The sad truth about this is likely more to do with Japanese corporate culture. They burn the candle at both ends going out drinking with the office every night. I have heard it's even more prevalent in entertainment industry there.
the deaths are happening all at once within the last 2-3 years or so though. Its too much of a coincidence that it happened around covid and vaccine times
There might also be some sample bias. "These deaths" are people who started their manga/anime/videogame/etc. careers in the 1980's-1990's when they were in their 20's-30's on average. People are starting to get old. Yes dying in your 60's is young but as pointed out, given the workaholic culture it's not that surprising and for every person dying that young there are still hundreds others living, they just don't make the news.
63 is exactly when you start seeing people dropping from alcoholism and cancer. Actually, it starts in the mid 50s, but it really picks up in the mid 60s. Not that I'm saying Inomata was an alcoholic, but dying in your 60s is far from unheard of. It's relatively uncommon, but it still happens all the time.
Y'know, the Tales series is a perfect example of how you can make a fantasy story that has heavy (liberal) political messages, yet doesn't beat you over the head with it and try and tell you that you're a terrible person for not accepting it.
Pretty much all of the Tales games are green aesops that say "nature good, technology bad", or are about otherwise traditionally liberal ideals such as anti-racism. And yet there's always some nuance to it. Like how in Tales of Symphonia,the villain's entire thing is about how he wants to eliminate racism from the world, and decides that the best way to go about this is to force everyone to become identical puppets. Whereas the protagonist is like "Okay yeah, racism is really bad and we should do something about it, but uh... that ain't it, chief."
I wonder how many of today's liberals would agree with ToS' villain's methods. How many would say "But he was actually right because we should eliminate racism by ANY means necessary, even forcing people!". Probably a lot, I'd wager.
You're right I didn't even think of it but most of the stories are like that. At the very least the Tales games offered some beauty in their music, character design, artwork, etc. One of the biggest problems with the modern games are outside of hitting you over the head with it, they are just ugly games in every way.
considering they're not pushing the 'jet was right' angle for avatar tla. You know the villain who appeared in the episode where the moral of the story was the ends don't justify the means.
But now to them it does, by equating jet with palestinians and the fire nation with israel
Not entirely sure, haven't played it. I heard the PC port way back when was a little wonky. If all the remaster did was give it a touch up, and if you can still play it with a GameCube controller, I say jump right in, it's an awesome game.
One piece of advice is it's a game where if you are just on autopilot going through it, you will really miss out on tons of cool side quests, optional bosses, entire aspects of the combat system, etc.
I unfortunately haven't touched it in over a decade, but several playthroughs over 2004 to 2013 burned all that stuff into my head. Thinking back, so many of my favorite parts of the game, whether they be sidequests or simply little character interactions are completely optional and therefore missable. There's gotta be some guides out there that can tip you off to some things without spoiling stuff if you aren't against not going in 100% blind.
Having done a little reading, I think my safest bet is the cheapest. I'll stick with emulating, it looks fine to me.
Thanks for the heads up on the side content. From experience I know it's a good shout to go into old JRPGs with a walkthru on hand, but sometimes my sheer hubris prompts me to go in full blind (I regret this now for XC1 because that game is fucking sprawling). Symphonia wasn't a game that struck me as if it would have had much side stuff so I might have made the same mistake again. My only previous full Tales game was Berseria, although I played a bunch of Vesperia before ditching it and a teensy bit of Symphonia itself on a friend's GC back in the day.
Yeah I think the graphics haven't aged the best, but if you're someone like me who doesn't put too much weight on that then they are plenty good enough, just a bit dated.
And ahh, sorry to hear you didn't like Vesperia. I didn't like it as much as Symphonia but I still liked it a good bit. I never delved into it more deeply than a single playthrough though so there may have been more good stuff I missed.
I found a nice CRT filter to give the visuals more texture so I'm all the more eager to give Symphonia a spin now, although it'll probably be a while before I get around to it.
