RIP Jimmy Murakami

[Dogg Thang]

So a lot you may not know his name but you'll likely know some of his work and it would be wrong of me not to mark his passing. Jimmy directed When the Wind Blows, the awesome and heart-wrenching animated feature from Raymond Briggs. He was animation director on The Snowman. Directed Battle Beyond The Stars. Was founder of Murakami-Wolf films (later Fred Wolf films), that brought you the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon among many others. And, to me, he was the source of some amazing stories and a good friend and supporter.

A Japanese-American who survived a harsh a US internment camp and then went on to live a very colourful life, Jimmy was so full of energy and fun. He was much more than his work. There's actually a documentary about him called Non-Alien that's well worth checking out.

Jimmy has passed away aged 80.

[Lyris]

Ah man, RIP to the guy. The Snowman was such a part of Christmas (same for pretty much everyone in the UK I guess).

[prinnysquad]

Yep. Watched The Snowman twice over Christmas. It really is great, a very subtle piece of animation.

[dvdx2]

I recently watched a remastered version of 'when the wind blows' - a very moving piece of animation

[Dogg Thang]

Yes, it's a pretty powerful movie I reckon. Scary in many ways and yet kind of beautiful in the innocence of its characters.

[MartyG]

I watched Battle Beyond the Stars very recently, totally cheesy Sci-Fi but it's got John Boy in it along with John 'Hannibal' Smith, a talking ship and a battle cruiser that can destroy planets - so that makes it great

[k0pp0]

Battle Beyond the Stars was one of my all time favourite films as a kid.