20 Facts About Isao Takahata

Isao Takahata was a Japanese director, screenwriter and producer.

Isao Takahata worked as an assistant director, holding various positions over the years and collaborating with colleague Hayao Miyazaki, eventually directing his own film, The Great Adventure of Horus, Prince of the Sun.

Isao Takahata continued his partnership with Miyazaki, and under Nippon Animation directed the television series Heidi, Girl of the Alps, 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother, and Anne of Green Gables.

Isao Takahata was born in Ujiyamada, Mie Prefecture, Japan, on October 29,1935, as the youngest of seven siblings and third son in the family.

Isao Takahata's father, Asajiro Takahata, was a junior high school principal, who became the education chief of Okayama prefecture after the war.

On June 29,1945, when Isao Takahata was nine years old, he and his family survived a major United States air raid on Okayama City.

Isao Takahata graduated from the University of Tokyo in 1959 with a degree in French literature.

Isao Takahata was more interested in animation as a medium, and wanted to write and direct for animated works rather than create animations himself.

Unable to further improve his standing at Toei, Isao Takahata left the studio in 1971, along with Miyazaki and Yoichi Kotabe.

Isao Takahata continued to work at Nippon for about a decade; his work there included a World Masterpiece Theater adaptation of Anne of Green Gables in 1979, another project which had thematic similarities with the Pippi Longstocking concept.

Around 1981, Isao Takahata left Nippon to join Telecom Animation Film Co.

The studio primarily released animated feature films that were directed by Miyazaki, with Isao Takahata serving as producer or in other roles.

Isao Takahata announced that he would direct one last film for Studio Ghibli, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, around the same time that Miyazaki announced his plans to retire from the studio.

Heidi's carefree depiction, Isao Takahata had told one journalist, "stems from my ideal image of what a child should be like".

Isao Takahata continued to work at Ghibli, serving as an artistic producer for The Red Turtle, the first feature film of Dutch animator and director Michael Dudok de Wit in collaboration with Ghibli.

Isao Takahata had been diagnosed with lung cancer, and died on April 5,2018, at a hospital in Tokyo, at the age of 82.

On May 15,2018, a farewell ceremony for Isao Takahata was held at the Ghibli Museum in Tokyo.

Isao Takahata was influenced by the works of Paul Grimault, a French animator, as well as French New Wave directors, including Jean-Luc Godard.

Isao Takahata was influenced by French-born Canadian director Frederic Back, including his works Crac and The Man Who Planted Trees.

Isao Takahata's films had a major influence on Hayao Miyazaki, prompting animator Yasuo Otsuka to suggest that Miyazaki learned his sense of social responsibility from Isao Takahata and that without him, Miyazaki would probably have been interested in comic book material.