Japanese animation art director Nizo Yamamoto, renowned for his background art and illustrations for Studio Ghibli movies, passed away from stomach cancer on Saturday (19 August 2023) at the age of 70 (via Goo News).

His works included Hayao Miyazaki’s Laputa Castle In The Sky (1986) and Princess Mononoke (1997), the late Isao Takahata’s Grave Of The Fireflies (1988), and Mamoru Hosoda’s The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006). According to his eldest son Takao, Yamamoto was working on a 120-page draft of a manga about folktales from his hometown of the Goto Islands until several days before his death. He also contributed to Makoto Shinkai’s Weathering For You (2019).