In Memoriam: Isao Takahata (1935 – 2018)

ISAO TAKAHATA

29 OCTOBER 1935 – 5 APRIL 2018

“Why do fireflies have to die so soon?” – Setsuko, Grave of the Fireflies.

Today, we mourn the loss and celebrate the life of Isao Takahata, Academy Award nominated director and co-founder of the beloved Studio Ghibli. He was 82 years old.

Born in Ujiyamada (now known as Ise) in the Mie prefecture of Japan, Takahata’s passion for animation was ignited by the 1952 French feature Le Roi et l’Oiseau (The King and the Mockingbird). Graduating from the University of Tokyo in 1959, a friend convinced the 24-year old Takahata to apply to Toei Animation, where he was accepted and made his directorial debut with The Great Adventure of Horus, Prince of the Sun (1968). Three years after it was deemed a commercial failure, Takahata left the company alongside Yōichi Kotabe and Hayao Miyazaki to embark on ventures including a Pippi Longstocking anime film that never came to fruition, and directing episodes of the now iconic Lupin the Third television series.

In 1971, the trio were hired by Zuiyo Enterprise to helm Heidi: Girl of the Alps, a now-iconic television anime still adored in Japan to this day. In 1985, Takahata, Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki founded Studio Ghibli. His first film for the studio, Grave of the Fireflies (1988) was released to critical acclaim with the late Roger Ebert calling it “one of the greatest war films ever made“. Over the next 25 years, Takahata would direct a further four films for Studio Ghibli: Only Yesterday (1991), Pom Poko (1994), My Neighbours the Yamadas (1999) and The Tale of Princess Kaguya (2013). The latter earned him an arguably long overdue Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature and most recently, he served as Artistic Producer on Studio Ghibli and Wild Bunch co-production The Red Turtle (2016, dir. Michaël Dudok de Wit), which also received an Academy Award nomination.

While many may recognise Studio Ghibli for the imaginative genius of Hayao Miyazaki, it is through his own merit that the beautiful, breathtaking humanity that Isao Takahata brought to his films will endure and continue to be celebrated now and forevermore. Isao Takahata, may you rest in peace.

Picture Credits: Den of Geek (Feature Image), StudioCanal (“The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness” and “Grave of the Fireflies”).