Grave of the Fireflies (Tokuma Anime Picture Book 5)

Isao Takahata

An animation film director, born on October 29, 1935, in Ise City, Mie Prefecture, and raised in Okayama. After graduating from the French literature department of the University of Tokyo in 1959, he joined Toei Animation. He made his directorial debut with the TV series “Wolf Boy Ken” and his first film direction with “The Great Adventure of Horus, Prince of the Sun” (1968). After leaving the company, he directed and produced “Heidi, Girl of the Alps” (1974), “3000 Leagues in Search of Mother” (1976), “Anne of Green Gables” (1979) (all TV series), “Jarinko Chie” (1981), “Gauche the Cellist” (1982), among others. In 1985, he participated in the founding of Studio Ghibli. Subsequently, he released “Grave of the Fireflies” (1988), “Only Yesterday” (1991), “Pom Poko” (1994), “My Neighbors the Yamadas” (1999). In 2013, his long-awaited new film “The Tale of the Princess Kaguya” was released, winning the Mainichi Film Concours Award for Animation Film, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Animation, among others, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

He served as a producer for “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind” (1984) and “Castle in the Sky” (1986), and as an artistic producer for “The Red Turtle” (2016).

In 1998, he received the Purple Ribbon Medal. In 2009, he was awarded the Honorary Leopard at the Locarno International Film Festival. In 2010, he received the Animation Merit Award, in 2012, an honorary doctorate from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), in 2014, the Tokyo Anime Award Festival 2014 Special Award and the Annecy International Animation Film Festival Honorary Award (Cristal d’honneur). In April 2015, he was awarded the Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters in France. In February 2016, he received the Winsor McCay Award.

Isao Takahata’s books