Ryūtarō Nakamura 中村隆太郎
Director (anime); also some CG art for visual experiments lain
Born in 1955, Nakamura drew at Madhouse, worked on titles such as The Rose of Versailles, and went freelance as a director in 1986. His first film as director, Chibi Neko Tom, took about five years and was finished in 1992 but went almost unseen; his public debut was The Life of Guskou Budori in 1994. He was chosen for Lain only after Konaka had started writing, and Konaka admits he and Ueda were nervous because Nakamura barely spoke in meetings, until his storyboards won them over. He made Layer 01 a very personal film with Kishida, invented the red speckles in shadows, defended the bear pajamas as Lain's shield and nudged the story toward a human ending; Konaka sees traces of Osamu Dezaki in his first episode. Ueda praised him for welcoming game people and digital effects into a cel production. The show's 1998 Media Arts Festival prize was awarded in his name. He also directed game animation for Breath of Fire IV and Noel 3. He died of pancreatic cancer on 29 June 2013, aged 58, while working on Chibi Neko Tom again.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org archived · konaka.com archived · gigazine.net · animenewsnetwork.com · konaka.com archived · archived page · gigazine.net · archived page