Remembering Satoshi Kon

[Source: aicn.com] Visionary anime director Satoshi Kon passed away on August 24 of pancreatic cancer.

Madhouse tentatively plans on concluding work on his final project, children's feature The Dreaming Machine

Anime News Network reports he had blogged

May 18 of this year, an unforgettable day.

My wife and I received the following prognosis from a cardiologist at the Musashino Red Cross Hospital:

"The pancreatic cancer is terminal and has metastasized to the bone. You have at most a half year left."

When I conveyed my concerns for Yume-Miru Kikai (Dreaming Machine) to Mr. Maruyama (MADHOUSE founder Masao Maruyama), he said, "It's fine. Don't worry, we'll do whatever it takes."

I cried.

I cried aloud.

With feelings of gratitude for all that is good in this world, I put down my pen.

Well, I'll be leaving now.

Satoshi Kon

Makiko Itoh's translation of Satoshi Kon's final message

Remembrances can be found at
The Guardian - by Andrew Osmond , author of Satoshi Kon: The Illusionist
AO Scott in the New York Times - also a trailer gallery
AniPages Daily - also, a look at Kon's work on Run Melos
Otaku USA EIC Patrick Macias
Japan Society
Tasha Robinson at Onion AV Club
Manga Worth Reading
AniMaybe
Subatomic Brainfreeze
Ogiue Maniax
Blog of the North Star
Random Access Information
Genji Press
Gigazine
Maximum Cosmo
Tribute on the SameHat! tumblr

 

Nina "Space Coyote" Matsumoto's tribute illustration

On Catsuka Player - MAD Paprika

from which the Satoshi Kon movie was adapted. It's not available in the US, but you can get a UK copy of the English translated Paprika novel Stone Bridge Press has posted preview pages of Satoshi Kon: The Illusionist - reviewed here