Tales of Graces art
Image: Bandai Namco

Manga, anime, and video game artist Mutsumi Inomata — best known for her work on multiple games in the Tales series — has passed away at age 63 (via VGC).

The announcement of her passing was shared on her official Twitter earlier today, written by Inomata's younger sister. Tributes have been pouring in from fans and colleagues across the industry.

Inomata made her name working as an artist and animator at Ashi Production for various anime during the early '80s before finding her own animation studio with a group of others from Ashi, Kaname Production. Her work can be seen in shows such as Leda: The Fantastic Adventure of Yohko, Windaria (also known as Once Upon a Time), City Hunter and The Weathering Continent among many other shows and manga. She's also done some art for Dragon Quest.

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Internationally, Inomata's work in Bandai Namco's Tales series is what put her on the map. She has worked on 12 games in the long-running franchise, including Tales of Destiny, Tales of Eternia, and Tales of Xillia & its sequel — the latter two games saw her and the other primary character designer, Kōsuke Fujishima, split the character art between them.

Three of Inomata's Tales games launched on Nintendo consoles: the Japan-exclusive Tales of Innocence on DS, and two games that would later get enhanced rereleases in the West — Tales of Hearts on DS (later rereleased on PS Vita), and Tales of Graces on Wii (which came to PS3 in 2012 in the West).

On behalf of the team and community here at Nintendo Life, our thoughts go out to Inomata's family, friends, and colleagues. Her distinctive art style and work inspired many, and will continue to do so.

[source twitter.com, via videogameschronicle.com]