Anime Director Ishiguro Noboru

Noboru Ishiguro, the veteran director of such works as Space Battleship Yamato, the first color Astro Boy anime series (1980), The Super Dimension Fortress Macross, and Legend of the Galactic Heroes, has passed away. He was 73.

Ishiguro directed some of the most highly regarded anime classics of the last five decades.  In addition to those listed above, he directed  Megazone 23 (and wrote its story arc), The Super Dimension Century Orguss, The Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love? film, and Y?kai Ningen Bem. Ishiguro also founded Artland in 1978, the studio that co-produced Macross, Orguss and Galactic Heroes, and animated more recent titles such as Mushi-Shi, Demon King Daimao, and Katekyo Hitman Reborn!

Ishiguro most recently directed the 2008-2009 television anime series Tytania, which was based on a series of novels by Galactic Heroes author Yoshiki Tanaka, and Pattenrai!! – Minami no Shima no Mizu Monogatari, a 2009 film based on the life of Yoichi Hatta, the Japanese engineer that helped modernize Taiwan when it was a colony of Japan.

Ishiguro was scheduled to attend North Carolina’s Animazement convention on May 25-27. He attended past U.S. conventions such as several Anime Expo events, Anime Weekend Atlanta in 2007, and Otakon in 2009.

 Ishiguro passed away on Tuesday, March 20, at 5:45 p.m. in a Kawasaki City hospital. The Tokyo-born director leaves behind his wife Yumi.

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