Satoshi Kon’s last words
The director Satoshi Kon died on August 24th at the young age of 46 from pancreatic cancer. He directed wonderful animes such as Perfect Blue, Paprika and Paranoia Agent which are amongst some of my favourite works.
Part of his legacy was a long, moving letter written by him in his final days, which his family kindly posted to his blog. Thankfully Makiko Itoh has translated the letter to English. It's painful to read, as it lays out bare the final months of a young man, aware that soon he will be making the final trip; However Satoshi Kon has a sense of pragmatism in his writing which shows a sense of acceptance of his situation which is touching and brave.
Sayonara (Goodbye)
How could I forget, May 18th of this year.
I received the following pronouncement from a cardiovascular doctor at Musashino Red Cross Hospital.
"It's the latter stages of pancreatic cancer. It's metastasized to several bones. You have at the most half a year left to live."
My wife and I listened together. It was a fate so unexpected and untenable, that the two of us together could barely take it.
I used to honestly think that "I can't help it if I die any day." Still, it was so sudden.
The full transcript can be read here.
If you haven't seen any of his work I'd suggest you go and check it out now. It's as beautiful as it is deep and mesmerizing, it's slightly strange, however this resonates with his departing letter. He states that he saw the world in a slightly different way, and this enabled him to create such unique and special anime.
