Director and animator Yūji Yanase died on August 22.The official website for The World Strongest Rearguard and The Insipid Prince's Furtive Grab for The Throne anime made the announcement on Wednesday. Yanase directed both anime, which premiered in July.Yanase has been working in the anime industry since at least 1988, working as in-between animator for such works as Akira, Kaze o Nuke!, and Doraemon the Movie: Nobita's Dorabian Nights. He was a key animator for such works as Macross 7, The Legend of Zorro, Tenchi Universe, and Tetsujin 28-go FX. He was animation director on episodes of such works as Saber Marionette J, Fancy Lala, Excel Saga, Hellsing, Chobits, Mezzo, Aria the Animation, and Symphogear, among numerous others.Yanase made his directorial debut with the 2014 television anime Himegoto, and has since directed such anime as Onsen Yōsei Hakone-chan, In Another World With My Smartphone, If It’s for My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord, By the Grace of the Gods, In the Land of Leadale, My Unique Skill Makes Me OP even at Level 1, I’ll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History, Apocalypse Bringer Mynoghra, and The World's Strongest Rearguard - Labyrinth Country's Novice Seeker, as well as the aforementioned The Insipid Prince's Furtive Grab for The Throne. He continued working as a key animator, animation director, and episode director in various other productions alongside his directorial duties.Sources:https://x.com/MAHOFILM/status/2094968555188224179https://strongestrearguard-anime.com/news/https://degarashiouji.com/161/https://natalie.mu/comic/news/687715
Rest in peace. Himegoto was a masterpiece even if it was short.
May he be given all the virgins in the big isekai in the sky.
>>290630976Oops, meant to write "The World's Strongest Rearguard's Director Dies at 59"Anyway, this is his resume:https://keyframe-staff-list.com/person/118600He was a prolific director
I hope this isekaibro gets reincarnated somewhere good
>>290631055For the past three years he had been directing at least one anime per year. He also did some key animation for his own shows.
>>290631055Rearguard and Degarashi had the same director? That's pretty funny. Wonder what will happen to them now, or if he had already finished working on them. RIP though
>>290630976potato quality animes director....anyhoo are directors suppose to die young like mangakas or what?
>>290631129I wonder that too. If it hasn't been finished, then they're screwed because they don't have assistant directors
>>290630976Everyone keep telling me Rearguard is great, will check it out at another time.
>>290631129I'm pretty sure the shows are already complete, and S2s never keep the same director anyways.
>>290631566They all decieving you. Rearguard is cheaply made boring trash with no redeemable qualities.
>>290631158The director of Chitose-kun wa Ramune bin no Naka said in a private tweet that the past two months he hasn't had a day when he could sleep for 8 hours, and he only slept for 2.5 hours today. He said after learning of this news he's going to take care of his body more. Also, Yanase directed two anime in a one season, and for the past three years he had been directing at least one anime per year. On top of that he also did key animation too. Regardless of the quality, it was probably the amount of overworked that killed him.
>>290630976The original work was so bad it killed him.I guess some episodes will be delayed until they find a replacement
>The last thing he did before he died. What a champ
Wow. RIP. His shows were a staple of mid tier solidly entertaining anime for me and I was watching one of them just a couple hours ago.
RIP Dude.
I guess this guy liked eyecatches.
>>290631129Whether he has finished them or not, it's going to be a bummer for the staff that he couldn't attend the after-party (an anime production committee usually hold an after-party for the staff and the cast)
>>290631055In 2024, Yuji Yanase made a record of doing solo key animation for 6 out of 13 episodes. He might only be the 3rd (Masaaki Iwane did 7 solo episodes and Nobuharu Ishido also did 6 solo episodes that year), but if you consider that Yuji Yanase is the director, and he also directed and storyboarded his solo episodes, that was really something https://x.com/takine_krs/status/1889264612371312847
>>290630976
RIPDirected isekaislop, but Isekaislop that I watched or want to watch :(
>>290631884deserved cause Ramune is fucking trash
59? Shit that's way too young. RIP
>>290630976Died of overwork, just like my isekais
I'm enjoying Rearguard despite the budget, and Mynoghra was excellent (though I liked it before it got adapted too)F
May he wake up as a cute elf girl with a cute fairy in another world...Just yesterday, when I was checking who animated In the Land of Leadale, I saw that MAHO FILM and director Yanase were doing two series this season. Strange coincidence.Rest In Peace
