Osamu Kobayashi (illustrator)

Osamu Kobayashi (小林 治, Kobayashi Osamu) (January 10, 1964 – April 17, 2021^[1]) was a Japanese animator, illustrator, mechanical designer, and animation director primarily known for BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad and Paradise Kiss; his guest appearance as director of episode 4 of Gurren Lagann, and, most recently, episode 15 of Dororo.^[2] After graduating from high school, he worked as a designer and manga artist, but following his participation in Grandia he was mainly active in the field of animation. He originally directed avant-garde shorts and music videos for Studio 4°C and has more recently done two TV series for Madhouse Studios.^{[2][better source needed]} Kobayashi was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2019, and died on April 17, 2021, at 57 years old, from a colon infection caused by the disease.^[3] His name is occasionally rendered in full katakana to differentiate from Osamu Kobayashi, an unrelated anime episode director.

Osamu Kobayashi at the Japan Expo Sud 2011 in Marseille

Filmography

Director

• table&fishman (short) (2002) (first directorial work)
• End of the world (short - part of Grasshoppa! series) (2002)
• Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad (TV) (2004–2005)^[2]
• Paradise Kiss (TV) (2005)^[2]
• Sancha (The Aromatic Tea) Blues (short) (2007)
• Someday's Dreamers: Summer Skies (TV) (2008)
• Naruto: Shippuden (TV) (2016) (eps 480–483)
• Rinshi! Ekoda-chan (TV) (2019) (ep 11)

Other

• Venus Wars (Movie) (1989) - Mecha cleanup
• Grandia (Game) (1997) - World setting design
• Blue Submarine No. 6 (OVA) (1998) - Art design, art setting
• Evolution: The World of Sacred Device (Game) (1999) - World setting design, mechanical design, demo director
• Gungrave (Game) (2002) - Art design, mechanical design, stage concept design
• Gad Guard (TV) (2003) - Set design, original drawing animation director, storyboard, episode director, key animation, ending animation
• Kaiketsu Zorori (TV) (2004) - Ending animation
• Zoids: Genesis (TV) (2005–2006) - Digald concept design
• Kemonozume (TV) (2006) - Storyboard, episode director, animation director, key animation (ep 7)
• Gurren Lagann (TV) (2008) - Storyboard, episode director, animation director, key animation (ep 4)
• Hanamaru Kindergarten (TV) (2010) - ED animation special director, animation director (ep 7)
• Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt (TV) (2010) - Setting, episode director, storyboard, key animation (ep 5b)
• Tegami Bachi REVERSE (TV) (2010) - ED2 illustration
• The Mystic Archives of Dantalian (TV) (2011) - Storyboard, episode director (ep 9)
• One Night City (Manga) (2014)
• The Last: Naruto the Movie (Movie) (2014) - Concept art
• Garo: Crimson Moon (TV) (2014) - Storyboard (ep 4)
• Lupin the 3rd Part IV: The Italian Adventure (TV) (2015) - Storyboard, episode director (ep 12)
• Dororo (TV) (2019) - Storyboard and episode director (ep 15), ending animation