holy cow

[davemerrill]

Movie producer Yoshinobu Nishizaki passed away in an accident on Sunday afternoon. He was 75. Nishizaki was best known as one of the co-creators of the "Space Battleship Yamato" anime series, along with Leiji Matsumoto (72).

At around 12:35pm on November 7, the Coast Guard received word that Nishizaki had fallen into the water from a ship named YAMATO (485 tons), while it was docked at Futami Harbor of Chichi-jima (part of the Bonin Islands). A rescue boat was able to retrieve him about 20 minutes later, but he died shortly after that.

YAMATO had docked at Futami Harbor the night before. On the morning of the accident, the ship had completed a trial voyage within the harbor. Nishizaki was wearing a wetsuit and was apparently preparing for a dive at the time that he fell from the ship. The Coast Guard is currently investigating for more details about the accident.

In addition to "Space Battleship Yamato," Nishizaki's works included the series "Wansa-kun," based on a character designed by Osamu Tezuka.

from http://www.tokyograph.com/news/id-6943

You know, in watching the YAMATO RESURRECTION movie, something told me that this would be his last movie. There's a lot of elements that seemed like they were in there because hey, he wants to see it in a movie and this might be his last movie, so get it in there, guys.

Still kind of stunned, after what he's been through you figure he was immortal.

Comments

[x-expat.livejournal.com]

:(

[(Anonymous)]

A friend of mine in Japan was pulling strings to get me an interview with him during my visit in December. This really really sucks.

He was also working on a director's cut of Resurrection. I hope he managed to finish it.

-Tim Eldred

[sobieniak.livejournal.com]

At least someone understands what he was trying to do there.

[(Anonymous)]

I never thought Odin was all that bad, just kind of an echo. Later I learned that it was conceived as a 12-hour miniseries and the plug was pulled after 2.5 hours were done. Therefore, it's only part of a story that didn't fully develop.

-Tim E.

[sobieniak.livejournal.com]

Times like this, it's a shame he didn't develop it out as a novel of sorts (or several). At least if he had bothered to write something we could dive deeper into the depths of Odin and all it's wonders!

[tohoscope.livejournal.com]

The first thing I thought when I read the headlines was, "Of course. Nishizaki couldn't just die of old age. He had to go out in a uniquely Nishizaki way."

Can anybody suggest a good Nishizaki biography?

[(Anonymous)]

There isn't one yet, but I've been translating interviews and essays of his for starblazers.com pretty regularly. I'm writing a tribute that will appear in the next update (Dec 2), and I'm participating in a podcast recording (today, 11/9) for Anime3000 that will be all about Nishizaki and Yamato. Keep an eye open for it.

-Tim E.