JAPANESE anime pioneer Isao Takahata has died aged 82.

Takahata, who was famous for developing a hand-drawn "manga" look, died of lung cancer at a Tokyo hospital, it has been confirmed.

4 Isao Takahata was co-founder of the prestigious Japanese animation company Studio Ghibli Credit: AP:Associated Press

Takahata's last film - The Tale of The Princess Kaguya, based on a Japanese folktale - was nominated for a 2015 Oscar for best animated feature.

He launched the prestigious Japanese animation company Studio Ghibli with animator Hayao Miyazaki in 1986, hoping to create Japan's Disney.

Takahata knew his work, which used floating sketches, stood as a challenge to Hollywood's computer-generated cartoons.

Strong female characters were a Takahata trademark.

He was planning to make a film about exploited girls, forced to work as nannies with infants strapped on their backs.

4 Takahata poses for a photo with the Leopard of Honour award that he received during the 62nd Locarno International Film Festival in 2009 Credit: EPA

4 Takahata directed Grave Of The Fireflies, a war film released in 1988 Credit: Optimum

4 Takahata was known for creating strong female characters. Pictured a snip from Girl of the Alps.

All his stories, he said, held the message of urging everyone to live life to the fullest, to be all they can be and not be bogged down by petty concerns like money and prestige.

He directed Grave Of The Fireflies, a tragic tale about wartime childhood.

He also produced some of the studio's films, including Miyazaki's 1984 Nausicaa Of The Valley Of The Wind, which tells the horror of an environmental disaster through a story about a princess.

He is also known for the 1970s Japanese TV series Heidi, Girl Of The Alps, based on the book by Swiss author Johanna Spyri.

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Although he did not win an Oscar, Takahata won many other awards, including those from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the Lorcano International Film Festival.

A native of Mie Prefecture, Takahata was a graduate of the University of Tokyo and initially worked at Toei, one of Japan's major film and animation studios.

Toshio Suzuki, a producer at Studio Ghibli, said the company was organising a farewell ceremony for Takahata for May 15.

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