Japanese cartoonist and independent filmmaker who essentially defined what Japanese independent animation could be. He's widely considered one of the most important figures in the medium's history, and was the driving force behind the "Animation Association of Three"—a collective that revitalized adult-oriented, independently-made animation in Japan during the early 1960s.

His films are best known for their pitch-black humor. There's often a deceptive naivety to his drawing style that masks genuinely surreal, obscene, and disturbing content—which made his work catnip for counter-cultural audiences at festivals like Annecy in the 1960s. He worked across different styles and techniques too, including pixilation. Western filmmakers like René Laloux were among his admirers during this period, and by 1967 he was being called the only Japanese animator whose work had actually penetrated Western consciousness as the work of an individual artist (the Toei Animation films and Astro Boy were around at the same time, but they circulated more anonymously).

In Japan, he's also respected as a cartoonist. His manga collection won the Bungeishunjuu Manga Award in 1958. He stepped back from filmmaking eventually but kept working as an illustrator and taught animation at Laputa Art Animation School.

Date of death: November 24, 2024.