is a Japanese

animator An animator is an artist who creates images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video games. Animat ...

and character designer. He has worked on several anime films from the 1960s and 1970s, the ''

Super Mario (also known as and is a platform game series created by Nintendo starring their mascot, Mario. It is the central series of the greater Mario (franchise), ''Mario'' franchise. At least one ''Super Mario'' game has been released for every ma ...

'' video game series, and the ''

Pokémon is a Japanese media franchise consisting of List of Pokémon video games, video games, Pokémon (TV series), animated series and List of Pokémon films, films, Pokémon Trading Card Game, a trading card game, and other related media. The fran ...

'' series in television and film. He was an employee at

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...

for two decades doing illustrations, character designs, and supervision from 1985 to 2007. After that, he began to work as a freelancer for the anime and video game industry, including for Nintendo again.

Biography

Kotabe became interested in

animation Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animati ...

after watching the

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

Momotarō no Umiwashi is an animated Japanese propaganda film produced in 1942 by Geijutsu Eigasha and released on March 25, 1943. With a running time of 37 minutes, it was close to being a feature film, feature-length film. A DVD version without English subtitles w ...

'' as a child. He was fascinated with how the fighter moved in the film. His father, who was an

oil painter Oil painting is a painting method involving the procedure of painting with pigments combined with a drying oil as the Binder (material), binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on canvas, wood panel, or oil on coppe ...

, also influenced his decision to work as an artist. Kotabe found oil painting to be difficult, so he instead worked in

watercolor painting Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting method"Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to the S ...

. In order to continue working with watercolors, he adopted the ''

nihonga ''Nihonga'' () is a Japanese style of painting that typically uses mineral pigments, and occasionally ink, together with other organic pigments on silk or paper. The term was coined during the Meiji period (1868–1912) to differentiate it from ...

'', or Japanese-style, of painting, and began studying at the

Tokyo University of the Arts or is a school of art and music in Japan. Located in Ueno Park, it also has facilities in Toride, Ibaraki, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Kitasenju and Adachi, Tokyo. The university has trained artists in the fields of painting, sculpture, crafts, inter ...

in the Japanese-style painting department. While attending, he was impressed by the film '' The Tale of the White Serpent'' and the animator

Yasuji Mori was an animator who worked with Toei Animation, while it was still known as Toei Doga. He was also a famous illustrator of children's books. Mori was responsible for one of the major animation styles within Toei Animation. In '' The Little Prince ...

, and immediately applied to work at

Toei Animation is a Japanese animation studio primarily controlled by its namesake Toei Company. It has produced numerous series, including '' Sally the Witch'', '' GeGeGe no Kitarō'', '' Mazinger Z'', '' Galaxy Express 999'', '' Cutie Honey'', '' Dr. Slu ...

. His first project there was '' Hols: Prince of the Sun'' where he met

Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese animator, filmmaker, and manga artist. He co-founded Studio Ghibli and serves as honorary chairman. Throughout his career, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and creator of Anime, Japanese ani ...

and

Isao Takahata was a Japanese director, screenwriter and producer. A co-founder of Studio Ghibli, he earned international critical acclaim for his work as a director of Japanese animated feature films. Born in Ujiyamada, Mie Prefecture, Takahata joined Toei ...

. He left Toei amid a labor dispute along with Miyazaki and Takahata in order to work at A Pro, where they began work on an adaptation of ''

Pippi Longstocking Pippi Longstocking () is the fictional main character in a series of children's books by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren. Pippi was named by Lindgren's daughter Karin, who asked her mother for a get-well story when she was off school. Pippi is ...

''. The project was eventually canceled, and work began on the two-film series '' Panda! Go, Panda!''. Kotabe then worked as character designer on two anime television series from

Nippon Animation is a Japanese animation studio. The company is headquartered in Tokyo, with its headquarters in their Tama, Tokyo, Tama City studio and an administrative office in the Ginza district of Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō. Nippon Animation is known for prod ...

: ''

Heidi, Girl of the Alps is an animated television series produced by Zuiyo Eizo and the series itself based on the novel '' Heidi's Years of Wandering and Learning'' by Johanna Spyri (1880). It was directed by Isao Takahata and features contributions by numer ...

'', and ''

3000 Leagues in Search of Mother is a Japanese animated television series directed by Isao Takahata that aired in 1976. It is loosely based on a small part of the Italian novel ''Heart'' (') created by Edmondo De Amicis, i.e., a monthly tale (''racconto mensile'') ''From ...

'', with Miyazaki working on scene design and layout and Takahata working as series director and storyboard artist. In 1985, he was scouted by Nintendo and assumed the position of game development advisor, where he created package illustrations for ''

Super Mario Bros. is a 1985 Platformer, platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It is the successor to the 1983 arcade game ''Mario Bros.'' and the first game in the ''Super Mario'' series. It was origi ...

'' This was his introduction to video games. He left Nintendo in 2007, although he had originally only intended to stay at the company for one or two years at most.

Works

Awards and nominations

* Animator/Animation Director award, Tokyo Anime Fair 6th Annual Awards of Merit, 2009. * Special Achievement award, 19th Japan Media Arts Festival Awards, 2015.

References

External links

*
Yoichi Kotabe anime
at Media Arts Database {{DEFAULTSORT:Kotabe, Yoichi Japanese animators Japanese animated film directors Japanese video game designers Anime character designers 1936 births Nintendo people Living people Tokyo University of the Arts alumni Toei Animation