A passing of note for me — and for all fans of anime, really. Satoshi Kon, a highly acclaimed Japanese anime director, died suddenly of cancer on Monday evening. He was 47.
Kon was not an early pioneer of the genre … nor was he its most prolific artist. But he had a special significance, a special impact, nonetheless. Like many in the west, I was introduced to his screen works in the mid-90s, when he directed a segment of Memories [1]. This was followed by a short list of films (short, but every one of them a gem), and one of the better animated series to ever appear on American television screens.
The films were Perfect Blue [2], Millennium Actress [3], Tokyo Godfathers [4] and (my favorite) Paprika [5]. The television series was Paranoia Agent [6].
Each one challenged us — the viewers — in different ways, and stretched our definitions of “cartoons” to the breaking point, and beyond.
Probably the best comment on Kon’s death that I’ve seen comes from a Tweet by jbetteridge [7], who wrote, “It’s not that anime will never be the same with Satoshi Kon gone. It’s now much more likely that anime will always be the same.”
So true.
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