Yesterday brought with it terrible news for fans of Studio Ghibli. On the 13th of this month, aged 57, veteran Makiko Futaki passed away due to an unspecified illness.

Having worked for decades on countless prolific creations in Japan’s animation industry, Futaki’s contributions ranged from Akira to Space Adventure Cobra. Born on the 19th June 1958, her career began at the Private Animation Festival with cine-calligraphy films and eventually joined Ghibli in 1981. From then she proceeded to work on every one of Hayao Miyazaki’s famed productions, notably Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke and My Neighbor Totoro. The final film she contributed her talents to was When Marnie Was There, which is set to be released in the UK on the 10th of next month.

While Miyazaki remains the studio’s most prolific name, animators like Makiko Futaki are the ones who truly helped bring his fantastic visions to life. She will be sorely missed, and her death felt keenly by the anime community.