Vesperia was a good game and I sank a good amount of hours in it even, but I wasn't a fan of the way the story and chars were going which can kill a game quick for me. As time's gone on I've grown less committed to the idea of finishing RPGs I'm not fully feeling, so Vesperia was probably a casualty of that.
All of them passed away in the 50's or 60's way younger than the average age of death in Japan
The only one i can say for certain passed away because of an actual accident was Kazuki cause he drowned trying to save someone else.
But seriously what is going on here?
I mean... I distinctly remember the 00s, when the big ones, like the Naruto and Bleach artists saying things like they sleep in the closet in their office and in their days off they go to their barber to get a haircut.
As much as half the people here will scream VAAAAAAAXX without any information, I think the big anime boom generation of artists are having their lifestyle catching up with them, sadly.
They are part of an interesting generation. They have lived their whole lives during a sudden, fast upward rising of society. In a field that also had a huge boom.
RIP, sad to see another artist I grew up with pass away but its part of getting older and life in general. I love Tales games, appreciate the unique style it has always had, even if they aren't perfect or even great games sometimes lol.
Also does seem quite young for a Japanese woman so I hope this isn't anything more nefarious.
63 is WAY TOO YOUNG without an underlying condition.
Requiescat in pace but we need to health check ALL animators and manga creators in Japan right now.
Seriously fuck the clotshots
The sad truth about this is likely more to do with Japanese corporate culture. They burn the candle at both ends going out drinking with the office every night. I have heard it's even more prevalent in entertainment industry there.
Twice as bright, half as long. RIP
the deaths are happening all at once within the last 2-3 years or so though. Its too much of a coincidence that it happened around covid and vaccine times
You might actually be right in this case, apparently happened "suddenly" according to sister:
https://twitter.com/inomatanekomata/status/1769574475908170182
The OP statement also mentions it was 'so sudden', saying she left behind rough sketches she had just started.
There might also be some sample bias. "These deaths" are people who started their manga/anime/videogame/etc. careers in the 1980's-1990's when they were in their 20's-30's on average. People are starting to get old. Yes dying in your 60's is young but as pointed out, given the workaholic culture it's not that surprising and for every person dying that young there are still hundreds others living, they just don't make the news.
Yet their average life expectancy is the 3rd highest in the world. (USA is between #40 and #60 depending on the ranking used)
Eh, average can be misleading as they also have longest living in Okinawa to scee things. Okinawa is very different than corporate Tokyo.
63 is exactly when you start seeing people dropping from alcoholism and cancer. Actually, it starts in the mid 50s, but it really picks up in the mid 60s. Not that I'm saying Inomata was an alcoholic, but dying in your 60s is far from unheard of. It's relatively uncommon, but it still happens all the time.
First Toriyama, now this. Waiting for the third.
Two character designers so far, likely the third will be another character designer.
Well a seiyuu died last week too
who died?
The seiyuu for chibi maruko. https://www.sankakucomplex.com/2024/03/09/chibi-maruko-chan-voice-actress-tarako-dead-at-63/
First was Miura.
RIP
Y'know, the Tales series is a perfect example of how you can make a fantasy story that has heavy (liberal) political messages, yet doesn't beat you over the head with it and try and tell you that you're a terrible person for not accepting it.
Pretty much all of the Tales games are green aesops that say "nature good, technology bad", or are about otherwise traditionally liberal ideals such as anti-racism. And yet there's always some nuance to it. Like how in Tales of Symphonia,the villain's entire thing is about how he wants to eliminate racism from the world, and decides that the best way to go about this is to force everyone to become identical puppets. Whereas the protagonist is like "Okay yeah, racism is really bad and we should do something about it, but uh... that ain't it, chief."
I wonder how many of today's liberals would agree with ToS' villain's methods. How many would say "But he was actually right because we should eliminate racism by ANY means necessary, even forcing people!". Probably a lot, I'd wager.
Anyway, I digress. RIP to the artist.
