#Belladonna of Sadness, Kimba the White Lion Director Eiichi Yamamoto Passes Away Aged 80
“#Belladonna of Sadness, Kimba the White Lion Director Eiichi Yamamoto Passes Away Aged 80”
During a screening of the Belladonna of Sadness anime film in Tokyo yesterday, the organizers announced that the director of the film Eiichi Yamamoto had passed away on September 7 due to heart failure. A funeral for the director was held on September 12 with close family in attendance.
The organizers of the screening, Anime Novecento, also revealed the news in a Facebook post, which explained that they were contacted by a family member of Yamamoto after they saw a listing for the event on social media. The event organizers said that Yamamoto had been sick for the last few years but continued to be enthusiastic about anime and creating works.
Eiichi Yamamoto was born in Kyoto Prefecture on November 11, 1940, but was quickly moved to Kagawa Prefecture due to World War II. After graduating high school, the wannabe animator joined Ryuichi Yokoyama‘s Otogi Productions but soon learned of a new anime studio starting up with Osamu Tezuka at the helm. After meeting with Tezuka, Yamamoto became one of the founding members of Mushi Production in 1961 where he co-directed the studio’s first work Tales of the Street Corner.
While at Mushi Production (before it declared bankruptcy in 1973), Yamamoto directed episodes of Astro Boy, the original Kimba the White Lion TV anime and film, the Cleopatra anime film, and many more. Yamamoto went on to direct the cult-classic Belladonna of Sadness at MushiPro as his last anime film for the studio before it went bankrupt.
After the bankruptcy, Yamamoto went to write screenplays for Space Battle Yamato TV anime and films, as well as co-direct Odin: Photon Sailer Starlight anime film and the Space Battleship Yamato III TV anime in 1980.
We give our deepest sympathies to the family of Yamamoto.
Daryl Harding is a Japan Correspondent for Crunchyroll News. He also runs a YouTube channel about Japan stuff called TheDoctorDazza, tweets at @DoctorDazza, and posts photos of his travels on Instagram.
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