Career
After graduating from junior high school, Nakamura joined Toei Doga through the help of his school teacher. He gained experience in various jobs as an assistant and then as a member of the colouring staff, where he developed his knowledge of paints and colours.[3]
Nakamura, who wanted to paint background art, moved to the newly established Tatsunoko Productions in 1964 through an introduction from Toei.[11] After working on the studio's first TV series Space Ace, his love of cars led him to design cars for the studio's second work, the car racing anime series Speed Racer.[12][13]
He became head of the art section, where he instructs Yoshitaka Amano and Kunio Okawara.[6][14][15] At that time, Tatsunoko's art section was not only responsible for art, but also for the design of backgrounds, props, robots and cars, all of which were entrusted to Nakamura, who was trusted by the president, Tatsuo Yoshida.[16][17] The staff included many aspiring painters who had left art college, some working for a living and some with personalities of their own, and he had to lead them as section head. With the number of animations even increasing, it was impossible for him to do everything on his own. He therefore decided to entrust some of the mechanical design work to Okawara, who had just joined Tatsunoko. Nakamura and Okawara were credited as mechanical designers for the first time in Japanese animation history in Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, which began airing in 1972.[17][18]
At the end of 1976, he left Tatsunoko Productions and founded Design Office Mecaman with Kunio Okawara. Initially, Mecaman was planned to be a mecha design company, as Okawara was also a member of the company. However, he soon became independent and the company specialised in background art.[17][18]
Nakamura died of oral cancer on May 16, 2011, at the age of 67.[1][4]
