The animation industry is mourning over the death of Japanese veteran animator Makiko Futaki, who died from an unidentified illness at Tokyo hospital on May 13 at the age of 57.
Futaki is the creator of almost all major animated films from Studio Ghibli, one of Japan’s most prestigious animation film studios.
Classic anime fantasy movies like ‘Nausicaä of the Valley of The Wind’ (1984), ‘Royal Space Force: The Wings Of Honnêamise’ (1987), ‘Akira’ (1988), and ‘Princess Mononoke’ (1997), are among Futaki’s masterpieces.
Furthermore, ‘Spirited Away,’ an award-winning movie, which is one of the highest grossing animated films worldwide, is also one of Futaki’s projects in collaboration with the Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter, and animator Hayao Miyazaki.
Futaki, born in 1957, started her career as an animator at the Private Animation Festival (PAF) under the cine-calligraphy films category.
She also worked as an in-between animator on an episode of the Japanese TV series Lupin the Third in 1979.
In 1981, Futaki began working with Studio Ghibli and stayed with the company for the next three decades.
‘When Marnie Was There’ (2014) is the last known film that Futaki worked on. It is likewise the last produced film from Studio Ghibli after the company announced that it will temporarily be closed down in August 2014 after the retirement of its co-founder Hayao Miyazaki.
