Hiroshi Takajima

Hiroshi Takajima (高島　博) was a Japanese animator, game programmer, voice actor, and manga artist who dominated the anime industry for much of the late 20th century.

Early years (1936 - 1945)
Takajima was born on April 13, 1936. At a young age, he loved to draw and write short stories. One of his most famous failed creations was when he tried to draw a pig, but it ended up standing up on end, which formed the basis for the creeper in the anime.

Late childhood (1946 - 1954)
Takajima's family moved to Tokyo in 1945 to escape being killed by the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the peak of WWII. The bombings formed the basis for his main villain, Dr. Manhole. From there, he began reading manga, which he subsequently began doing during his years in junior high and senior high school.

College years (1955 - 1958)
After graduating from high school, Takajima attended Tokyo University, where he majored in animation. From Takajima's experience of reading manga, his beginning in the animation career marked the opportunity to make his own manga. During his career, Takajima also created the title character Susumu Hori, who would later go on to become an international phenomenon.

Beginning of Drillimation Studios (1958 - 1968)
Upon graduating from Tokyo University, Takajima and a few friends from their experience of making animated short films went on and created Drillimation Studios, who would go on to dominate the anime industry for the next three decades. After creating the studio, Takajima's aim was to create a genre that would be enjoyable for most people. Takajima took a shot and decided to base their studio at the Toho headquarters, the studio behind the famous Godzilla films. Prior to their ten-year anniversary, Takajima began work on their first anime series, Angry German Kid.

Success of Angry German Kid and Star Trigon (1969 - 1979)
In February 1969, the Angry German Kid anime started its run on Fuji TV. It was a huge success for Takajima after he heard the fact of one-third of all viewers enjoyed it. After three seasons of the anime, Takajima began work on another anime featuring the characters of the Mr. Driller short film series, which later became Star Trigon. The anime was a huge hit and became very popular among children.

During the run of Star Trigon, Takajima traveled to the Hanna-Barbera studio in Los Angeles, California for a meeting about bringing the works of Drillimation to North America. After Takajima had shown the work of The King Kong Show, which was produced by Toei Animation for an American company, Takajima sent a request to Hanna-Barbera to produce an American Drillimation anime. Around that time, he met his wife, Miyuki Takajima, whom he eventually married. After Star Trigon finished its run in Japan, Hanna-Barbera began to dub the Angry German Kid anime into English.

Life of Lucky Star and beginning of programming (1979 - 1986)
After Star Trigon finished, he met and befriended Kagami Yoshimizu, a new person to the studio. From there, Takajima was asked to expand the series into a more diverse audience. From there, Yoshimizu, along with Takajima himself, began work on the Lucky Star anime, making it the first anime in the series to have a female protagonist, being Konata Izumi, who would later go on to become another icon of the studio.