Mourning the Loss of Splendid Ghibli Art Director Nizō-gumo

Studio Ghibli is known for the magic it creates. Even the most menial tasks, like making breakfast seem beautiful in these movies. They have honestly helped many people realize the joy in mundane activities.

The art style isn’t wild; it’s simple and transports you to a peaceful world. Even if the world depicted is mystical and made up, the art directors make it seem as authentic as possible. Nizo Yamamoto was the art director who made this magic possible.

Nizo Yamamoto left this world on Saturday, August 19. He was 70 and died due to stomach cancer. A service will be held on August 27 at 11:00 a.m. in Hanno City in Saitama Prefecture. His son Takao will be the chief mourner.

Yamamoto was an art director on the Future Boy Conan television series with Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. These two directors later co-founded Studio Ghibli.

Yamamoto then became the art director of many of Ghibli’s films, including Laputa: Castle in the Sky, Grave of the Fireflies, and Princess Mononoke. He also recently contributed to the art of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Weathering With You.

He was a brilliant artist, and his signature style featured grand vistas with clouds that were both realistic and fanciful, which earned him the fan nickname “Nizō-gumo”( Nizō Clouds).

Nagasaki, his hometown, opened a museum in his honor under the name Clouds Over Goto: Nizo Yamamoto Art Museum in 2018.

Between 2010 and 2021, Yamamoto drew Gotō Hyakkei, an art collection depicting the landscape of his birthplace.

Yamamoto was drawing a 120-page manga about a local Gotō folk tale just days before his passing. He was one page away from completing the manga before he passed away. This makes his death even worse since he was close to completing his work.

Our world has lost a genius art director and a beautiful human. May his soul rest in peace.

About Weathering With You

Weathering with You is a 2019  animated romantic fantasy film written and directed by Makoto Shinkai.

The summer of his high school freshman year, Hodaka runs away from his home to Tokyo and finds himself pushed to his financial and personal limits. The weather is unusually rainy every day but he finally finds work as a writer for an occult magazine.

Hodaka then meets Hina, a strong-willed girl who possesses a strange ability to stop the rain and clear the sky.