Anime News

Animage Chief Editor Hideo Ogata Dies
Date: 1/25/2007
Animator and Animage Magazine Editor In Chief Hideo Ogata died of stomach cancer in Japan on January 25th, he was 73 years old. Animage is widely regarded as the #2 magazine covering animation content in Japan behind Newtype and routinely includes scoops and exclusives on a number of new works. Ogata hails from Miyagi Prefecture, his funeral will include only family and close friends. Joining Tokuma Shoten after college, he founded Animage in 1978. It was Japan's first widely available and commercially successful animation magazine, serializing Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaa Of The Valley Of The Wind manga in 1984. Ogata was Executive Editor of the serial and a planner on the film. The promotional move helped to get the then fledgeling Studio Ghibli off the ground. He's credited in a number of other roles related to Ghibli animation, including being one of the studio's principal founders. He created the concept for Big Wars, and assisted in planning related to Legend of the Galactic Heroes movies and one of Mamoru Oshii's first films Angel's Egg.
Source: Anime News Service