Leiji Matsumoto

Reiji Matsumoto (松本 零士, Matsumoto Reiji in Japanese) is a famous manga artist (mangaka) and designer of anime series. He was born in Kurume, in the Fukuoka prefecture (Japan) on January 25, 1938.

Biography

Matsumoto has a masterful talent for creating science fiction stories with dramatic elements (space opera). He has a very personal style for both graphic and psychological design of tragic characters. The character stereotypes of him could be divided into three:

• The heroes (among them we could find Harlock and Zero, of the Harlock universe, or Arpegious and Shep of Interestella 5555) are thin, tall and quite handsome men, are peculiar and similar factions between them on the face (notably in their eyes to quote an example) and on small occasions also on the hair.
• While there are men who are usually rough and even grotesque, as is the case of Toshiro, friend of Captain Harlock in the Harlock Universe, this is short, and with a very funny face, characters like him may also appear in Interestella 5555 with the Baryl drummer, well, the look of his face is very similar.
• Women often appear as thin and fragile heroines but with very firm desires (Galaxy Express 999 and Stella de Interstella 5555).

Shortly after World War II, Matsumoto first gained recognition as a manga artist, or mangaka, for his war-themed drawings. In 1972 he created one of his most characteristic characters, Captain Harlock (Captain Raymar in Latin America; Albator, in France and Captain Herlock, in the US) into an animated series that originally ran for 42 episodes. That particular universe of Matsumoto has served for his author to place numerous series in it, among which are: Galaxy Express 999, Queen Emeraldas and Cosmo Warrior Zero. This shared universe is sometimes called the Leijiverse or the Matsumoto Milieu. Another of his works is Space Battleship Yamato (Yamato Space Battleship) and The Princess of a Thousand Years, the latter being perhaps the most elaborate of all his stories. The plot begins with the fall on earth of a black sphere that announces the end of the world on September 9, 1999. A thin blonde woman is in charge of saving the world this time. The universe of The Princess of a Thousand Years is complex and with a psychological depth typical of Matsumoto's series, but its dark plot has no equal among the author's works.

Matsumoto has also overseen the creation of music videos for Daft Punk, a French electronic house music duo.

In 2010, members of Queen asked Matsumoto to create a video clip to commemorate the band's 18th anniversary, since the death of Freddie Mercury. The video is titled "Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody feat Leiji Matsumoto"

Works

• Fairy Hotaruna
• Planet Robot Danguard Ace (part of the Force Five import line)
• Submarine Super 99 (1964)
• Kōsoku ESPer (1968-1970)
• Sexaroid (1968-1970)
• Machinner series (1969-1970)
• Mystery Eve (1970-1971)
• Dai-yojo-han series (1970-1974)
• Otoko Oidon (1971-73)
• Gun Frontier (1972-1975)
• Simple Manga series (1973-1978)
• Space Battleship Yamato (1974)
• Pu (1974)
• Insect (1975)
• Galaxy Express 999 (1977-1981)
• Captain Harlock (1977-1979)
• Starzinger (aka Spacekateers as part of the Force Five import line)
• Queen Millennia (known in Latin America as the princess of the thousand years)
• The Arcadia of My Youth
• Arcadia of my youth: Endless Orbit SSX
• The Cockpit
• Queen Emeraldas
• Tiger-Striped Mii
• The Ultimate Time Sweeper Mahoroba (manga)
• Fire Force DNAsights 999.9
• Harlock Saga Der Ring des Nibelungen
• Maetel Legend
• Frontier without law
• Cosmo Warrior Zero
• Space Pirate Captain Harlock The Endless Odyssey
• Interstella 5555 - The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem
• The Galaxy Railways
• Great Yamato
• Space Symphony Maetel