu district drug enforcement office at the Ministry of Health and Welfare. As a member of the support staff , he was responsible for the seizure of drugs and...

 to say that Miyazaki gets his sense of social responsibility from Takahata and that without Takahata, Miyazaki would probably just be interested in comic book stuff.

As with Miyazaki, Takahata and Michel Ocelot
Michel Ocelot
Michel Ocelot is a French writer, character designer, storyboard artist and director of animated films and television programs and a former president of the International Animated Film Association...

 are great admirers of each other's work. Ocelot names Takahata's Grave of the Fireflies and Pom Poko among his favourite films, while Takahata has used Ocelot's Kirikou and the Sorceress
Kirikou and the Sorceress
Kirikou and the Sorceress is a 1998 Franco-Belgian animated film written and directed by Michel Ocelot. Drawn directly from West African folk tales, it tells of how a newborn boy saves his village by ridding them of the evil witch Karaba...

 as a key example of objectivity
Objectivity (science)
Objectivity in science is a value that informs how science is practiced and how scientific truths are created. It is the idea that scientists, in attempting to uncover truths about the natural world, must aspire to eliminate personal biases, a priori commitments, emotional involvement, etc...

 used to a positive effect, as well as adapting and directing the Japanese dubs
Dubbing (filmmaking)
Dubbing is the post-production process of recording and replacing voices on a motion picture or television soundtrack subsequent to the original shooting. The term most commonly refers to the substitution of the voices of the actors shown on the screen by those of different performers, who may be...

 of his films.

TV

  • 1963-65: Ken the Wolf Boy (Ōkamishōnen Ken) - adviser, director of several episodes (episode 6,14,19,24,32,38,45,51,58,66,72,80) (only the 6th episode is "「山下勲」Isao Yamashita" name), storyboard
  • 1965: Hustle Punch (Hassuru Panchi) - director of opening theme
  • 1969-70: Secret Little Akko (Himitsu no Akko-chan
    Himitsu no Akko-chan
    is a pioneering magical girl manga and anime that ran in Japan during the 1960s.The manga was drawn and written by Fujio Akatsuka, and was published in Ribon from 1962 to 1965. It predates the Mahōtsukai Sunny manga, printed in 1966...

    ) - assistant director
    • based on the comics for girls by Fujio Akatsuka
      Fujio Akatsuka
      was a pioneer Japanese artist of comical manga known as the Gag Manga King. His name at birth is 赤塚 藤雄, whose Japanese pronunciation is the same as 赤塚 不二夫....

  • 1968-69: Kitarō of GeGeGe (GeGeGe no Kitaro) - storyboard / director (episode 62)
    • based on the horror comics by Shigeru Mizuki
      Shigeru Mizuki
      is a Japanese manga author, most known for his Japanese horror manga GeGeGe no Kitaro . A specialist in stories of yōkai, he is considered a master of the genre...

  • 1969-70: A-tarō the Workaholic (Mōretsu Atarō
    Mōretsu Atarō
    ' is a gag manga by Fujio Akatsuka. It was serialized from 1967 to 1970 in Weekly Shōnen Sunday. Two anime adaptations were produced for TV Asahi ....

    ) - storyboard / director (episode 10,14,36,44,51,59,71,77,90), director of opening theme (episode 70-90)
    • based on the comedy comics by Fujio Akatsuka
  • 1971-72: GeGeGe no Kitaro (the second series) / ゲゲゲの鬼太郎 (Gegege no Kitarō)
    • storyboard / director (episode 5), director of opening and ending theme
  • 1971-72 アパッチ野球軍 (Apatchi Yakyūgun) / Apache Baseball Team
    • based on the comics by original: "Kobako Hanato (花登筐)" / illustrating: "Sachio Umemoto (梅本さちお)"
    • storyboard / director (episode 2,12,17)
  • 1971 長靴下のピッピ 世界一強い女の子 (Nagakutsushita no Pippi/sekai-ichi tsuyoi on-na-no-ko) / Pippi Longstocking
    Pippi Longstocking
    Pippi Longstocking is a fictional character in a series of children's books by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren, and adapted into multiple films and television series...

    , the Strongest Girl in the World(temporary title)
    • chief director (a plan), however, since acquisition of the right to make anime went wrong, this project shifted to the movie “Panda! Go, Panda!”.
  • 1971 Lupin III
    Lupin III
    , also known as Lupin the 3rd, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kazuhiko Kato under the pen name of Monkey Punch. The story follows the adventures of a gang of thieves led by Arsène Lupin III, the grandson of Arsène Lupin, the gentleman thief of Maurice Leblanc's series of...

