MUMBAI: Yoshinobu Nishizaki, producer and co-creator of the original Space Battleship Yamato anime, died in a boating accident on Sunday off the Ogasawara Islands, south of Tokyo.

Nishizaki, 75, fell from the boat – the 485-ton Yamato – as it was anchored just outside a port on Chichi Island, while getting ready to swim. He was rescued by a Coast Guard boat but was pronounced dead two hours later.
 
It is not the first time Nishizaki has been in trouble in the ocean. In the late 1990s, after his production company went bankrupt and he was on bail for possession of multiple illegal substances, he reportedly smuggled an assault rifle, grenade launcher and other weapons and ammunition from the Philippines on a cruiser he owned.

He was arrested again in 1999 on drugs and firearms charges, later handing in weapons and munitions, including 30 Howitzer shells, to police.

Nishizaki created the first Yamato TV series with animator Leiji Matsumoto.