Amin Abbas

Masami Suda, the legendary Japanese anime director who was known for his work on major anime projects including: Hokuto No Ken, Speed Racer, Gatchaman and Hurricane Polymar, has passed away at the age of 77.

Born in 1943 in the prefecture of Saitama, Suda began his career in the animation world at the studios of Tatsunoko. In 1976 he was invited by Toei Animation to work for them, and on that occasion, he decided to become a freelancer to collaborate with any studio projects proposed to him.

In the 80s and 90s Suda’s career reached the peak of success thanks to the animated transposition of Hokuto no Ken (1984).

He had also participated in the development of the Slam Dunk anime as animation director.

Suda’s final project was as a character designer for the animated series Yo-Kai Watch in 2014, while also contributing to the character design of Lupin the 3rd Part IV: The Italian Adventure in 2015.

Suda died on August 1^st but news of his death was withheld to allow family members to gather in mourning.