Anime studio MADHOUSE has recently confirmed the death of their famed director, Satoshi Kon.� Kon, only 46 years old, passed away on Tuesday night of pancreatic cancer.

Studio founder Masao Maruyama had announced on his Twitter that an important director from MADHOUSE had passed away, but it was only recently announced that the director was in fact Satoshi Kon.� The director was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer back in May and was only given several months to live.� �Kon's family will be holding a private funeral closed to the public.

Satoshi has thrilled audiences since he made his directorial film debut in 1997 with Perfect Blue.� He followed up that success with three more feature films, Millennium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers, and Paprika, as well as the innovative anime series, Paranoia Agent.� Kon had been focusing on his new opus, Yume-Miru Kikai, since 2008, and was still working on it at the time of his death.

MADHOUSE studios has been posting frequent updates on the director's official website, and they seem committed to releasing his last film in his honor.

Satoshi Kon was a revolutionary director for anime as a genre, and he will certainly be missed by fans, not just in Japan, but all over the world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lORrXq-veSQ

Source: konstone.s-kon.net