Studio Ghibli Co-Founder Isao Takahata Dies

Studio Ghibli co founder Isao Takahata. Photo by Studio Ghibli/Dentsu/Kddi Corp/Mitsubishi/Ntv/Toho/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock (5874315c)

Isao Takahata, the co-founder of Japanese Studio Ghibli, passed away on Thursday aged 82 after losing the battle with lung cancer.

Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki founded Ghibli Studio in 1985. The first movie, Castle in the Sky, came out in 1986 while the latest one, The Red Turtle, came out 30 years later, in 2016.

Takahata won three awards for 1988’s Grave of the Fireflies. This is considered to be his best work ever. He was also famous for creating animated series Alps no Shojo Heidi and Lupin Sansei.