__NOTOC__ was a Japanese director of

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

and

puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. Puppetry is an ancient form of theatre which dates back to the 5th century BC in anci ...

shows. He also wrote the lyrics for the anime's theme song under the name . Nagahama has produced hits in a wide variety of genres, including

super robot Mecha, also known as giant robot or simply robot, is a genre of anime and manga that feature mecha in battle. The genre is broken down into two subcategories; " super robot", featuring super-sized, implausible robots, and "real robot", where r ...

sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

, and

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

. He is best known as the director of

Sunrise Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning, at the start of the Sun path. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon. Terminology Although the S ...

and Toei's '' Robot Romance Trilogy'', which added human drama to the ''Super Robot'' genre. He is also known as the director of several popular anime series that are still well known among Japanese viewers. His most famous work is the national hit, ''

Star of the Giants is a Japanese sports manga series written by Ikki Kajiwara and illustrated by Noboru Kawasaki. It was serialized in Kodansha's ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' from 1966 to 1971. It is about the actual baseball team Yomiuri Giants using ...

'', which contributed to the popularity of

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

in Japan.

Biography

Nagahama began his theatrical career in the drama club of his

junior high school Middle school, also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school, is an educational stage between primary school and secondary school. Afghanistan In Afghanistan, middle school includes ...

, and not only directed but also acted on stage himself. After entering the Department of Drama at

Nihon University , abbreviated as , is a private research university in Japan. Its predecessor, Nihon Law School (currently the Department of Law), was founded by Yamada Akiyoshi, the Minister of Justice, in 1889. The university's name is derived from the Ja ...

College of Art, he studied theater at Butai Geijyutsu Gakuin, Kirin-za, Seinen Haiyū Club, and Mingei Theatre Company, while working part-time in the editorial department of theater magazine Theaterux. In the early 1960s, while working in the production department of the puppet theater troupe Hitomi-za, he was assigned to direct puppet shows for television. In 1965, he joined A Production, which was contracted to produce anime for Tokyo Movie, an

animation studio An animation studio is a company producing animation, animated media. The broadest such companies conceive of products to produce, own the physical equipment for production, employ operators for that equipment, and hold a major stake in the sales ...

founded by Yutaka Fujioka, a colleague at Hitomi-za and producer of the TV puppet show '' Iga no Kagemaru'', where he began directing TV anime. The TV series he directed, ''Star of Giants'', which began airing in 1968, was a huge hit and raged at the time. However, he gave up on anime after working on ''Samurai Giants'' and left A Production to start a company, where he worked on commercial production for about a year. In 1975, he returned to the anime industry as the director of Reideen The Brave, replacing

Yoshiyuki Tomino is a Japanese anime director, screenwriter, songwriter and novelist best known for creating the ''Gundam'' anime franchise. Early life and family Tomino was born on November 5, 1941, in Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture, to an old family of regio ...

, who was dropped midway through the show. This was his first robot anime. In 1976, he took on the job of director for Toei (not

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 ...

)'s robot anime, '' Combattler V'' and was involved from the planning stage with the Raiden staff. From this work, he began teaching acting to voice actors and handling sound effects, which led to his being credited as sound director. He went on to direct two more Toei's robot anime, '' Voltes V'' and '' Tōshō Daimos''. These three works later became known as the ''Robot Romance Trilogy''. ''Voltes V'', in particular, became so popular in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

that after more than 45 years, a live-action

remake A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same s ...

of the TV series was produced by the Philippines' largest

terrestrial television Terrestrial television, or over-the-air television (OTA) is a type of television broadcasting in which the content is signal transmission, transmitted via radio waves from the terrestrial (Earth-based) transmitter of a TV station to a TV rece ...

station in 2023. In ''Daimos'', Toei's Sword Fight Arranger directed the action at the suggestion of Toei's producer, and Nagahama had animators draw action scenes based on a video of his movements. Meanwhile, the same producer brought anime elements from these works to Toei's live-action

tokusatsu is a Japanese term for live-action films or television programs that make heavy use of practical special effects. Credited to special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya, ''tokusatsu'' mainly refers to science fiction film, science fiction, War fi ...

