Career
She has also been credited as Reiko Kotabe (小田部 玲子, Kotabe Reiko, on Hustle Punch episode 19) and Reiko Kitagawa (北川 玲子, Kitagawa Reiko, on Belladonna). Okuyama spent much of her early life confined to bed due to a series of illnesses. She developed her interest in drawing during this time.
After the end of World World War II she left her home town to attend university in Tokyo.
In 1957 Okuyama applied for a position with Toei Doga, mistakenly believing that they were publishers of children"s books Her drawing skills were enough for her to be hired as an in-betweener.
Her first work was on the landmark feature-length anime Hakuja den (released in the United States as The Tale of the White Serpent, 1958). She was promoted to second key animator on 1959"s Shonen Sarutobi Sasuke (released as Magic Boy in the United States), in spite of some sexual discrimination on the part of the studio heads.
Okuyama continued her work as second key animator for 1960"s Saiyuki (released as Alakazam the Great in the United States).
Her primary role was to even out the stylistic differences between the work of Toei Doga"s two top animators, Yasuji Mori and Akira Daikuhara. Okuyama continued to work for Toei Doga until 1976, eventually rising to the position of head animator. She has gone on to illustrate several children"s books, and has taught animation at the Tokyo Designer Academy.
She participated in the animated project Winter Days in 2003.
She then continued to produce animation until she died on May, 2007 (though her death was announced only in September, 2007).
