Yōji Kuri (久里洋二, Kuri Yōji; April 9, 1928 – November 24, 2024) was a Japanese cartoonist and independent filmmaker. An…
Yōji Kuri (久里洋二, Kuri Yōji; April 9, 1928 – November 24, 2024) was a Japanese cartoonist and independent filmmaker. An influential figure in Japanese independent animation, he was the unofficial leader and most prolific of the "Animation Association of Three" (アニメーション三人の会, Animēshon Sannin no Kai) collective who kick-started the renaissance of modern-styled, independently made, adult-aimed animation in early 1960s Japan. He is known internationally for the very black comedy of his films, with the typically naïve style of his cartooning often belying the surreal, obscene and disturbing situations they depict (though he has worked in a variety of styles and mediums, including pixilation); this made them a favourite among the fervently counter-cultural audiences, which included such filmmakers as René Laloux, of the first few years of the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, and in a 1967 publication he was considered to be "the most significant" and "the only Japanese animator whose work is known in the West" (which is to disregard the Toei Animation features and Astro Boy series that were first seen in the West around the same time that Kuri's first several films were and mentioned in passing in the same publication, though these were not known as works of an individual and characteristic filmmaker and often had their Japanese origin played down). He is also known in Japan for his comics, a collection of which earned him the 1958 Bungeishunjū Manga Award. Though he was retired from filmmaking, he continued to illustrate and teach animation at Laputa Art Animation School (アート・アニメーションのちいさな学校, Āto Animēshon no Chiisana Gakkō). Kuri died on November 24, 2024, at the age of 96. His death was announced in the following month, on December 15.
Famous People from Fukui Prefecture
Fukui Prefecture: 3 people
Satoko Kiyuduki (きゆづき さとこ) is a Japanese manga artist and illustrator from Fukui Prefecture. She is best known for her…
Satoko Kiyuduki (きゆづき さとこ) is a Japanese manga artist and illustrator from Fukui Prefecture. She is best known for her work on the Dept. Heaven series of games and her yonkoma manga GA Geijutsuka Art Design Class and Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro.
Mikiyo Tsuda (つだ みきよ, Tsuda Mikiyo; born on January 10) is the pen name of Mikiyo Tsuda (津田 美貴代), a Japanese manga…
Mikiyo Tsuda (つだ みきよ, Tsuda Mikiyo; born on January 10) is the pen name of Mikiyo Tsuda (津田 美貴代), a Japanese manga artist active since 1998. Under the name Taishi Zaō (蔵王大志, Zaō Taishi), she writes boys love and girls love manga while under Mikiyo Tsuda she writes comedy-shōjo manga.