
Ishiguro Noboru passed away on March 20th 2012 in Kawasaki City Hospital. He died of a lung infection which was the result of a followup surgery procedure to the aneurysm surgery he underwent two years prior.
- wiki
For some reason upon hearing the news, the name Noburo Ishiguro didn't ring any bells immediately. Well, it turns out that Mr. Ishiguro was the director of many classic animé series from the eighties. I felt pretty ashamed for not having known that beforehand, considering his body of work.Mr Ishiguro died at 73 yesterday leaving an incredible opus as chief director of canonical anime works like the first color Astroboy series, Space battleship Yamato (Starblazers), and of course, Super Dimensional Fortress Macross (aka Robotech), which many of us that grew up watching in the 80's and 90's. The series gave many of us our first taste of Japanese anime, opened us up to a vast world of mecha and brought the east to our shores.
2012 hasn't been a good year for talented people in the illustration/ visual/ entertainment industry so far. The recent passing of Moebius comes to mind. As a tribute, one of the coolest cartoon openings of that decade.

Cagliostro Cosplay by Rat Sakura Quite Crimson
“First Yakuza War in 30 Years” Breaks Out
Valkyria Chronicles Remastered Revisits BLiTZ System
Fight! Iczer-One Censored: “They Don’t Even Care Anymore!”
Oxford University Textbook: “Miku = Cultural Appropriation”