Osamu Kobayashi (illustrator)

Osamu Kobayashi (小林 治) (January 10, 1964 – April 17, 2021 ) was a Japanese animator, illustrator, mechanical designer, and animation director primarily known for BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad and Paradise Kiss; his guest appearance as director of episode 4 of Gurren Lagann, and, most recently, episode 15 of Dororo. After graduating from high school, he worked as a designer and manga artist, but following his participation in Grandia he was mainly active in the field of animation. He originally directed avant-garde shorts and music videos for Studio 4°C and has more recently done two TV series for Madhouse Studios. Kobayushi was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2019, and died on April 17, 2021, at 57 years old, from a colon infection caused by the disease. His name is occasionally rendered in full katakana to differentiate from Osamu Kobayashi, an unrelated anime episode director.

Director

 * table&fishman (short) (2002) (first directorial work)
 * End of the world (short - part of Grasshoppa! series) (2002)
 * Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad (TV) (2004-2005)
 * Paradise Kiss (TV) (2005)
 * Sancha (The Aromatic Tea) Blues (short) (2007)
 * Someday's Dreamers: Summer Skies (TV) (2008)
 * Naruto: Shippuden (TV) (2016) (eps 480–483)
 * Rinshi! Ekoda-chan (TV) (2019) (ep 11)

Other

 * Venus Wars (Movie) (1989) - Mecha cleanup
 * Grandia (Game) (1997) - World setting design
 * Blue Submarine No. 6 (OVA) (1998) - Art design, art setting
 * Evolution: The World of Sacred Device (Game) (1999) - World setting design, mechanical design, demo director
 * Gungrave (Game) (2002) - Art design, mechanical design, stage concept design
 * Gad Guard (TV) (2003) - Set design, original drawing animation director, storyboard, episode director, key animation, ending animation
 * Kaiketsu Zorori (TV) (2004) - Ending animation
 * Zoids: Genesis (TV) (2005-2006) - Digald concept design
 * Kemonozume (TV) (2006) - Storyboard, episode director, animation director, key animation (ep 7)
 * Gurren Lagann (TV) (2008) - Storyboard, episode director, animation director, key animation (ep 4)
 * Hanamaru Kindergarten (TV) (2010) - ED animation special director, animation director (ep 7)
 * Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt (TV) (2010) - Setting, episode director, storyboard, key animation (ep 5b)
 * Tegami Bachi REVERSE (TV) (2010) - ED2 illustration
 * The Mystic Archives of Dantalian (TV) (2011) - Storyboard, episode director (ep 9)
 * One Night City (Manga) (2014)
 * The Last: Naruto the Movie (Movie) (2014) - Concept art
 * Garo: Crimson Moon (TV) (2014) - Storyboard (ep 4)
 * Lupin the 3rd Part IV: The Italian Adventure (TV) (2015) - Storyboard, episode director (ep 12)
 * Dororo (TV) (2019) - Storyboard and episode director (ep 15), ending animation
 * Lupin the Third: Pilot Film (TV) (1969) - Voiced by Goemon Ishikawa