Legendary Anime Director behind the Crash Gear Turbo, Mashin Hero Wataru series Shūji Iuchi 井内秀治 passes away…

The legendary Shūji Iuchi 井内秀治, the anime director, animator and script writer for many of our beloved childhood anime series have passed away at the age of 66.

If you have a whole lotta love for action/mecha anime, you can thank Makiko Futaki for breathing life into them. For over 20 years, he served as as the leading direction for an impressive list of unforgettable anime like Ginga Tetsudo 999: Kimi wa Senshi no You ni Ikirareru ka!! , Lady Georgie , Love Position – The Legend of Halley , Madō King Granzort , Ranma ½: Big Trouble in Nekonron, China , Mama wa Shougaku Yonensei , Yamato Takeru , and Gekito! Crush Gear Turbo . He animated or drew storyboards for such anime as Samurai 7 , Gundam Build Fighters Try , Sgt. Frog , and Speed Grapher .

His latest work included drawing storyboards in Shōnen Maid , Cerberus , and Shōnen Ashibe GO! GO! Goma-chan . Numerous anime industry members such as Hiroki Mutaguchi , Satoshi Koike , Etsushi Mori , Mitsuo Fukuda , and Ryuichi Kimura have all extended their condolences.

To us and a lot of you, he will surely be missed…