Go Nagai

Kiyoshi Nagai (永井 潔, Nagai Kiyoshi^?, Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, September 6, 1945), known by his stage name Gō Nagai (永井 豪, Nagai Gō^?), is a mangaka and prolific author of science fiction, fantasy, horror and Japanese eroticism, recognized as an innovator of the manga genre. He made his professional debut in 1967 with Meakashi Polikichi, but would be best known for creating Cutey Honey, Devilman and Mazinger Z. He also pioneered the ecchi genre with Harenchi Gakuen. He is credited with creating the Super Robot genre and designing the first mecha piloted by a user from a cockpit with Mazinger Z. In 2005, he became a professor of character design at Osaka University of Art. Since 2009, he is also a member of the nomination committee for the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Award. In Spain, some of his works have also been published.

Biography

The decision to become a mangaka came to mind when his brother lent him the Lost World manga by Osamu Tezuka and The Princess Knight)- At 25 years, after a serious illness, he created Kuro no Shishi (黒の獅士, The Black Lion).

In 1962, Go Nagai established Dynamic Productions, a company to develop his manga and anime projects. The first titles of this new company were Getter Robo and Abashiri Ikka ('The Abashiri Family').

In 1968, while Shueisha was preparing to launch its first manga publication, Shonen Jump, to compete with Kodansha's Shonen Magazine, among others... Nagai was invited to be one of the first manga artists to publish in said magazine. Here he got his first full-length series which was a complete success.

This series was called Harenchi Gakuen (ハレンチ学園, The Indecent School, 1968-1972, Shōnen Jump magazine) and here Nagai was the first to introduce eroticism in modern manga. His work would enter into controversy since Go Nagai would become the first mangaka to introduce eroticism in children's stories, attacking taboos on talking about sex openly. Violence and crude humor were also frowned upon by many corners of Japanese society. The series concluded dramatically.

After Harenchi Gakuen, Nagai created the series that would bring him worldwide fame. Mazinger Z (マジンガーZ, Majinga Z), which would later continue with the sequels Great Mazinger and UFO Robo Grendizer, in which he developed the concept of a giant robot (mecha) piloted from a cockpit. He would later introduce the transformable robot concept with Groizer X and Getter Robo. These ideas were surprisingly productive in many subsequent television programs. Worldwide recognition would come after the anime of the comic was broadcast on December 3, 1972 on Fuji TV.

Go Nagai in your study, Tokyo, Japan, 1987.

At the same time as Mazinger, he created one of his most popular series, Debiruman (デビルマン, Devilman or Devil Man i>), about an antihero who fights against impressive hordes of demons. Debiruman is still a cult series in Japan. Devilman is inspired by mao dante (demon lord dante) Go Nagai's first manga about demons. Later it had its 13 episode anime.

Despite the criticism, Go Nagai continued to develop erotic manga such as Kekko Kamen in 1974, a story that tells the adventures of a vigilante who fights crime with a red mask, scarf, cape,, gloves and boots, but nothing else.

The creative mind of Go Nagai had no time to stop and creates Cutie Honey and completely changes the manga genre with Magical Girl (anime that narrates the adventures of girls with magical powers), adding a stronger personality to the female character, since she fought against injustice without the help of a male character and, of course, adding the corresponding touch of eroticism.

Nagai has worked with Shotarō Ishinomori and Ken Ishikawa. He is currently producing more manga than ever before. Many of his manga series have anime versions.

Nagai has gone a long way in terms of erotic content in his manga, starting to draw bondage scenes in his early manga (as in Cutey Honey and Kekko Kamen), coming to draw scenes of oral sex and scenes of sex in general as in Hanappe Bazooka and Kamasutra (he has also done a lot of percussion on the fact of hermaphrodites and origin jokes sexual or flatulent). It should be noted that the author has always "self-censored" in the genital parts of both female and male characters.

After publishing works such as Cutey Honey and Kekko Kamen (in this one he included themes such as sexual humiliation, violence and mutilation, nudity everywhere, ambiguous characters, etc.) many authors of that generation (mid 60s and 70s) continued with this line of including eroticism in their sleeves, each time more explicit, up to the present day. An example can be Masakazu Katsura himself, who in interviews confesses that he chose Shonen Jump to show his works since he considered it an exponent of eroticism.

Go Nagai is one of the most influential manga authors in the world and for fans of this genre, he's right up there with Stan Lee or Jack Kirby from Marvel Comics. He currently has no rest and is serializing the manga Shin Mazinger Zero vs Ankoku Daishougun and preparing a new manga called Devilman Saga, which has a release date of December 25 this year. year by Big Comic magazine.

To see an updated list of articles related to this author, see the Gō Nagai category.

Other jobs

Go Nagai apart from producing his own projects, he has participated in some films as an actor, it is worth highlighting his participation in the 1989 comedy The Toxic Avenger PartII (the Toxic Avenger II) where towards a small role playing a Tsukudani expert. It is also worth mentioning his collaboration in the film Osamu Tezuka Metropolis where he gives his voice in a cameo. He has also participated with cameos in a couple of Japanese films for domestic Japanese consumption, in Kekkô Kamen (2004) and in Cutey Honey: The Live (2004), the latter an adaptation of Cutey Honey.

Works (partial list)

Along with Osamu Tezuka and Shotaro Ishinomori, Nagai is one of the most prolific artists in the history of manga, and comics in general.

Adaptations of Nagai's work

His works have been adapted into numerous other formats, including television, film, radio soap operas, literature, and video games.