The artistic vision of Satoshi Kon (1963-2010), a Japanese director, producer and screenwriter of anime films, passed away from pancreatic cancer on August 24, 2010. He was a leading figure in the anime industry, credited as a director of Paprika (2006), Perfect Blue (1997) and Millennium Actress (2001). In 1993, he wrote and illustrated the manga "Gigan". Kon was highly influential on many directors who followed him, light-heartedly experimenting with themes of psychological identity and blending reality with imagination in a surrealist fashion that was at once eerie and inviting. His works had a strong emphasis on the interaction between the conscious and subconscious worlds, often employing non-linear narrative structures and dreamlike sequences. Born in 1963, Satoshi Kon grew up in a creative household and followed his love of animation by attending the Musahsino Art University. In 1984, Kon received the Excellence Prize in the 12th Annual Kettei Senate, which lead him to work at Studio Madhouse. Kon will be remembered as an inspired and innovative director, a visionary of animation, and an artist who brilliantly showcased the overlapping boundaries between the real and the imagined.