     (ルパン三世, Rupan Sansei)
    • based on the comics by Monkey Punch
      Monkey Punch
      Monkey Punch is the pen name of Japanese manga artist Kazuhiko Katō , creator of the successful Japanese manga series Lupin III...

       (モンキー・パンチ)
    • correction of direction (Episode 4-12, there is an episode largely changed, and is an episode that was hardly changed) / director (episode 13-23, direct jointly with Hayao Miyazaki by "A production" name)
  • 1972-73 赤胴鈴之助 (Akadō Suzunosuke) / Red-cuirass
    Cuirass
    A cuirass is a piece of armour, formed of a single or multiple pieces of metal or other rigid material, which covers the front of the torso...

     Suzu-no-suke
    • based on the jidaigeki
      Jidaigeki
      is a genre of film, television, and theatre in Japan. The name means "period drama" and is usually the Edo period of Japanese history, from 1603 to 1868. Some, however, are set much earlier—Portrait of Hell, for example, is set during the late Heian period—and the early Meiji era is also a popular...

       comics featuring sword fighting by Eiichi Fukui (福井英一) and Thunayoshi Takeuchi (武内つなよし)
    • acting chief director
  • 1973-74 荒野の少年イサム (Kouya no Shounen Isamu) / Isamu, Boy in the wilderness
    • based on the Western
      Western (genre)
      The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...

       comics by original: "Soji Yamakawa (山川惣治)" / illustrating: "Noboru Kawasaki
      Noboru Kawasaki
      is a Japanese manga artist. He is most famous for drawing the series Star of the Giants. He won the 14th Shogakukan Manga Award in 1969 for Animal 1 and Inakappe Taishō and the 2nd Kodansha Manga Award for shōnen in 1978 for Football Hawk....

       (川崎のぼる)"
    • storyboard (episode 15,18), director (episode 15)
  • 1974 Heidi, Girl of the Alps
    Heidi, Girl of the Alps
    is a 1974 anime series by Zuiyo Enterprises based on the Swiss novel "Heidi's Years of Wandering and Learning" by Johanna Spyri . It was directed by Isao Takahata and features Yoichi Kotabe , Hayao Miyazaki .Heidi is one of several World Masterpiece Theater titles produced around the "classical...

     / (アルプスの少女ハイジ, Arupusu no Shōjo Haiji)
    • based on the novel of Johanna Spyri
      Johanna Spyri
      Johanna Spyri was an author of children's stories, and is best known for her book Heidi. Born Johanna Louise Heusser in the rural area of Hirzel, Switzerland, as a child she spent several summers in the area around Chur in Graubünden, the setting she later would use in her novels.-Biography:In...

    • chief director / storyboard (episode 1-3)
  • 1975 A Dog of Flanders
    A Dog of Flanders
    A Dog of Flanders is an 1872 novel by English author Marie Louise de la Ramée published with her pseudonym "Ouida". It is about a Flemish boy named Nello and his dog Patrasche....

     / (フランダースの犬, Furandaasu no Inu)
    • based on the novel of Ouida
      Ouida
      Ouida was the pseudonym of the English novelist Maria Louise Ramé .-Biography:...

    • storyboard (episode 15)
  • 1976 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother
    3000 Leagues in Search of Mother
    is an anime series directed by Isao Takahata and aired in 1976. It is loosely based on a small part of the novel Heart by Edmondo De Amicis, i.e...

     / (母をたずねて三千里, Haha wo Tazunete Sanzen-ri)
    • based on one episode in the novel Cuore by Edmondo De Amicis
      Edmondo De Amicis
      Edmondo De Amicis was an Italian novelist, journalist, poet and short-story writer. His best-known book is the children's novel Heart.-Early career:...

    • chief director, storyboard (episode 1,2,4,5,7)
  • 1977 アルプスの音楽少女 ネッティのふしぎな物語, (Arupusu no Ongaku Shoujo Netti no Fushigi na Monogatari) / The Wonderful Story of Nettie, Musical Girl of the Alps
    • TV Special; storyboard and director, animated sequences only
  • 1977 シートン動物記 くまの子ジャッキー, (Shiiton Doubutsuki Kuma no Ko Jakkii) / Seton Animal Chronicles: Jacky the Bear Cub
    • based on Ernest Thompson Seton
      Ernest Thompson Seton
      Ernest Thompson Seton was a Scots-Canadian who became a noted author, wildlife artist, founder of the Woodcraft Indians, and one of the founding pioneers of the Boy Scouts of America . Seton also influenced Lord Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting...

