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'Tales of' RPG Series Artist Mutsumi Inomata Dies

The announcement added that Inomata's death was "sudden," and she still had the draft for a new illustration that she had only started drawing before she died.

Inomata is perhaps best known for being one of the main character designers for Namco's (later Bandai Namco Entertainment) Tales of series of role-playing games, alongside Kousuke Fujishima. The company offered its condolences and sincere thanks to Inomata in a message on Monday, adding that the connection fans of the series have to Inomata's characters "will shine forever in their hearts." Inomata was the solo character designer for Tales of Destiny, Tales of Destiny 2, Tales of Eternia, Tales of Rebirth, Tales of the Tempest, Tales of Innocence, Tales of Hearts, and Tales of Graces, and collaborated with other character designers for individual character designs in other installments of the series.

Within anime, Inomata worked as an animator at Ashi Production from 1979 until 1982, when she and some animators from Ashi Production left the company and founded Kaname Production. There, she worked as character designer and animator on such anime as Acrobunch - The Quest for Treasure, Plawres Sanshiro, Leda - The Fantastic Adventure of Yohko, Once Upon a Time, and Watt Poe to Bokura no Ohanashi, among others. In her later freelance career, she drew character designs for such anime as Future GPX Cyber Formula, Saitama Bōsō Saizensen Flag! Shinimonogurui no Seishun!!, and Brain Powerd. She also drew the illustrations for the Utsunomiko and The Weathering Continent novel series, both of which later inspired anime adaptations.

Source: Mutsumi Inomata's Twitter account