Born 1964 in Philadelphia, USA. Raised in Tokyo. Takeshige studied at the Tama College of Art and majored in oil painting. His first credit for a Studio Ghibli film was My Neighbor Totoro (1988) as a background artist. He served as art director for On Your Mark (1995), his first of many projects in that position for Studio Ghibli. He was awarded Best Production Design at the 9th Tokyo Anime Award for his work on Summer Wars (2009) and nominated for Annie Award for Best Production Design and for an ADG (Art Directors Guild) Award in the Animated Feature Film category for his work on The Boy and the Heron (2023).