Japanese anime director Tsutomu Shibayama has passed away, he has long been the director of the "Doraemon" series.

On March 17, the Japanese animation production company Asia-Do announced in an obituary that their former representative director and president, Isao Shirayama, passed away on March 6, 2026, at the age of 84, due to lung cancer. From the movie "Doraemon: Nobita and the Castle of the Undersea Devil" in 1983 to "Doraemon: Nobita and the Animal Planet" in 2004, Isao Shirayama directed 22 theatrical films of "Doraemon" over a period of more than 20 years. He also served as a director or chief director in many other works such as "Nintama Rantarou" and "Chibi Maruko-chan".