Animation director and character designer Keiichiro Kimura passed away on Friday due to a heart attack. He was 80.

Kimura joined Toei Animation in 1961 and worked as animation director and character designer on films and series such as Cyborg 009 and Tiger Mask. He has also worked as key animator on other anime such as Speed Racer, Lupin the Third, and Casshern Sins.

In 2014, Awesome Japan ran a successful Kickstarter for Kimura's short film "Go! Samurai." Kimura's son Takahiro Kimura directed and edited the work with about 2,000 frames of hand-drawn pencil sketch animation done by his father.

A funeral service was held for close relatives with Takahiro Kimura as the chief mourner. Takahiro announced his father's death on Twitter on Monday. He expressed his eternal respect for his father's animation, and said that his father will live on inside him.

Source: Asahi Shimbun