Update: Satoshi Kon’s last words, in the form of an extended entry on his blog, have been posted online. They’re an exceptionally moving insight into the mind of one of Japan’s most imaginative animators. Click here to read his message to his fans.
It is with sadness that we report the death of Japanese animator Satoshi Kon. The anime director died this week aged 46 after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer earlier this year.
Working with Tokyo’s Madhouse animation studio, Kon’s filmography included the kaleidoscopic dream-noir Paprika, a film Christopher Nolan has cited as a key influence for Inception. The 2006 sci-fi anime was Kon’s first worldwide release and earned the director critical kudos outside of Japan. According to Nolan, Paprika herself, a beautiful doctor and ‘dream detective’ able to enter and manipulate the dreams of her patients, was an inspiration behind Ellen Page’s dream architect Ariadne.
In common with Kon’s three other feature-length animes, Paprika explored the human psyche, co-mingling fantasical worlds, playful characters and hand-drawn animation. It was Kon’s ambition to create an antidote to what he once described as the “robots and beautiful little girls” standard of Japanese animation. His first feature 1997’s visceral psychological thriller Perfect Blue achieved just that, telling the story of an actor who falls apart after taking part in a brutal rape scene and crafting a powerful animated horror in the process.
Kon’s next two features, Millennium Actress (2001) and Tokyo Godfathers (2003), a romance tinged with magical realism and a Capraesque comedy, marked a change of direction for the animator, but remained staunchly adult-focused. Kon was working on his first family-focused anime, The Dream Machine, at the time of his death. He described it as a “road movie” for robots set in the future. The future of the project is unknown but it is hoped the studio will be able to complete it from instruction left by the director.
Kon is survived by his wife, Kyoko.