近藤喜文

Yoshifumi Kondou was a Japanese animator who worked for Studio Ghibli in his last years, and was most known for directing the film Whisper of the Heart. He was expected to become one of the top directors at Studio Ghibli, alongside Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, and to become their eventual successor.

Kondou entered Niigata Prefectural Muramatsu High School in April, 1965, where he was a member of the art club. In the school, one of his seniors was the future manga artist Kimio Yanagisawa. In April, 1968, he moved to Tokyo after graduating from high school, where he entered Tokyo Design College's animation department. In October, 1968, he began working at Shin-Ei Animation, then A Production. There he took part in the production of shows like Kyojin no Hoshi and Lupin III. In 1978, Kondou moved to Nippon Animation, where he worked on shows such as Future Boy Conan and Anne of Green Gables, making his proper character designing debut in the latter.

In December 1980, Kondou moved to Telecom Animation Film, where he served as the character designer for Sherlock Hound. Kondou resigned from his position at Telecom in March of 1985, and was hospitalized from June through August for a type of pneumonia. He became a contract worker for Nippon Animation afterwards and moved to Studio Ghibli in January, 1987.

In 1995, he made his directorial debut with the renown Studio Ghibli film, Whisper of the Heart.

Kondou suddenly passed away from an aortic dissection on January 21, 1998, which according to doctors had been brought on by overwork. Kondou’s death is also believed to be the reason for Miyazaki’s initial announcement of retirement.

(Source: Wikipedia)