is a Japanese

animator An animator is an artist who creates multiple 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 gam ...

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

'' video game series, and the ''

Pokémon (an abbreviation for in Japan) is a Japanese media franchise managed by The Pokémon Company, founded by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures (company), Creatures, the owners of the trademark and copyright of the franchise. In terms of ...

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

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...

for two decades doing illustrations, character designs, and supervision from 1985 to 2007. At that time, 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 method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...

after watching the

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

Momotarō no Umiwashi is an animated Japanese propaganda film produced in 1942 by Geijutsu Eigasha and released March 25, 1943. Running at 37 minutes, it was close to being feature film, feature-length, but it was not the first animated feature film in Asia; that hono ...

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

oil painter Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...

, 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 American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the U ...

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

nihonga ''Nihonga'' (, "Japanese-style paintings") are Japanese paintings from about 1900 onwards that have been made in accordance with traditional Japanese artistic conventions, techniques and materials. While based on traditions over a thousand years ...

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

Tokyo University of the Arts or is the most prestigious art school in Japan. Located in Ueno Park, it also has facilities in Toride, Ibaraki, Yokohama, Kanagawa, and Kitasenju and Adachi, Tokyo. The university has trained renowned artists in the fields of painting, scul ...

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. Slump'', ' ...

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

Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese animator, director, producer, screenwriter, author, and manga artist. A co-founder of Studio Ghibli, he has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and creator of Japanese animated feature films, and is widel ...

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, and they began work on an adaptation of ''

Pippi Longstocking Pippi Longstocking ( sv, Pippi Långstrump) is the fictional main character in an eponymous 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 wh ...

''. That project was eventually canceled, and work began on the two-film series ''

Panda! Go, Panda! is a children's Japanese animated film, first released in 1972. It was created by the team of Isao Takahata (director), Hayao Miyazaki (writer, layout, scene design), Yoichi Kotabe (animation director) and Yasuo Otsuka (animation director, ...

''. 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 chief offices in the Ginza district of Chūō and production facilities in Tama City. Nippon Animation is known for producing numerous anime series based on works of ...

: ''

Heidi, Girl of the Alps is an anime television series produced by Zuiyo Eizo and is 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 numerous other anime filmma ...

'', 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 (novel), Heart'' (') created by Edmondo De Amicis, i.e., a monthly tale (''racconto mensi ...

'', 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 the game development advisor where he created package illustrations for ''

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

'' This was his introduction to video games. He left Nintendo in 2007, although he had originally only intended to stay in 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