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Leiji Matsumoto - Creator of Starzinger
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Leiji Matsumoto
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Leiji Matsumoto was born on January 25th 1938 in Kurumé, on the island of Kyûshû, a few miles south of Fukuoka. His real name was Akira Matsumoto but he changed it later to Leiji.
When he was about eight years old he made his first drawings. He liked Walt Disney’s cartoons but his biggest source of inspiration was Osamu Tezuka, a great artist whom Leiji would work together with on Starzinger in the far future.
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In 1953, the magazine Manga Shônen organized a contest. Leiji is 15 years at the time and his manga Mitsubachi no bôken (“Honeybee Adventures”) receives great critics. Manga Shônen names him “the best first-time artist of a long series”. The manga gets published and the next year the same magazine publishes many of his stories.
When he graduates from high school he goes to Tokyo, 1957, to try and make a living as a manga artist. He rents a room in the Bunkyô area, north of Shinjuku. Here he lives for six years and publish comic strips in “adult magazines”. Many great people in the world of manga has started their careers this way. During these years he married Miyako Maki, also a great manga artist.
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1965 he changed his name to Reiji. He wrote it as Leiji so western people would pronounce it correctly. Leiji means “warrior zero”.
In April of 1968 he starts his first sci-fi comic, Sexaroid.
A great step towards fame was the release of Otoko Oidon in 1873. It was a manga he based upon his experiences of living in a boarding house. He got the Kodansha Publishing award in literature for this.
After that the ball just kept rolling for Leiji. He introduced the world to great mangas such as “Space Pirate Captain Harlock”, “Galaxy Express 999”, “Space Battleship Yamato” and of course “Starzinger”.
Thanks Leiji! |
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Copyright © 2003-2008 Emil Wickman. All Rights Reserved.
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