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Yoshiji Kigami
Yoshiji Kigami
木上益治
Born	28 December 1957; Osaka Prefecture, Japan
Died	18 July 2019 (aged 61); Fushimi, Kyoto, Japan
Nationality	Japanese
Other names	Ichirou Miyoshi, Fumio Tada
Occupation(s)	Animator, television director and storyboarder
Years active	1979–2019
Known for	Kyoto Animation employee

Yoshiji Kigami (Japanese: 木上益治, Hepburn: Kigami Yoshiji, 28 December 1957 – 18 July 2019) was a Japanese animator, director and storyboarder. He started working at Shin-Ei Animation, later became part of Animaruya and then he became affiliated with Kyoto Animation.

Career

When he was young, Kigami was a big fan of Disney movies and anime shows based on the manga series of Osamu Tezuka, and this led him to becoming an animator. He started working at Shin-Ei Animation before joining Kyoto Animation. Kigami became well known in the industry for his work on Grave of the Fireflies and Akira as a key animator.^[1] In 2003, Kigami directed his first work, Munto, and later became an instructor at Kyoto Animation's teaching program.^[2] In Kyoto Animation productions, he used the pen name Ichirou Miyoshi (三好一郎) when storyboarding, and Fumio Tada (多田文男) when doing key animation.^[3]

Death

On 18 July 2019, during the Kyoto Animation arson attack, Kigami was killed alongside 35 of his colleagues,^[4] with 33 others wounded; Kigami was initially declared missing after the attack^[5]^[6] due to his mother declaring that he could not be contacted immediately following the fire.^[6] His death was confirmed on 2 August 2019.^[7]

Filmography

Grave of the Fireflies: Key Animation^[8]
Cat's Eye: Key Animation (4 episodes)
Akira: Key Animation^[8]
Doraemon (7 movies): Key Animation
Robotan: Episode director (ep 5)
Lucky Star: Animation Director (ep 18)
Clannad: Animation Director (ep 3); Key Animation (ep 12, ep 23, ep 24)^[9]
Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions: Episode Director (ep 6); Storyboard ep (ep 6)
Crayon Shin Chan Movies (1; 3;7;9) : Key Animation
Hyouka: Key Animation; Storyboard (ep 5); Episode Director (ep 5)
K-On!: Key Animation (ep 10, ep 12)
K-On! Movie: Key Animation
Munto: Director
Tamako Market: Episode Director (ep 2, ep 9), Storyboard (ep 9), Key Animation (ep 1)
Violet Evergarden: Episode Director (ep 6), Storyboard (ep 6)^[9]
Nichijou: Episode Director (ep 6, ep 14, ep 20), Storyboard (ep 6, ep 14, ep 20)
Air: Storyboard (ep 11), Episode Director (ep 11)
Free!: Key Animation^[9]
Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu: Storyboard (ep 3, ep 7), Episode Director (ep 3, ep 7)
Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid: Storyboard (ep 4, ep 8, ep 12), Episode Director (ep 4, ep 12)
Sound! Euphonium: Episode Director (ep 5, ep 12)
Baja no Studio: Director
A Silent Voice: Key Animation^[8]^[10]