PRODUCER OF ANIME "SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO" DIES

Very sad news.

Film producer Yoshinobu Nishizaki, known for the popular TV "anime" series "Uchu Senkan Yamato" (Space Battleship Yamato), died Sunday after falling into waters from a boat anchored at a port at Chichi Island in the Ogasawara island chain in southern Tokyo, local police said.

Nishizaki, 75, fell from the boat around 12:35 p.m. and was rescued about 20 minutes later by a patrol boat, but he died shortly after, the police said.

Nishizaki, whose real given name was Hirofumi, was trying out his 485- ton boat, named Yamato, from Sunday morning near the port. He appears to have accidentally fallen from it while preparing to swim after putting on a swimsuit, according to the police.