Yoshiji Kigami

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Yoshiji Kigami was a Japanese director and animator, as well as a board member of Kyoto Animation.

Kigami was a big fan of Disney movies and Osamu Tezuka's works from a young age, and this aspired him to become and animator. After working for two years to save money for school, he entered Tokyo Designer Gakuin, a vocational school in Tokyo. He worked part-time in a gas station while attending the school. In 1979, he saw a Shin-Ei Animation recruitment advert in a magazine. He then applied to the studio, got hired, and subsequently dropped out of the vocational school.

In 1982, together with six colleagues, he established his own animation sub-contracting studio by the name Animaru Ya. By the mid '80s, Kigami had made a name for himself in the industry and was getting job offers straight to his name, which led him to working on film such as Akira and Grave of the Fireflies. In 1990, Kigami left Animaru Ya to take care of his mother in his hometown for a year.

After his return to work he joined Kyoto Animation, and became a key factor in the to-be acclaimed animation studio's rapid growth throughout the years. Kigami mainly served as an animator during his career, but also directed, storyboarded and screenwrote numerous episodes and works for the studio. He was also involved in training young animators at the studio's training school.

On July 18, 2019, Kigami was tragically killed alongside 34 of his colleagues in the Kyoto Animation arson attack.