Yasuo Ôtsuka(1931-2021)

As an influential animator, he played an essential role when two important directors in Japanese animation, namely Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki, made their theatrical debut. In 1965, when Toei Doga chose Otsuka for animation director of their tenth feature film, he recommended the studio to pick out Takahata for director. This tenth feature film resulted in Takahata's theatrical debut Horus: O Príncipe do Sol (1968). Again in 1979, when Tokyo Movie Shinsha asked him to make the second "Lupin the Third" movie, he invited Miyazaki to direct it. This collaboration resulted in Miyazaki's theatrical debut Lupin III: O Castelo de Cagliostro (1979).