Kenichirō Katsura, an animator whose career stretched from the 1980s through this year’s Gintama film, died on September 30. He was 59. He had been receiving medical treatment for an illness, and his wife, animator Satoko Miyachi, announced his death on her X account on Monday.
A private funeral was held with only close family present. Miyachi thanked the fans who loved Katsura’s work, the studios he worked with, and the staff who worked alongside him through his career.
Recent work
Katsura’s most recent credits were animation director for Gintama: The Movie 2026: Yoshiwara in Flames, and key animator for That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime the Movie: Tears of the Azure Sea. Both films opened in Japan this year, in February. They were among the last projects he worked on.
Gintama still holds a high profile in Japan, where the franchise’s anniversary recently became an official Gintama Day on October 10.
A long résumé
He served as chief animation director on the two seasons of Synduality: Noir, The Fruit of Grisaia, The Eden of Grisaia and How to Keep a Mummy. On the second season of Shy he took the role for five episodes, and on That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime he covered eight. He also directed the Utawarerumono OVA and the Hi・Me・Go・To OVA.
His animation work reaches back to the late 1980s. He was an episode key animator on the 1989 Ranma ½ series and the 1995 Magic Knight Rayearth 2, and on later shows including Noir, Oishinbo, Date A Live II, BLUE LOCK 2nd Season and Encouragement of Climb across its second and third seasons. He also worked on the Mobile Suit SD Gundam films and OVAs, taking the lead on the first part of the Mobile Suit SD Gundam Festival film and its Mk V and SD Gundam Legend OVA episodes.
Macross 7 fans will know his name from four episodes as animation director, plus character design on Macross 7 Plus and character and animation design on Macross 7 the Movie: The Galaxy’s Calling Me!. He was also episode director and animation director for the third episode of the Macross 7 Encore OVA.
Across those titles, the work covers children’s shows, late-night action and theatrical films. Few animators of his generation moved that freely between them.
Katsura was character designer and chief animation director on Knight’s & Magic, and that anime’s official X account posted its own condolences.
Tributes came from the studios and accounts that worked with him. Miyachi’s message asked fans to remember the work he left behind across more than three decades in the industry, and it singled out the crews he spent that time beside.
Why it matters
Animation credits often pass by without notice, but they map a career that touched a wide spread of the medium, from late-80s broadcast anime to this year’s biggest film releases. Katsura moved between action, comedy and drama across decades. He stayed on the tools until recently.
His death leaves a gap for the people he worked with. Miyachi’s note is a reminder that the names in a credits roll belong to people with families and colleagues, and the tribute from the Knight’s & Magic account shows how far that reach went.
Source: Anime News Network, citing Satoko Miyachi’s X account.
Featured image: Gintama: The Movie 2026: Yoshiwara in Flames, Kenichirō Katsura’s most recent credited work, via Anime News Network.
