Kazuo Komatsubara (å° æ ¾åŽŸ 一ç"· or å° æ ¾åŽŸ 一夫, Komatsubara
Kazuo, December 24, 1943 â€" March 24, 2000) was a Japanese animator,
animation director and character designer born in Yokohama, Kanagawa
Prefecture, Japan. He worked as an independently contracted character
designer for Toei Animation in the 1970s and 1980s. He was a member of
the board of directors of animation studio Oh! Production (which he
helped found along with Norio Shioyama, KÅ ichi Murata, and KÅ shin
Yonekawa). He died on March 24, 2000 due to a cancerous tumor on his
neck.Beginning with Devilman in 1972, Komatsubara moved on to work on
other important 1970s anime shows including Getter Robo (1974), Getter
Robo G (1975), UFO Robo Grendizer (1975), and Magne Robo Gakeen
(1976), working closely with and succeeding Go Nagai on character
designs for many of these shows. For the 1987 OVA remake of the
Devilman series, Komatsubara worked as both character designer and
animation director. He then caught the animation fandom book at the
end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s as the character
designer for Leiji Matsumoto's Space Cruiser Yamato series, as well as
working on the anime TV series Space Pirate Captain Harlock and the
anime film Galaxy Express 999. Komatsubara became the most popular
anime character designer for Matsumoto's characters, and many of his
illustrations were featured on the front covers of various
magazines.At the same time, Shingo Araki was also a very popular
character designer at Toei Animation, though he was beginning to do
more work for Tokyo Movie Shinsha. Because of this, Komatsubara began
to focus more on his work for Toei Animation. He collaborated with
Rintaro on several projects, including the 1980 anime television
series Ganbare Genki and the anime film Metropolis (released in 2001,
after Komatsubara's death).When not working on adaptations of the
works of Nagai and Matsumoto, Komatsubara worked as character designer
on shÅ jo anime series such as Miracle ShÅ jo Limit-chan (1973) and
High-step Jun (1985). In 1984, he was invited by Hayao Miyazaki to
participate in the production of the anime film Nausicaä of the
Valley of the Wind, for which he did character designs and acted as
animation director. Miyazaki acted as an advisor to Komatsubara during
this time, and Komatsubara indicated he learned many things from him
as a result of this mentoring.
Kazuo, December 24, 1943 â€" March 24, 2000) was a Japanese animator,
animation director and character designer born in Yokohama, Kanagawa
Prefecture, Japan. He worked as an independently contracted character
designer for Toei Animation in the 1970s and 1980s. He was a member of
the board of directors of animation studio Oh! Production (which he
helped found along with Norio Shioyama, KÅ ichi Murata, and KÅ shin
Yonekawa). He died on March 24, 2000 due to a cancerous tumor on his
neck.Beginning with Devilman in 1972, Komatsubara moved on to work on
other important 1970s anime shows including Getter Robo (1974), Getter
Robo G (1975), UFO Robo Grendizer (1975), and Magne Robo Gakeen
(1976), working closely with and succeeding Go Nagai on character
designs for many of these shows. For the 1987 OVA remake of the
Devilman series, Komatsubara worked as both character designer and
animation director. He then caught the animation fandom book at the
end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s as the character
designer for Leiji Matsumoto's Space Cruiser Yamato series, as well as
working on the anime TV series Space Pirate Captain Harlock and the
anime film Galaxy Express 999. Komatsubara became the most popular
anime character designer for Matsumoto's characters, and many of his
illustrations were featured on the front covers of various
magazines.At the same time, Shingo Araki was also a very popular
character designer at Toei Animation, though he was beginning to do
more work for Tokyo Movie Shinsha. Because of this, Komatsubara began
to focus more on his work for Toei Animation. He collaborated with
Rintaro on several projects, including the 1980 anime television
series Ganbare Genki and the anime film Metropolis (released in 2001,
after Komatsubara's death).When not working on adaptations of the
works of Nagai and Matsumoto, Komatsubara worked as character designer
on shÅ jo anime series such as Miracle ShÅ jo Limit-chan (1973) and
High-step Jun (1985). In 1984, he was invited by Hayao Miyazaki to
participate in the production of the anime film Nausicaä of the
Valley of the Wind, for which he did character designs and acted as
animation director. Miyazaki acted as an advisor to Komatsubara during
this time, and Komatsubara indicated he learned many things from him
as a result of this mentoring.
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