Yamato Anime Producer Yoshinobu Nishizaki Passes Away (Update 2)
posted on 2010-11-07 10:18 EST
75-year-old fell from research boat Yamato on Sunday
The Coast Guard at the Ogasawara Islands report that Space Battleship Yamato producer Yoshinobu Nishizaki passed away due to a fall from a boat at around 12:45 p.m. on Sunday. He was 75.
Nishizaki was aboard the 485-ton research steamboat Yamato, which was anchored in Futami Harbor's Ogiura area at the Chichi-jima island in the Ogasawara Islands (Bonin Islands). After the Yamato sent out a distress call, the Coast Guard ship Southern Cross brought Nishizaki into its onboard hospital about 15 minutes later. He was pronounced dead about two hours and 15 minutes after the fall.
According to the Coast Guard announcement, Nishizaki was wearing a wetsuit to go swimming when he fell from the boat and drowned. The boat had nine people aboard and it was 250 meters (about 820 feet) from the shore so that several people aboard could go swimming.
Nishizaki, whose birth name was Hirofumi Nishizaki, established a company to [COLOR=#0000FF ! important][COLOR=#0000FF ! important]produce [COLOR=#0000FF ! important]music[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR] and visual works in 1972, and he then produced the Space Battleship Yamato television anime series in 1974. That space opera story launched a franchise that continued with several [COLOR=#0000FF ! important][COLOR=#0000FF ! important]television [COLOR=#0000FF ! important]series[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR] and a string of hit films.
Just last year, Nishizaki produced Space Battleship Yamato Resurrection (Uchuu Senkan Yamato Fukkatsu-hen), the first film in 26 years from the long-running franchise. Part of the reason for the franchise's long dormancy was that Nishizaki, co-creator Leiji Matsumoto, and film distributor Tohokushinsha Film Corporation all claimed the right to make new Yamato anime at one time or another in the last two decades.
Nishizaki is also credited as a creator on the live-action Space Battleship Yamato, which just had private screenings in Tokyo and California this past week and will open in Japan next month. Nishizaki also planned the Maeterlinck's Blue Bird and Uchu Kubo Blue Noah [COLOR=#0000FF ! important][COLOR=#0000FF ! important]television [COLOR=#0000FF ! important]series[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR], co-created Odin - Starlight Mutiny, and was a producer on Umi no Triton and Urotsukidoji.
posted on 2010-11-07 10:18 EST
75-year-old fell from research boat Yamato on Sunday
The Coast Guard at the Ogasawara Islands report that Space Battleship Yamato producer Yoshinobu Nishizaki passed away due to a fall from a boat at around 12:45 p.m. on Sunday. He was 75. Nishizaki was aboard the 485-ton research steamboat Yamato, which was anchored in Futami Harbor's Ogiura area at the Chichi-jima island in the Ogasawara Islands (Bonin Islands). After the Yamato sent out a distress call, the Coast Guard ship Southern Cross brought Nishizaki into its onboard hospital about 15 minutes later. He was pronounced dead about two hours and 15 minutes after the fall.
According to the Coast Guard announcement, Nishizaki was wearing a wetsuit to go swimming when he fell from the boat and drowned. The boat had nine people aboard and it was 250 meters (about 820 feet) from the shore so that several people aboard could go swimming.
Nishizaki, whose birth name was Hirofumi Nishizaki, established a company to [COLOR=#0000FF ! important][COLOR=#0000FF ! important]produce [COLOR=#0000FF ! important]music[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR] and visual works in 1972, and he then produced the Space Battleship Yamato television anime series in 1974. That space opera story launched a franchise that continued with several [COLOR=#0000FF ! important][COLOR=#0000FF ! important]television [COLOR=#0000FF ! important]series[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR] and a string of hit films.
Just last year, Nishizaki produced Space Battleship Yamato Resurrection (Uchuu Senkan Yamato Fukkatsu-hen), the first film in 26 years from the long-running franchise. Part of the reason for the franchise's long dormancy was that Nishizaki, co-creator Leiji Matsumoto, and film distributor Tohokushinsha Film Corporation all claimed the right to make new Yamato anime at one time or another in the last two decades.
Nishizaki is also credited as a creator on the live-action Space Battleship Yamato, which just had private screenings in Tokyo and California this past week and will open in Japan next month. Nishizaki also planned the Maeterlinck's Blue Bird and Uchu Kubo Blue Noah [COLOR=#0000FF ! important][COLOR=#0000FF ! important]television [COLOR=#0000FF ! important]series[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR], co-created Odin - Starlight Mutiny, and was a producer on Umi no Triton and Urotsukidoji.
