Masami Suda has passed away

Hi all,

Twitter user Olivier Fallaix has reported Tatsunoko Production and Toei Animation legend, Masami Suda has died. He was 77 years old.

Suda was born in 1943 and seemed to always have a passion for drawing. In his early 20s, he joined Tatsunoko Production because he wanted to pursue a career as an artist, but he left the studio shortly after being hired because rather than allow him to use his talents, he was mainly shuttling materials between their various offices as a production driver.

He then took training in animation and after working for a short time at Tama Production and then as a freelancer, was hired back at Tatsunoko. Once there, he became a crucial part of the success of the studio's early shows, from Mach GoGoGo (Speed Racer) in 1967 to Judo Boy (1969), Honeybee Hutch (1970), Casshan (1973), Hurricane Polymar (1974) Tekkaman (1975) and more.

In the mid-70s he branched out to create animation for other studios like Toei Animation's Candy Candy (1976), Starzinger (Force Five) (1978 ), where he served as both animator and character designer (1978 ), and then to his most famous, as character designer and animator on their Hokuto no Ken (Fist of the North Star) (1984).

He followed with animation, animation direction and character design for countless television, OAV and theatrical projects. In some cases, like with Time Bokan (1978 ), Gatchaman II (1978 ), Gold Lightan (1981) and Sunshine Corp's Cooking Papa (1992) he also created the series' important opening animation sequences.

He was frequently requested to work on episodes by Gatchaman's chief director, Hisayuki Toriumi. Suda worked on the first episode of Gatchaman and the final episode, with about 20 more in between. He also worked on both Gatchaman sequel TV series. Fellow animator Tomonori Kogawa (Yamato [Star Blazers] - 1974), said of Masami's work, "I've never seen anyone better."

In later years, Suda became a staple of animation conventions around the world, always happy to talk about his work and draw amazing pictures for fans, while continuing to maintain a healthy career as character designer and animator.

The Other Jason
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