      ’s works
    • storyboard (episode 5,8)
  • 1978 ペリーヌ物語, Perrine Monogatari
    Perrine Monogatari
    is a Japanese anime series by Nippon Animation.Based on the French novel, En Famille by Hector Malot, Perrine is the daughter of a French father and a half-Indian mother. Before dying, her father asks his wife and Perrine to return to their hometown...

     (Periinu Monogatari) / Perrine Story
    • based on the French
      France
      The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

       novel, En Famille (meaning is “In Family”) by Hector Malot
      Hector Malot
      Hector Malot was a French writer born in La Bouille, Seine-Maritime. He studied law in Rouen and Paris, but eventually literature became his passion. He worked as a dramatic critic for Lloyd Francais and as a literary critic for L'Opinion Nationale.His first book, published in 1859, was Les...

    • storyboard (episode 3,6)
  • 1978 Future Boy Conan
    Future Boy Conan
    is an anime series, which premiered across Japan on the NHK network between April 4 and October 31, 1978 on the Tuesday 19:30-20:00 timeslot. The official English title used by Nippon Animation is Conan, The Boy in Future....

     (未来少年コナン, Mirai Shōnen Konan)
    • based on post-apocalyptic science fiction
      Science fiction
      Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

       novel "The Incredible Tide
      The Incredible Tide
      The Incredible Tide is a post-apocalyptic science fiction novel written by Alexander Key, published in 1970. It was the inspiration for the Japanese animated television series Future Boy Conan, directed by Hayao Miyazaki.-Overview:...

      " written by Alexander Key
      Alexander Key
      Alexander Hill Key was an American science fiction writer, most of whose books were aimed at a juvenile audience. He became a nationally known illustrator before he became an author...

    • storyboard (episode 7,13,20) / storyboard and director (episode 9, 10 with Hayao Miyazaki)
  • 1979 Anne of Green Gables
    Anne of Green Gables (anime)
    is an animated television series, part of Nippon Animation's World Masterpiece Theater. It was adapted from the novel Anne of Green Gables by Canadian writer Lucy Maud Montgomery. Produced by Nippon Animation in 1979, it was first broadcast on Fuji TV from January 7, 1979 to December 30, 1979...

    , (赤毛のアン, Akage no An) / Anne of red hair
    • based on the novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery
      Lucy Maud Montgomery
      Lucy Maud Montgomery OBE , called "Maud" by family and friends and publicly known as L.M. Montgomery, was a Canadian author best known for a series of novels beginning with Anne of Green Gables, published in 1908. Anne of Green Gables was an immediate success...

    • chief director, scriptwriter (episode 1-4,6,8,10,12,13,17,18,20,23,25-44,47-50/ 36 in total), storyboard (episode 1-4,29)
  • 1981-83 じゃりん子チエ (Jarinko Chie) (Chie the Brat
    Chie the Brat
    is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Etsumi Haruki. It was serialized by Futabasha in Manga Action between 1978 and 1997 and collected in 67 bound volumes, making it the 26th longest manga released...

    )
    • based on the downtown humanity comics by Etsumi Haruki はるき悦巳 (circulation is 30 million)
    • Chief director, storyboard and director (episode 2・6・11 stories,「武元哲」"Tetsu Takemoto" name 〔originates in the name of father of Chie〕), and original bill for composition of opening theme

Movies

  • 1961 The Littlest Warrior (安寿と厨子王丸, Anju to Zushiōmaru)/ Anju and Zushiōmaru, the original is "山椒大夫 Sansho Dayu" of Ougai Mori (森鴎外).
    • assistant director
  • 1962 たのしい文明史 鉄ものがたり (Tanoshii Bunmeishi Tetsu Monogatari) / Interesting history of civilization, Story of Iron
    • assistant director, script supervisor
      Script supervisor
      A script supervisor is a member of a film crew responsible for maintaining the motion picture's internal continuity and for recording the production unit's daily progress in shooting the film's screenplay...

  • 1963 The Little Prince and the Eight-Headed Dragon (わんぱく王子の大蛇退治, Wanpaku Ōji no Orochi Taiji) / Big snake extermination of the naughty royal prince
    • assistant director
  • 1963 暗黒街最大の決闘 (Ankokugai Saidai no Kettō) / The Biggest Duel in the Underworld
    • live action, not an anime, temporary transfer
    • assistant director, film director is Umetsugu Inoue
      Umetsugu Inoue
      was a Japanese film director and scriptwriter. He directed 115 movies, wrote 101 screenplays, and is credited with the original story for five films...

