Animator and Director Satoshi Mori Passes Away

#news #anime February 24, 2026

by Sarca

The family of animator and director Satoshi Mori (森賢) announced on his X (formerly Twitter) account that he had passed away on February 20, 2026, after a battle with an illness. According to the studio, he had been ill for some time.

Mori was born on August 20, 1984. He joined the industry in 2005 as an animator at Yasuhiko Kondou's Studio Takuranke. He worked as a douga (in-between and trace) animator for about a year and made his key animation debut in 2006. He worked on projects like Code Geass and was mentored by animator and designer Eiji Nakada.

Mori gained prominence as a mecha and effects animator in the late 2000s as a mecha animation director and during his time at studio WHITE FOX where he worked on projects like Jormungand as the series' weapons designer and weapons effects supervisor. He made his storyboarding and episode directing debut on the TV film Neppu Kairiku Bushi Road, which he was also the assistant director for, produced by studios Orange and Kinema Citrus.

He developed a relationship with Kinema Citrus during its infancy in the late 2000s and continued working with the studio, and in November of 2015 founded animation studio Gift-o-Animation as a subsidiary company to Kinema Citrus, with himself serving as president and CEO alongside Kinema Citrus CEO Muneki Ogasawara.

The studio and Mori worked primarily on Kinema Citrus' projects, with himself directing episodes of and providing animation for series like Scorching Ping Pong Girls (2016), Made in Abyss (2017), Revue Starlight (2018), and The Rising of the Shield Hero (2018).

In 2021, Mori debuted as series director and co-series composition writer of Cardfight!! Vanguard Overdress. He returned for its sequel, Cardfight!! Vanguard: Will+Dress (2022-2023), in the position of chief director for all three of its seasons. Since 2024, he has been responsible for the Gabwelius design drafts for the currently ongoing Cardfight!! Vanguard Divinez sequel series.

Ogasawara gave his respects to Mori on his own X (formerly Twitter) account, saying that Mori had been a supporter of his and Kinema Citrus since its early days, and that he was like a brother.