Acclaimed Japanese screenwriter Keiko Nobumoto passed away at the age of 57 on Dec. 1, 2021. News of her passing comes from a Facebook post by Dai Soto, who revealed that Nobumoto was possibly battling esophageal cancer and that her family has already held the funeral.
Anime fans will be very familiar with Nobumoto’s work, as her writing credits include Cowboy Bebop and Tokyo Godfathers. She was also the screenwriter for the 2001 Cowboy Bebop movie and created the anime Wolf’s Rain. Video game fans will also be familiar with her work, as she was a writer on the hugely popular first Kingdom Hearts game.
Nobumoto was one of the anime world’s most celebrated writers, and her death will leave a void in the industry. In fact, Collider just did a piece detailing why she was one of the greatest anime writers ever a few weeks ago prior to her passing. David Lynn praised her ability to write characters and balance comedy and drama.
Her last work was on the anime series Carole & Tuesday, for which she wrote one episode. It was her first work since 2014 when she worked on Space Dandy. Other than that, she hasn’t been active in screenwriting since the early 2000s.
Nobumoto may not have written much in recent years, but her earlier works are timeless and will live on despite her untimely death.
