Hiroshi Takajima/Death News Article

This is a fictional New York Times article that details the death of Hiroshi Takajima, the founder of Drillimation Studios.

Introduction

 * Article Name: Hiroshi Takajima, Creator of The Drillimation Series, is Dead at 61
 * Written: July 2, 1997

Fans all across Japan, North America, Europe, and Australia are all deeply saddened, as Hiroshi Takajima, the founder of Drillimation Studios and the creator of one of the most popular and influential cartoons of all time, has unfortunately died today at the age of 61 after a two-year-long fight with cancer. During his time at Drillimation, he opened the west to the world of "anime", an animation style that originated in Japan that mainly focuses on characters with large eyes and unnatural hair colors, and created several critically acclaimed arcade and computer games based on the popular cartoon The Drillimation Series. One of these titles, 1992's Super Smash Keyboards, was responsible for the creation of the industry-standard Entertainment Software Rating Board in North America.

His death came when he suffered a stroke from a complication of a brain tumor, after two years of having Alzheimer's disease.

Susumu Takajima becomes President and CEO of Drillimation Studios
Because Drillimation's rules say that the CEO and President's spots cannot be empty, Susumu Takajima, Takajima's 17-year-old son who is the youngest of two sons, will become the second CEO of Drillimation after 39 years of service in March of 1998. Susumu will turn 18 in October of this year, meaning his mother, Miyuki Takajima, will need to supervise him for the next three months. Miyuki told him this after when his father had passed from a tumor in the brain, and she truly declared that Susumu was "king," after his 19-year-old elder brother Hiroki Takajima declined for the position.

Kenjirou Nasaya, a fellow programmer at Drillimation who joined in 1985, officially announced Takajima's death to Namco, Drillimation's parent company. "I did not obviously hear about this until Nasaya told us," says Masaya Nakamura, founder of Namco. Last year, Takajima underwent surgery to remove a tumor in his brain, and in Japan, patients are not told that they have the disease. Drillimation Studios lowered both the Japanese and American flags to half-staff located outside, and Drillimation announced the funeral will be held approximately two weeks from now.

"I was so sad to hear about Mr. Takajima's passing, and now the entire Drillimation fanbase is stricken with grief," says Kagami Ochiai, Susumu Takajima's girlfriend in Nagasaki. Kagami Ochiai, a famous J-pop singer based in Nagasaki, is currently writing a romantic love song to Susumu Takajima to calm him down. She had been with the Drillimation games and TV show since 1986, mainly from watching Magical Girl Team Lucky Star, a six-season arc of The Drillimation Series.

No Shinto Rites Planned
According to Drillimation, they will not follow the Shinto rituals performed when Hiroshi Takajima's father passed away in January 1988. As Susumu Takajima stood up to the former CEO's desk, he was given several items from his mother and brother that originally belonged to his now late father. When he ascended his father's throne, he was referred to as "the descendant of Sanae Kochiya," a shamaness from the recently-released arcade game Touhou 10: Mountain of Faith, which is set to release next month for computers and consoles.

Susumu Takajima was said to have become the second CEO to be installed since the founding in 1958. He was the first member in the Takajima family to ever be born in the United States, and Takajima prepared to become CEO when he discovered the world wide web for the first time, and spending every single one of his summer breaks in America, taking English lessons with an American tutor.

President Clinton Sends Condolences to Susumu Takajima's Family
President Clinton sent condolences to Susumu Takajima's family after hearing about Hiroshi Takajima's death. Hiroshi's 39-year reign and his creation of The Drillimation Series, which was expanded from Japan to western audiences, caused it to become one of the most viewed programs on Saturday mornings, causing Takajima to win three Emmy Awards for his excellence in children's programming in 1983, 1987, and 1991 respectively. The Drillimation Series was the first cartoon from Japan and marked the first Japanese person to ever win an Emmy Award.

The art style used in the cartoon was influenced from Disney and even the early works of Hanna-Barbera, which Drillimation has collaborated with in the past to help bring the cartoon to western shores. Companies like Hanna-Barbera, Lucasflim, and Walt Disney Television Animation all played a role in getting The Drillimation Series there.