Anime movies have always been popular around the globe. Recently, they have become even more popular and people around the world have started watching them. People love new animated movies such as Your Name and Koe No Katachi and enjoy their wonderful animation and heart-touching plots.
However, old and classic movies are in a league of their own. Despite the fact that the new movies have better animation and CGI, the old movies are amazing.
Some examples of these movies are Spirited Away, My Neighbour Totoro, and many more. Studio Ghibli and Studio Pierrot are considered to be the kings of animated movies and for good reason. Both studios have produced phenomenal movies that have been loved by fans.
One movie by Studio Pierrot that is loved by the fans is Like The Clouds, Like The Wind. This movie was released in 1990 and is based on a light novel. The light novel was written by Ken’ichi Sakemi and was written under the name Kokyu Shosetsu.
The light novel was wonderful and it won both accolades as well as people’s hearts. Fans enjoyed the movie and the light novel equally. Many commended Sakemi on his wonderful writing and plot setting.
Kokyu Shosetsu Writer Sakemi Passes Away
Sakemi was a wonderful novelist and fans have enjoyed his work for a very long time. He was born in 1963 in Kurume, Japan. He graduated from his University with a major in Eastern Philosophy.
His works have won lots of accolades but it was his first novel, Kokyu Shosetsu that won the most. The novel was written in 1989 and Ken’ichi won the first-ever grand prize of the Japan Fantasy Novel Award.
The novel was wonderful and ultimately was the source material of Like The Clouds, Like The Wind. The novel was set in early 17th-century China. It follows the story of Ginga, a young girl who volunteers to be a candidate for the emperor’s new queen.
Ginga was fourteen when she volunteered. She thought that she’d get three meals at the palace and it would be a fun place to learn. She succeeded in various things and ultimately got the role of the new queen.
However, everything changed when at the last minute, a rebel uprising broke out which forced her to organize an inner unit that could fight the rebels. The light novel and the subsequent movie were both amazing and the credit for the plot goes to Ken’ichi.
The movie was praised by Katsuya Kondo who is a studio Ghibli animator and character designer. The movie was praised for its character designs.
Apart from Like the Clouds, Like the Wind or Kokyu Shosetsu, Ken’ichi wrote Bokko. Bokko was also written as a light novel in 1991 and was then adapted into a manga by Sentaro Kubota and Hideki Mori.
Studio Ghibli even decided to make a film for it. The image boards were done and everything, but the plan wasn’t followed through and the move was never made.
However, despite this, both Bokko and Kokyu Shosetsu were nominated for the Naoki Prize, which is a very prestigious literary award in Japan. The manga was read by many people and they enjoyed it immensely.
His first novel was set in China, but the rest was his imagination. However, in his subsequent novels, Sakemi took up facts from the actual history of China and wrote about them. He was famous for having the right balance between his imagination and the historical facts.
Unfortunately for the fans of Ken’ichi Sakemi, the talented novelist recently passed away. Sakemi was 59 years old when he succumbed to respiratory failure. His family held a private funeral for him.
All the anime fans are greatly saddened by the news. The anime world lost one of the finest novelists and most wonderful souls. He was an immensely talented writer and was a good person.
Fans are saddened by the news and many hope that he is doing alright in a new place. They remember Sakemi for his contribution to both Japanese literature as well as the anime world. He was one of the finest novelists in Japan.
