SAKAGUCHI Hisashi

Japanese Name: 坂口尚

Place of Birth: Arakawa, Japan

Gender: N/A

Information for Authors: Born on May 5, 1946. Joined Mushi Productions in 1963 while still in high school. He was in charge of animation, original drawings, and direction for such animation works as "Astro Boy," "The Jungle Emperor," and "The Knight of the Ribbon". In 1969, he made his debut as a manga artist with "Farewell!" in the manga magazine "COM". Since then, he has published many short stories, and was a pioneer in the "new wave" of the manga industry in the late 1970s. At the same time, he worked intermittently in animation, serving as animation director, setting designer, and director for such 24-hour TV specials as "One Million Year Journey to Earth: Vanderbook" and "Houmoun. From 1980 to 1982, he wrote "12 Colors Story," one of his best-known works, and from 1983 to 1995, he published a trilogy of full-length works, "Ishi no Hana," "Version," and "Akanbe Ikkyu" In 1996, he won the Japan Cartoonists Society Award for Excellence. Many thought of him as the successor to Tezuka but he died suddenly at age of 49 in December 22nd, 1995,due to acute heart failure, just six years after Tezuka's passing. His style reminds of Miyazaki Hayao and no doubts could have matured into a great anime director if not for his sudden demise.