R.I.P. Satoshi Kon

Renowned anime director Satoshi Kon is reported to have died from cancer yesterday. I understand this to be a gigantic loss to the currently ailing (creatively, anyway, it is argued) anime industry.

While I myself have not seen most of Kon's works, the only one I've watched being the very enjoyable Tokyo Godfathers, Kon's work is beloved by many and will influence even more. He rarely dabbled in the world of realism, except for in the sole movie of his I've seen all-the-way through; thus, I would not call it his representative work. Instead, most would cite that to be Paprika, his last completed film, an incredibly surreal movie that took place in the world of dreams. Think Inception, except far stranger, and probably more true to the actual nature of the dream. It's an insane movie (I definitely don't mean that in a bad way), and perhaps a bit of an acquired taste, but it would be hard to argue that it isn't good.

Kon was also famed for Paranoia Agent, the similarly complex and stylized TV series. It aired on Adult Swim here in the U.S. 

The sudden loss will be hard for anime fans and fellow directors to recover from. He had a movie, called The Dreaming Machine, in the works, but it's unknown how far into production it was and whether it will ever reach completion now.

I guess all I can say is R.I.P. Satoshi Kon. I can't say there was or continues to be anyone more inspired than you.