History Creator / IsaoTakahata

* ''Anime/PandaGoPanda'' (1972)

* ShortLivedBigImpact: He was definitely the less prolific of Ghibli's two big directors (he actually directed the same number of films as Miyazaki, but far less of his own works were made under Ghibli's roof, with his earlier ones much less known, and the gaps between his Ghibli films were far greater), but his films remain massively influential to this day; even today, a depressing animated film will always see at least one comparison to ''Grave of the Fireflies''.

* ShortLivedBigImpact: He was definitely the less prolific of Ghibli's two big directors (he actually directed the same number of films as Miyazaki, but far less of his own works were made under Ghibli's roof, with his earlier ones far less known, and the gaps between his Ghibli films were far greater), but his films remain massively influential to this day; even today, a depressing animated film will always see at least one comparison to ''Grave of the Fireflies''.

* ShortLivedBigImpact: He was definitely the less prolific of Ghibli's two big directors (he actually directed the same number of films as Miyazaki, but far less of his own works were made under Ghibli's roof and the gaps between them were far greater), but his films remain massively influential to this day; even today, a depressing animated film will always see at least one comparison to ''Grave of the Fireflies''.

* ShortLivedBigImpact: He was definitely the less prolific of Ghibli's two big directors (counting the upcoming ''How Do You Live?'', he actually directed the same number of films as Miyazaki, but far less of his own works were made under Ghibli's roof and the gaps between them were far greater), but his films remain massively influential to this day; even today, a depressing animated film will always see at least one comparison to ''Grave of the Fireflies''.

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[[quoteright:281:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/takahata.jpg]]

* GenreRoulette: Compared to Miyazaki, who specialized in fantasy-inspired films driven by a sense of adventure, Takahata focused on a much more varied palette of genres, with the main glue between them being a dramatic tone. Going from his work with Studio Ghibli alone, he's produced a depressing war drama, a coming-of-age-meets-adult-drama film with MagicRealism elements, a GreenAesop fantasy dramadey, a SliceOfLife vignette film, and a medieval fantasy-drama.

** His other films like ''Anime/OnlyYesterday'', ''Anime/PomPoko'', and ''Anime/TheTaleOfPrincessKaguya'' lie somewhere in the middle..

* ''Anime/GraveOfTheFireflies'' is definitely at the very tip of the "cynical" end.
* ''Anime/MyNeighborsTheYamadas'' and ''Anime/PandaGoPanda'' are more idealistic.
* His other films like ''Anime/OnlyYesterday'', ''Anime/PomPoko'', and ''Anime/TheTaleOfPrincessKaguya'' lie somewhere in the middle..

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: His films range all over the spectrum, sometimes shifting place from scene-to-scene. ''Grave of the Fireflies'' is definitely at the very tip of the "cynical" end, while ''My Neighbors the Yamadas'' is for the most part a more idealistic film than his usual work. Most of his other films lie somewhere in-between.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Takahata was planning to work on an animated short for ''Modest Heroes'', but his death nixed that.

* ''Anime/LupinIIIGreenJacket'' (1971, episodes 8-23; co-directed with Creator/HayaoMiyazaki)

* ''Anime/HolsPrinceOfTheSun'', also released as ''Little Norse Prince Valiant'' (1968)

* ShortLivedBigImpact: He was definitely the less prolific of Ghibli's two big directors, but his films remain massively influential to this day; even today, a depressing animated film will always see at least one comparison to ''Grave of the Fireflies''.

After cutting his teeth working for Creator/ToeiAnimation, Creator/TMSEntertainment, and Creator/NipponAnimation before going freelance in 1979, Takahata went on to co-found Creator/StudioGhibli with Creator/HayaoMiyazaki, and today is regarded as one of the greatest anime directors of all time. More infamously, he's also regarded as one of the strictest, to the point where it's rumored that his perfectionist attitudes towards his staff was a factor in both Ghibli's lack of new blood and Yoshifumi Kondo's death of a brain aneurysm in 1998, something Takahata himself was willing to believe. Nonetheless, his films are regarded as some of the best to ever come out of Japan, and no one will argue that his legacy and acclaim is undeserved. In that sense, one could consider Takahata the anime industry's equivalent of Creator/StanleyKubrick.

* AcclaimedFlop: ''Anime/TheTaleOfThePrincessKaguya'' earned a very positive reception, but it was a BoxOfficeBomb, even in Japan.