productions, including giant robots made of multiple mechas combined into one, beautiful enemy characters and anime-style designs. In 1979, he directed '' Future Robot Daltanious'', which was produced under the same structure as the previous three works, albeit with a different broadcaster. However, he left the show midway through to direct ''

The Rose of Versailles also known as ''Lady Oscar'' and ''La Rose de Versailles'', is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Riyoko Ikeda. It was originally serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine ''Margaret'' from 1972 to 1973, while a revival ...

'' at his old home, Tokyo Movies. However, he dropped out of that show as well due to a conflict with a voice actor over a difference in acting policy. During the production of the joint anime between Japan and France, ''

Ulysses 31 is an anime series (1981) that updates the Greek mythology of Odysseus (known as "Ulixes" or "Ulysses" in Latin) to the 31st century. The show comprises 26 half-hour episodes as a co-production between DIC Audiovisuel and Tokyo Movie Shinsha ...

'', he contracted fulminant hepatitis and died suddenly from the disease at the age of 43.

Filmography

Puppetry

* '' Iga no Kagemaru'' (1963-1964) Episode director * ' (1964–1969) Puppet performance director * ''

Terrahawks ''Terrahawks'' is a 1980s British science fiction television series created by Gerry Anderson and Christopher Burr for London Weekend Television. The series was Anderson's first in over a decade to use puppets for its characters, and also his ...

'' (Japan-UK co-production) (canceled)

Anime

* ''

Obake no Q-tarō and are a class of ''yōkai'', preternatural creatures in Japanese folklore. Literally, the terms mean ''a thing that changes'', referring to a state of transformation or shapeshifting. These words are often translated as "ghost", but prima ...

'' (1965) Episode director/Storyboard * '' Perman'' (1967-1968) * ''

'' (1968-1971) Composition (episodes 1-85) → Episode director (episodes 86-final episode) * ''Chingō Muchabē'' (1971) Episode director * '' Shin Obake no Q-tarō'' (1971-1972) Director/Script * ''

The Gutsy Frog is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yasumi Yoshizawa. It was serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from July 1970 to June 1976, with its chapters collected in 27 volumes. A 103-episode anime ...

'' (1972-1974) Episode Director (9th-80th), Chief Director (81st-final), Storyboard * ' (1973-1974) Director * ''

Brave Raideen , also known as "Brave Reideen" or "Heroic Raydeen", is a super robot anime series created by Tohokushinsha and Produced by Soeisha (later renamed as Sunrise). It aired on Nihon Educational Television (now TV Asahi) from 4 April 1975 to 26 ...

'' (1975-1976) General Director (Episode 27-Final episode)/Storyboard * '' Combattler V'' (1976-1977) General director/Sound director * '' Voltes V'' (1977-1978) General director/Sound director/Voice actor * '' Ore wa Teppei'' (1977-1978) Episode director * '' Tōshō Daimos'' (1978-1979) General director/Sound director * '' Future Robot Daltanious'' (1979-1980) General director/Sound director (Episodes 1-26) * ''

'' (1979-1980) General director/Sound director (Episodes 1-13) * '' Zukkoke Knight - Don De La Mancha'' (anime adaptation of ''

Don Quixote , the full title being ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'', is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts in 1605 and 1615, the novel is considered a founding work of Western literature and is of ...

'') (1980) * ''

'' (Japan-France co-production) (1981) Chief director on the Japanese side, his last work

Music

Lyrics

* Voltes V Ending theme * Tōshō Daimos Ending theme * Future Robot Daltanious Ending theme

Notes

References

Sources

External links

Tadao Nagahama
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nagahama Tadao 1936 births 1980 deaths Deaths from hepatitis People from Kagoshima Prefecture Sunrise (company) people Anime directors Japanese voice directors Japanese lyricists