Matt Schley
May 30, 2016 
Animator Makiko Futaki, whose work at Ghibli spans the entirety of the studio’s filmography, has died at age 58.
Futaki died of an unspecified illness on May 13.
Futaki, who was born in 1957 in Osaka, began her career at Telecom Animation Film Co., Ltd. before going freelance. Though she worked on dozens of anime titles, she will likely be best-remembered for her work with Studio Ghibli, which she officially joined in 1991.
She worked on every Ghibli film, including Hayao Miyazaki’s pre-Ghibli Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, later retroactively added to the Ghibli filmography, to the studio’s last film, When Marnie Was There.
Other films Futaki worked on include Isao Takahata’s Jarinko Chie, Space Adventure Cobra and Akira.
In addition to her work as an animator, Futaki was also a prolific illustrator who provided the covers for several books in the Moribito series.
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