Yoshiji Kigami (Japanese: 木上 益治, Hepburn: Kigami Yoshiji, 28 December 1957 – 18 July 2019) was a Japanese animator, director and storyboarder. He started working at Shin-Ei Animation, later became part of Animaruya and then he became affiliated with Kyoto Animation.
Career
When he was young, Kigami was a big fan of Disney movies and anime shows based on the manga series of Osamu Tezuka, and this lead him to becoming an animator. He started working at Shin-Ei Animation before joining Kyoto Animation. Kigami became well known in the industry for his work on Grave of the Fireflies and Akira as a key animator.[1] In 2003, Kigami directed his first work, Munto, and later became an instructor at Kyoto Animation's teaching program.[2] In Kyoto Animation productions, he used the pen name Ichirou Miyoshi (三好一郎) when storyboarding, and Fumio Tada (多田文男) when doing key animation.[3]
Death
On 18 July 2019, during the Kyoto Animation arson attack, Kigami was killed alongside 35 of his colleagues,[4] with 33 others wounded; Kigami was initially declared missing after the attack[5][6] due to his mother declaring that he could not be contacted immediately following the fire.[6] His death was confirmed on 2 August 2019.[7]
