Takeshi Shudou, Original Series Writer, Passes Away

Takeshi Shudou, a keystone writer of the original series, passed away on October 29th from a subarachnoid hemorrhage. The day before, he collapsed in the smoking area of Japan’s Nara train station and was rushed to the hospital where he later died. He was only 61.

Shudou is responsible for creating Lugia, writing the first three Pokemon movies, the Mewtwo Returns special, the first and second episodes of the show, and several other episodes: The School of Hard Knocks, Mystery at the Lighthouse, Island of the Giant Pokemon, The Ghost of Maiden’s Peak, Dig Those Diglett!, Go West, Young Meowth!, Charizard’s Burning Ambitions, The Light Fantastic, The Poké Spokesman, The Art of Pokemon, Right On Rhydon, The Joy of Water Pokemon, Fly Me to the Moon, Plant it Now… Diglett Later, Dues and Don’ts!, Xatu the Future, and Enlighten Up!. He was obviously one of the better writers – I know almost all of those episodes just by their name! To watch his episodes, you can search for them on Pokemon.com.

Recently, Pokemon fans translated a series of Shudou’s blog entries which discuss a lot about the show, including Team Rocket’s identity, why Misty left, his frustrations with other writers, etc. They are extremely interesting, to say the least, so check them out! Rest in peace, Mr. Shudou, and thank you.