Reiko Okuyama, Commercial Artist

On a legendary Japanese animator.

Reiko Okuyama in 1963 (courtesy of Reiko Okuyama: Legendary Animator)

Welcome! Today’s issue of the Animation Obsessive newsletter is about the career and artistry of Reiko Okuyama (1936–2007), one of Japan’s great animators.

Okuyama was there at the very start of modern Japanese animation. She stayed with it for years — even animating a bit for Studio Ghibli in the ‘80s. Today, she’s well known in Japan because of Natsuzora (2019), a TV drama inspired by her life.

The real Okuyama was a complex, larger-than-life figure. Even in the ‘60s, she was getting profiled in newspapers because she stood out as a high-ranking woman in animation. She was a talented artist — but always a dissatisfied one. Okuyama wrote in 1968, “I have never been satisfied with the work I have done,” even when she thought it was good.¹ That stayed true for her.

Today, we’re looking at how Okuyama joined animation, at what she achieved and at why she stayed so ambivalent about her career. Here we go!