       (井上梅次)
  • 1964/65 狼少年ケン (okami-shonen Ken) / Ken, the wolf-boy
    • Television series works (episode 14 and episode 72) were released the theater.
  • 1968 Hols: Prince of the Sun
    Hols: Prince of the Sun
    , also known as The Little Norse Prince or Little Norse Prince Valiant, is an anime film released in 1968. It was director Isao Takahata's feature film début. Hayao Miyazaki, Yasuo Ōtsuka, Yoichi Kotabe, and Yasuji Mori, among others, worked as animators in this movie, providing many designs, story...

     (太陽の王子 ホルスの大冒険, Taiyō no Ōji - Horusu no Daibouken) / The great adventure of Hols: Prince of the Sun
    • based on "'Sun of CHIKISANI" of the puppet play of Kazuo Fukazawa who used Ainu
      Ainu people
      The , also called Aynu, Aino , and in historical texts Ezo , are indigenous people or groups in Japan and Russia. Historically they spoke the Ainu language and related varieties and lived in Hokkaidō, the Kuril Islands, and much of Sakhalin...

      's tradition as the motif.
    • chief director
  • 1972 Panda! Go, Panda!
    Panda! Go, Panda!
    is a Japanese animated film, first released in 1972. It was written and created by Hayao Miyazaki and directed by Isao Takahata, predating Studio Ghibli...

     (パンダ・コパンダ, Panda Kopanda) / Panda and child panda
    • chief director
  • 1973 Panda! Go, Panda! Volume of Rainy Circus
    Panda! Go, Panda!
    is a Japanese animated film, first released in 1972. It was written and created by Hayao Miyazaki and directed by Isao Takahata, predating Studio Ghibli...

     (パンダ・コパンダ 雨降りサーカスの巻, Panda Kopanda Amefuri-Saakasu no Maki)
    • chief director
  • 1980 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother
    3000 Leagues in Search of Mother
    is an anime series directed by Isao Takahata and aired in 1976. It is loosely based on a small part of the novel Heart by Edmondo De Amicis, i.e...

     / (母をたずねて三千里, Haha wo Tazunete Sanzen-ri)
    • edited the TV series again for a movie. original run: July 19, 1980
    • supervisor
  • 1981 じゃりン子チエ (Jarinko Chie) / Chie the Brat
    • chief director / scriptwriter (with 城山昇, Noboru Shiroyama)
  • 1982 Gauche the Cellist
    Gauche the Cellist
    is a short story by the Japanese author Kenji Miyazawa. It is about Gauche, a struggling small town cellist who is inspired by his interactions with anthropomorphized animals to gain insight into music. The story has been translated into English and Italian, and was adapted into a critically...

     (セロ弾きのゴーシュ Sero-hiki no Gōshu)
    • based on the children's story of Kenji Miyazawa
      Kenji Miyazawa
      was a Japanese poet and author of children's literature in the early Shōwa period of Japan. He was also known as a devout Buddhist, vegetarian and social activist.-Early life:...

       (宮沢賢治)
    • chief director, scriptwriter
  • 1983 Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland
    Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland
    Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland, known in Japan as simply Nemo, is a 1989 animated film directed by Masami Hata and William T. Hurtz. Loosely based on the comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland by Winsor McCay, the film went through a lengthy development process with a number of screenwriters...

     / (NEMO/ニモ, Nimo)
    • based on the weekly comics of Winsor McCay
      Winsor McCay
      Winsor McCay was an American cartoonist and animator.A prolific artist, McCay's pioneering early animated films far outshone the work of his contemporaries, and set a standard followed by Walt Disney and others in later decades...

       in the United States
      United States
      The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

    • Japan side director (Fita on March 12, 1983) 
  • 1984 Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (風の谷のナウシカ, Kaze no Tani no Naushika)
    • producer
  • 1986 Castle in the Sky
    Castle in the Sky
    All compositions by Joe Hisaishi.#"The Girl Who Fell from the Sky" – 2:27#"Morning in Slag Ravine" – 3:04#"A Fun Brawl " – 4:27#"Memories of Gondoa" – 2:46#"Discouraged Pazu" – 1:46#"Robot Soldier " – 2:34...

     (天空の城ラピュタ, Tenkū no Shiro Rapyuta) / Laputa: Castle in the Sky
    • producer
  • 1987 柳川堀割物語 (Yanagawa Horiwari Monogatari) / The Story of Yanagawa's Canals
    • chief director, scriptwriter, documentary film of culture
  • 1988 Grave of the Fireflies
    Grave of the Fireflies
    is a 1988 Japanese animated war tragedy film written and directed by Isao Takahata. This is the first film produced by Shinchosha, who hired Studio Ghibli to do the animation production work...

