News

Japan Foundation UK Will Hold Free Online Talk on Animator Yasuo Otsuka on November 25

The Japan Foundation will host an online talk on the animator Yasuo Ōtsuka on Tuesday November 25 from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. The talk is free but it must be booked at the above link. The talk will be given by Professor Seiji Kanoh, who is a scholar of Japanese film and animation, and the author of the Japanese books The Complete Works of Miyazaki Hayao and The People Who Built Japanese Animation: New Edition.

The talk is described as a discussion of the significance of Yasuo Ōtsuka's work and ethos, and the lasting impact he has had on anime fans and creators for generations to come.

Yasuo Ōtsuka, who died in 2021, was born in 1931 in Japan's Shimane prefecture. He joined Toei Dōga (now known as Toei Animation) in 1956 and worked on The White Snake and The Little Prince and the Eight-Headed Dragon. He served as animation director on future Ghibli co-founder Isao Takahata's classic anime film Horus - Prince of the Sun. Critics praised his fluid, lively animation work on these and other acclaimed titles.

Otsuka later transferred to the studio A Production (now known as Shinei Animation) and eventually to Telecom Animation Film. He was the animation director and character designer for the first Lupin III television anime series that set the framework for the long-running franchise. He also worked with one-time protégé and close friend Hayao Miyazaki as the animation director for Future Boy Conan, Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro (on which he was also a character designer), and other celebrated works.

In his later years, Otsuka helped foster future generations of animators as an instructor at Tokyo's Yoyogi Animation Academy. He received an Association's Special Award for lifetime achievement at the 42nd annual Japan Academy Prizes in 2019.