Yesterday, ANN and Asahi had revealed some tragic news. According to members of the Coast Guard at Ogasawara Islands, Yoshinobu Nishizaki, the creator and producer of "Space Battleship Yamato" (known in North America as "Star Blazers"), kicked the bucket as a result of drowning after falling off from the research steamboat Yamato while the boat itself was docked at Futami Harbor's Ogiura area at the Chichi-jima island, though they found him wearing a wetsuit for swimming. He was at age 75 at the time of death.

Because of his death, his work on "Space Battleship Yamato: Resurrection" (released in 2009) ended up becoming his last contribution to the Anime industry, though he had hoped to do a sequel to it. Apart from working on the "Space Battleship Yamato" franchise (excluding "Great Yamato No. 0"), he created 1979's "Space Carrier Blue Noah" (known in the West as "Thundersub") and 1985's "Odin: Photon Sailor Starlight" (a.k.a. "Odin: Starlight Mutiny") as well as produced an Anime T.V. series adaptation of Osamu Tezuka's "Triton of The Sea", planned 1980's "Maetelink's Blue Bird", and served as executive producer of 1987's "Urotsukidoji".

Whether or not someone will replace Nishizaki as intellectual property owner of the "Space Battleship Yamato" franchise, the Anime industry will never be the same without him.

11:45 AM Canada EST