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Leiji Matsumoto, Creator of Captain Harlock, Dead at 85

By | February 20th, 2023
Posted in News | % Comments
Leiji Matsumoto in 2020,
while raising funds for
Italy's COVID-19 response

Per various outlets, including Reuters and the Associated Press, manga and anime creator Leiji Matsumoto died last week, on February 13, from acute heart failure. He was 85 years old. Matsumoto was best known for creating the manga “Space Pirate Captain Harlock” and “Galaxy Express 999,” as well as for directing the anime Space Battleship Yamato, and supervising the Daft Punk movie Interstella 5555.

Matsumoto was born Akira Matsumoto in Kurume, Kyushu, southwestern Japan, on January 25, 1938. He was only 15 when his first manga, “Honey Bee’s Adventures,” was published in a magazine, and moved to Tokyo to pursue a career in comics and animation when he was 18. He married his wife, fellow manga creator Miyako Maki, in 1961, and the two frequently collaborated together, with Matsumoto typically drawing the male and animal characters in their stories. In 1971, he came to prominence with “Otoko Oidon,” a manga about a poor, young man preparing for university exams, which won the Kodansha Publishing Award for Children’s Manga.

In 1974, Matsumoto launched Space Battleship Yamato with producer/writer Yoshinobu Nishizaki and co-writer Eiichi Yamamoto, as well as a manga version that ran until 1979. “Space Pirate Captain Harlock” and “Galaxy Express 999” both debuted in 1977, and were adapted into anime shortly after. All three series have received countless film, TV and print spin-offs, with varying degrees of involvement from Matsumoto. The final anime with his involvement was 2012’s Ozuma, while his final manga was 2014’s “Captain Harlock: Dimensional Voyage,” a retelling of the original story with art by Kōichi Shimahoshi. His other creations included the 1979 anime Starzinger, and the 1980-1983 comic “Queen Millennia.”

During his life, Matsumoto was honored by Japan’s Order of the Rising Sun, and France’s Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Daft Punk members Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo considered him a childhood hero, which is why they sought his help creating the visual companion to their 2001 album Discovery. Matsumoto was named a cultural ambassador by Koriyama City, and small bronze statues of characters from “Space Battleship Yamato” and “Galaxy Express 999” were erected across Tsuruga in 1999.

Matsumoto with Daft Punk in 2003

He is survived by his wife, Miyako Maki, and their daughter, Makiko Matsumoto, who is head of Studio Leijisha. Maki said in the announcement, “I believe that he lived a happy life, allowing his thoughts to run free through the stories he drew as a manga creator. Matsumoto always used to say: ‘You can meet again at a place that connects to the distant ring of time.’ I believe in those words and look forward to that day.” You can read tributes to Matsumoto from various members of the manga/anime community at Anime News Network.


//TAGS | obit

Christopher Chiu-Tabet

Chris is the news manager of Multiversity Comics. A writer from London on the autistic spectrum, he enjoys tweeting and blogging on Medium about his favourite films, TV shows, books, music, and games, plus history and religion. He is Lebanese/Chinese, although he can't speak Cantonese or Arabic.

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