Today, both P.A. Works and Studio Pierrot announced on Twitter that Minako Shiba has died.
Shiba got her start in the early 1990s, working on shows like Metal Fighter Miku. Initially, she had hoped to work in the games industry, but ended up in anime.
She did key art and well as worked as the animation director for Detective Conan, Ghost in the Shell S.A.C 2nd Gig, and Blood +. She became best known (and loved) for her character designs for Noir, .hack//SIGN, Madlax, Kuroshitsuji, and Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom.
Most recently, she directed Dr. Stone and Hypnosis Mic: Division Rap Battle Rhyme Anima.
According to Shiba’s Wikipedia page, she was born on February 15, 1971. Neither P.A. Works nor Studio Pierrot disclosed the date she passed or her cause of death.
May she rest in peace.