Reiko Okuyama

Reiko Okuyama (Japanese: 奥山玲子) (d. May 2007 ) was a Japanese animator. She is notable for being one of the first female Japanese animators.

Biography
Okuyama spent much of her early life confined to bed due to a series of illnesses. She developed her interest in drawing during this time. After the end of World War II she left her home town to attend university in Tokyo.

In 1957 Okuyama applied for a position with Toei Doga, mistakenly believing that they were publishers of children's books. Her drawing skills were enough for her to be hired as an in-betweener. Her first work was on the landmark feature-length anime Hakuja den (released in the US as The Tale of the White Serpent, 1958). She was promoted to second key animator on 1959's Shonen Sarutobi Sasuke (released as Magic Boy in the US), in spite of some sexual discrimination on the part of the studio heads.

Okuyama continued her work as second key animator for 1960's Saiyuki (released as Alakazam the Great in the US). Her primary role was to even out the stylistic differences between the work of Toei Doga's two top animators, Yasuji Mori and Akira Daikuhara.

Around 1960, Okuyama married fellow animator Yoichi Kotabe; she gave birth to their first child shortly thereafter. Okuyama continued to work for Toei Doga until 1976, eventually rising to the position of head animator.

After briefly joining her husband at Nippon Animation, Okuyama went freelance, providing work for one last Toei film, 1979's Tatsu no ko Taro (released in the US as Taro the Dragon Boy). She has gone on to illustrate several children's books, and has taught animation at the Tokyo Designer Academy. She participated in the animated project Winter Days in 2003. She then continued to produce animation until she died on May, 2007 (though her death was announced only in September, 2007).