You're right I didn't even think of it but most of the stories are like that. At the very least the Tales games offered some beauty in their music, character design, artwork, etc. One of the biggest problems with the modern games are outside of hitting you over the head with it, they are just ugly games in every way.
considering they're not pushing the 'jet was right' angle for avatar tla. You know the villain who appeared in the episode where the moral of the story was the ends don't justify the means.
But now to them it does, by equating jet with palestinians and the fire nation with israel
Tales of Symphonia is my favorite game ever. Rest in Peace.
How's the remaster? I need another classic JRPG lined up in case I ever finish Xenoblade Chronicles 1 before I die.
Not entirely sure, haven't played it. I heard the PC port way back when was a little wonky. If all the remaster did was give it a touch up, and if you can still play it with a GameCube controller, I say jump right in, it's an awesome game.
One piece of advice is it's a game where if you are just on autopilot going through it, you will really miss out on tons of cool side quests, optional bosses, entire aspects of the combat system, etc.
I unfortunately haven't touched it in over a decade, but several playthroughs over 2004 to 2013 burned all that stuff into my head. Thinking back, so many of my favorite parts of the game, whether they be sidequests or simply little character interactions are completely optional and therefore missable. There's gotta be some guides out there that can tip you off to some things without spoiling stuff if you aren't against not going in 100% blind.
Having done a little reading, I think my safest bet is the cheapest. I'll stick with emulating, it looks fine to me.
Thanks for the heads up on the side content. From experience I know it's a good shout to go into old JRPGs with a walkthru on hand, but sometimes my sheer hubris prompts me to go in full blind (I regret this now for XC1 because that game is fucking sprawling). Symphonia wasn't a game that struck me as if it would have had much side stuff so I might have made the same mistake again. My only previous full Tales game was Berseria, although I played a bunch of Vesperia before ditching it and a teensy bit of Symphonia itself on a friend's GC back in the day.
Yeah I think the graphics haven't aged the best, but if you're someone like me who doesn't put too much weight on that then they are plenty good enough, just a bit dated.
And ahh, sorry to hear you didn't like Vesperia. I didn't like it as much as Symphonia but I still liked it a good bit. I never delved into it more deeply than a single playthrough though so there may have been more good stuff I missed.
I found a nice CRT filter to give the visuals more texture so I'm all the more eager to give Symphonia a spin now, although it'll probably be a while before I get around to it.
Vesperia was a good game and I sank a good amount of hours in it even, but I wasn't a fan of the way the story and chars were going which can kill a game quick for me. As time's gone on I've grown less committed to the idea of finishing RPGs I'm not fully feeling, so Vesperia was probably a casualty of that.
first Kentaro Miura creator of Berserk (54)
Then Kazuki Takahashi the creator of Yugioh (60)
then Yoshitaka Murayama creator of Suikoden (55)
then Akira Toriyama creator of Dragon ball (68)
And now this
All within the last 2-3 years or so.
All of them passed away in the 50's or 60's way younger than the average age of death in Japan The only one i can say for certain passed away because of an actual accident was Kazuki cause he drowned trying to save someone else. But seriously what is going on here?
I mean... I distinctly remember the 00s, when the big ones, like the Naruto and Bleach artists saying things like they sleep in the closet in their office and in their days off they go to their barber to get a haircut.
As much as half the people here will scream VAAAAAAAXX without any information, I think the big anime boom generation of artists are having their lifestyle catching up with them, sadly.
They are part of an interesting generation. They have lived their whole lives during a sudden, fast upward rising of society. In a field that also had a huge boom.
That sucks. I loved several of those games.
RIP, sad to see another artist I grew up with pass away but its part of getting older and life in general. I love Tales games, appreciate the unique style it has always had, even if they aren't perfect or even great games sometimes lol.
Also does seem quite young for a Japanese woman so I hope this isn't anything more nefarious.
Slow motion rapture and the anime people are getting saved first!
So many vaxxidents
Will the jap folks make the connection?
Love this series. Sad news indeed