It was announced today that one of my favorite anime directors, Satoshi Kon has passed away at the age of 46. He directed several anime movies that were all critically acclaimed. Not one movie he made was ever mediocre or worse. The first one he directed was also one of the first anime movies I had seen, Perfect Blue.

It was so crazy at the time. It wasn’t about robots, or magical girls, or super powered martial artists with spiky hair. It was about this pop singer, whose poor career was devoted to captivating small groups of lonely nerds throughout Japan, deciding to move onto acting.

During that transistion, she has to deal with a rabid fan boy who stalks her and murders people around her, an obsessed manager who lives vicariously through her(to the point that her manager tries to BE her), and then the dark world of breaking into mainstream entertainment. There is a lot of surreal imagery in that movie and it launched Satoshi Kon as a director.

From there, he directed Millenium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers, and Paprika. All are beautiful films that challenge the mind and ideas about society. He also directed Paranoia Agent, which I have yet to see but it was on Adult Swim many years ago. (Here is hoping for a re-release.)

Satoshi Kon was working on a movie called Yume-Miru Kikai, which was supposed to come out this year, but who knows now. It was to be his first effort at making a family film which has a lot of people interested considering all his movies have been psychological affairs for adults.

His death could have not have come at a worse time for the anime industry. This is a time where anime’s “cool factor” has passed on in America as the industry struggles both financially and creatively in Japan. Whenever a new Satoshi Kon movie came out, it always gave a boost of attention to anime, especially from critics who are not really anime fans. His movies are that important.

You were great at what you did, Satoshi Kon, and you will be missed!