Animator's Parents Realize Her Talent after Kyoto Arson Death

Kyoto, July 30 (Jiji Press)--The parents of a veteran animator killed in the recent deadly arson attack on a Kyoto Animation Co. studio have said they learned of the depth of her talent only after her death. Naomi Ishida, who died at age 49, was a color designer who had worked for the animation powerhouse in the western Japan city of Kyoto since it was just a subcontractor. She was involved in the production of such popular works as "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya." Born to a dyer father and a mother who worked at a traditional "Nishijin-ori" fabrics studio, Ishida liked drawing from childhood. After graduating from a high school and taking up nursing, Ishida entered a vocational school in the western prefecture of Osaka to pursue her dream of becoming an animator. She landed a position at Kyoto Animation, then a newly established company, when she was 22. Ishida initially engaged in manual work, coloring animation celluloid sheets. She wore an apron and sleevelets to keep her from being stained with paints. "I'd often wash (the apron and sleevelets)," Ishida's 78-year-old mother recalls. Her daughter "was a solid person, and I never heard her complain." Kyoto Animation works have a high reputation in and outside the country for their delicate coloring. "Naomi created colors that I hadn't seen anywhere else," her 83-year-old father said. Her mother believed that Ishida, from Kyoto's Fushimi Ward, was working at a different studio on July 18, when the arson attack occurred. She told acquaintances that Ishida was safe. Later, however, the mother found herself unable to contact her daughter, and she could not think straight. The mother got a telephone call from Kyoto Animation that night and learned her daughter was unaccounted for. It was six days later that the parents received her body. One of the few personal effects she left was a hair clip she was wearing, which was scorched all over except its metal parts. The parents said they came to realize how great their daughter was after the incident caused a huge sensation. "Her works will remain forever even though she's gone," the mother said, holding back tears. "That keeps us going," the father said. END