Space Battleship Yamato Director Toshio Masuda Dies At 98
Toshio Masuda, the director and screenwriter who supervised the original Space Battleship Yamato television series and went on to direct several of its theatrical films, died of old age on August 26. He was 98. Mainichi Shimbun and Yomiuri Shimbun both reported the death. Masuda was born in Kobe in October 1927. He joined Nikkatsu in 1954, after working for Shintoho, and made his directorial debut in 1958 with Kokoro to Nikutai no Tabi. At Nikkatsu he directed Rusty Knife, Red Handkerchief, and Red Quay. He co-directed the Japanese sequences of the 1970 film Tora! Tora! Tora! and was nominated for the Best Director Award at the 4th and 13th Japan Academy Film Prizes, for The Battle of Port Arthur and Company Executives. In anime, he oversaw the scripts and supervised the 1974 Star Blazers television series, directed the 1977 Space Battleship Yamato compilation film, and worked as director and screenwriter on the 1978 film Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato, the 1979 film Space Battleship Yamato: The New Voyage, and the 1980 film Be Forever Yamato.