Natsume's Book of Friends Art Director Yukihiro Shibutani Dies at 63

Anime background artist, art director, and the GAKIproAstudio art studio’s board director Yukihiro Shibutani died in a Tokyo hospital on September 15 due to a worsening chronic illness.

Shibutani worked as art director for the backgrounds of the Natsume’s Book of Friends from the first season in 2008 to the ongoing seventh season, which just premiered earlier this month.

Shibutani joined the Y.A.P. Ishigaki Production background art studio when he was 20, and has since been working on background art and directing the art for numerous anime since the early 1980s.