Photo by Toshiki Senoue
The AFP reports that Japanese cartoonist Takao Saito, the creator of the world’s longest-running manga, “Golgo 13,” has died at the age of 84. According to his publisher Shogakukan, Saito died from pancreatic cancer on Friday, September 24. “Golgo 13,” which follows the adventures of the professional assassin Duke Togo, aka Golgo 13, was created by Saito in 1968, and continued to be overseen by him until his death; Shogakukan plans to continue the series “in cooperation with his staff, in accordance with his wishes.”
Saito was born in Japan’s western Wakayama prefecture on November 3, 1936, and grew up in Osaka. He made his manga debut with “Baron Air” in 1955. In 1960, he moved to Tokyo and founded his own company, Saito Production. From 1964 to 1967, he drew a James Bond manga for Shogakukan‘s magazine Boy’s Life, which adapted four of Ian Fleming’s original novels. The year after, he launched “Golgo 13” in Big Comic magazine, where a total of 608 chapters have been published to date.
Described by Anime News Network as being a “dark, meticulously constructed [and] painstakingly realistic” espionage comic, “Golgo 13” helped popularize the gekiga (lit. “dramatic pictures”) movement in Japanese comics, which strived for more realistic stories. (Saito himself preferred to be called a gekiga creator than a manga artist.) The series spawned two live-action films in the ’70s, an anime film in 1983, an OVA in 1998, an anime series in 2008, and six video games. It earned a Shogakukan Manga Award in the General category in 1975; the Grand Prize from the Japan Cartoonists Association in 2002; and the Special Judges Award at the 50th Shogakukan Manga Awards in 2005.
Saito was honored during his lifetime by the Japanese government with a Medal of Honor for his contributions to the arts in 2003, and the Order of the Rising Sun, 4th Class, Gold Rays with Rosette for the promotion of Japanese culture in 2010. In 2019, he was honored by the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly for his contributions to the arts, and received the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize. He is the namesake of the Saito Takao Gekiga Cultural Foundation, which established the annual Saito Takao Awards in 2017, including the “Golgo 13” Trophy.
Our condolences to Saito’s family, friends, colleagues, and fans at this difficult time.