     (火垂るの墓, Hotaru no Haka)
    • based on the novel of Akiyuki Nosaka
      Akiyuki Nosaka
      is a Japanese novelist, singer, lyricist, and former member of the House of Councillors. As a broadcasting writer he uses the name Yukio Aki and his alias as a chanson singer is Claude Nosaka.- Biography :...

       (野坂昭如)
    • chief director, scriptwriter
  • 1989 Kiki's Delivery Service
    Kiki's Delivery Service
    is a 1989 Japanese animated fantasy film produced, written, and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It was the fourth theatrically released Studio Ghibli film.The film won the Animage Anime Grand Prix prize in 1989...

     (魔女の宅急便, Majo no Takkyuubin) / Witch's Delivery Service
    • based on the Children's literature
      Children's literature
      Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...

       of Eiko Kadono
      Eiko Kadono
      is a Japanese author of children's literature, picture books, non-fiction and essays in Shōwa and Heisei period Japan.-Biography:Kadono was born in Tokyo, and attended the Nihon Fukushi University in Aichi prefecture, followed by a degree in English literature from Waseda University.After...

       (角野栄子)
    • music direction
  • 1990 赤毛のアン-グリーンゲイブルズへの道- (Akage no An – Guriin Geiburuzu eno Michi -) / Anne of red hair, Road to Green Gables
    • edited the TV series again for a movie. original run: September, 1990
    • direction / editing
  • 1991 Only Yesterday (おもひでぽろぽろ, Omohide Poro Poro) / Memory like rain (in drops)
    • chief director, scriptwriter, translated lyrics of the theme song
  • 1994 Pom Poko
    Pom Poko
    is a 1994 Japanese animated film, the eighth written and directed by Isao Takahata and animated by Studio Ghibli.Consistent with Japanese folklore, the tanuki are portrayed as a highly sociable, mischievous species, able to use "illusion science" to transform into almost anything, but too...

     (総天然色漫画映画 平成狸合戦ぽんぽこ, Sou- Tennensyoku Manga Eiga - Heisei Tanuki Gassen Pon Poko) / Total natural colour comic movie - Heisei era raccoon dog battle Pom Poko
    • original, chief director, scriptwriter
  • 1999 My Neighbors the Yamadas
    My Neighbors the Yamadas
    is an anime film directed by Isao Takahata and released by Studio Ghibli on July 17, 1999. The movie is a family comedy that is presented in a comic strip style which is unusual since all the other Studio Ghibli movies are presented in the traditional anime style of Studio Ghibli...

     (ホーホケキョ となりの山田くん, Hōhokekyo Tonari no Yamada-kun)
    • based on the caricature
      Caricature
      A caricature is a portrait that exaggerates or distorts the essence of a person or thing to create an easily identifiable visual likeness. In literature, a caricature is a description of a person using exaggeration of some characteristics and oversimplification of others.Caricatures can be...

       of Hisaichi Ishii (いしいひさいち)
    • chief director, scriptwriter
  • 2003 Winter Days
    Winter Days
    is a 2003 animated film, directed by Kihachirō Kawamoto. It is based on one of the renku in the 1684 collection of the same name by the 17th-century Japanese poet Bashō....

     (冬の日, Fuyu no Hi)
    • he participated in this movie with 35 animation creators in the world

Translator & director of Japanese dubs/subtitles for Ghibli Museum Library
Ghibli Museum Library
The is the collection of classic and non-Japanese animated films which have been dubbed or subtitled and released in Japan by Studio Ghibli, in collaboration with Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment and Cinema ANGELICA...

 films

  • Kirikou et la Sorcière
    Kirikou and the Sorceress
    Kirikou and the Sorceress is a 1998 Franco-Belgian animated film written and directed by Michel Ocelot. Drawn directly from West African folk tales, it tells of how a newborn boy saves his village by ridding them of the evil witch Karaba...

     (キリクと魔女 Kiriku to Majo)
  • Les Triplettes de Belleville
    Les Triplettes de Belleville
    The Triplets of Belleville is a 2003 animated comedy film written and directed by Sylvain Chomet. It was released as Belleville Rendez-vous in the United Kingdom...

     (ベルヴィル・ランデブー Beruviru Randebu)
  • Le Roi et l'oiseau
    Le Roi et l'oiseau
    Le Roi et l'oiseau is a 1980 traditionally-animated feature film directed by Paul Grimault...

     (王と鳥 Ō to Tori)
  • Moya Iyubov (春のめざめ Haru no Mezame)

Further reading

  • Odell, Colin, and Michelle Le Blanc. Studio Ghibli: The Films of Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. Harpenden, Hertfordshire, England: Kamera, 2009. . .

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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