Japanese filmmaker and comic artist Satoshi Kon died 24 August 2010 of pancreatic cancer. Born 12 October 1963 in Hokkaido, Japan, he studied painting at the Musashino Art University, but his interests soon shifted to illustration, and he began drawing manga for Young magazine. Through Young, he met Katsuhiro Otomo (creator of Akira).
Kon worked as an animator on Hiroyuki Kitakubo’s feature, Rojin Z (1991), which was written by Otomo, and contributed a script to Otomo’s 1995 science-fiction anthology film, Memories. In 1998, he directed his first feature, Perfect Blue.
The New York Times says that while “Kon’s film work incorporated many familiar anime elements—pixielike female characters, sensitive robots, futuristic cityscapes and an anxious fascination with the creative and destructive power of technology—it was also informed by literary, artistic and cinematic traditions far beyond contemporary Japanese popular culture.”
Kon’s genre work includes: Paprika (2006, as writer and director), Perfect Blue (1998, director), Kanojo no omoide (1995, writer), Memories (1995, writer), Kidokeisatsu patoreba: The Movie 2 (1993, set decorator), Warudo apatomento hora (1991, writer), and Rojin Z (1991, animator).
At his death, he was finishing work on The Dream Machine, which he had described as “a road movie for robots.… On the surface, it’s going to be a fantasy-adventure targeted at younger audiences. However, it will also be a film that people who have seen our films up to this point will be able to enjoy.”
He is survived by his wife, Kyoko Kono.