Go Nagai | |
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永井豪 | |
.jpg) Go Nagai atJapan Expo in 2008 | |
| Born | Kiyoshi Nagai (永井潔,Nagai Kiyoshi) (1945-09-06)September 6, 1945 (age 79) |
| Nationality | Japanese |
| Occupation | Manga artist |
| Known for | |
| Relatives | Yasutaka Nagai (brother) |
| Awards | 4thKodansha Manga Award Shōnen:Susano Oh 25thJapan Movie Critics Awards: Diamond Grand Prize 47thJapan Cartoonists Association Award Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award: All of his works |
| Website | Dynamic Pro Official Site Go Nagai official site |
Kiyoshi Nagai (永井潔,Nagai Kiyoshi, born September 6, 1945), better known by the pen nameGo Nagai (永井 豪,Nagai Gō), is a Japanesemanga artist and a prolific author ofscience fiction, fantasy,horror, and erotica.[1] He made his professional debut in 1967 withMeakashi Polikichi, but is best known for creating popular 1970smanga andanime series such asCutie Honey,Devilman, andMazinger Z. He is credited with creating thesuper robot genre; designing the firstmecha robots piloted by a user from within a cockpit withMazinger Z;[2] as well as helping pioneer themagical girl genre withCutie Honey; thepost-apocalyptic manga/anime genre withViolence Jack;[3] and theecchi genre withHarenchi Gakuen. In 2005, he became a Character Design professor at theOsaka University of Arts. He has been a member of theTezuka Osamu Cultural Prize's nominating committee since 2009.
Go Nagai was born on September 6, 1945[4] in theIshikawa Prefecture city ofWajima.[5] He is the son of Yoshio and Fujiko Nagai (永井芳雄・冨士子),[6] and the fourth of five brothers.[7] His family had just returned fromShanghai. While he was still in his early childhood, he along with his mother and his four brothers moved toTokyo after the death of his father.[5] As a child, he was influenced by the work ofGustave Doré (specifically, a Japanese edition of theDivine Comedy),Shirato Sanpei andOsamu Tezuka (Nagai's brotherYasutaka gave him a copy ofLost World).[8][9][10]
He graduated from the MetropolitanItabashiHigh School of Tokyo.[7] While passing hisronin year in a prep school in order to earn placement atWaseda University, he suffered a severe case ofdiarrhea for three weeks. Aware of his own mortality, he wanted to leave some evidence that he had lived, by doing something that he liked as a child: working on manga. He was determined to create one work of manga in what he thought were his last months.[11] As Nagai prepared for the task, he went to the hospital, where he was diagnosed withcatarrh of the colon, and soon healed. But this was the turning point in his life.[11] Convinced that he would continue working on manga, he stopped attending school after three months and started living as aronin.[11]
With the help of his brother Yasutaka, he created his first manga works.[8][12] Despite the fact that his mother opposed his manga aspirations, he submitted his works for publication, accumulating many rejections.[11] It is said that when the young Nagai submitted his tables to publishers, his mother secretly convinced publishers to reject them.[5][13][14] However, his work was noticed byWeekly Shōnen Sunday, which contactedShotaro Ishinomori.[12] Thanks to some trial manga he created with the help of Yasutaka, Nagai was finally accepted into the studio of Ishinomori in 1965.[8]
The trial manga was about ascience fictionninja,[10] and was a prototype for a different story,Kuro no Shishi. Nagai was 19 years old when he made this work; it started at 15 or 16 pages and ended up being 88 pages long after a year, and was untitled at that time.[10] Ishinomori saw this work and praised Nagai for it, but commented that the design was too chunky and he should improve it a little. Two or three days later, Nagai was invited to become an assistant to Ishinomori and this work was forgotten until 2007, when it was published in the magazineComic Ran Twins Sengoku Busho Retsuden (コミック乱 TWINS 戦国武将列伝) byLEED under the nameSatsujinsha (殺刃者(さつじんしゃ)).[15] His professional career began in 1967, despite the opposition of his mother.[13]
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After working as assistant of Shotaro Ishinomori, his very first professional manga work wasMeakashi Polikichi (目明しポリ吉 also 目明かしポリ吉),[6][5] a very short gag comedyone-shot, published in November 1967 in the magazineBokura byKodansha.[16] Almost at the same time, this was followed by the manga adaptation of Tomio Sagisu's TV animeChibikko Kaiju Yadamon (ちびっこ怪獣ヤダモン, "Little Monster Yadamon"), also published in 1967 in the same magazine.[17] A common misconception is thatKuro no Shishi ("Black Lion") was his first manga work; while not entirely false, what Nagai really made two years earlier thanMeakashi Polikichi, was only a draft for what would later beKuro no Shishi, which would not be actually published until 1978.
His first works consisted entirely of short gag comedy manga. This would change withHarenchi Gakuen.
In less than a year after debuting, he met with a big success. After being an unknown manga artist, he became a protagonist of televised debates and journalistic investigations.[18]
In 1968, whileShueisha was getting prepared to launch its first manga publication,Shōnen Jump, in order to compete with other magazines from rival companies (likeShōnen Magazine fromKodansha andShōnen Sunday fromShogakukan), Nagai was invited to be one of the first manga artists publishing in the new magazine. He contemplated this, since he had to design a long-running series instead of the auto-conclusive short stories that he had been developing until that point.[5] He accepted and the series became a big success, being the first for Nagai[19] and makingShōnen Jump sell more than one million copies.[5] WithHarenchi Gakuen, Nagai was the first to introduce eroticism in modern manga and became the creator of modern erotic manga,[1][19][20][21][22] opened the door to a new era in manga[21] and also became the symbol of an entire generation.[5] This work has influenced Japanese society radically, completely changing the common perceptions of manga.[23]
UntilHarenchi Gakuen, Japanese manga had been relatively tame affairs, but things soon changed.[20] The manga became so popular that several live-action films and TV series based on the manga were developed.Harenchi Gakuen is considered as probably the work that has had the most influence in the world of manga at the end of the 1960s, leading the newly bornShōnen Jump magazine to sell millions of copies per week.[24]
A scandalous manga in its time, it is a very innocent series by today's standards.[24] At the time of its original publication, however, it met with severe criticism by some parts of the Japanese society.Harenchi Gakuen was criticized as vulgar because it introduced overt eroticism to children. Male students and teachers were depicted as being preoccupied with catching glimpses of girls' panties or naked bodies. Many parents, women's associations, andPTAs protested.[25]
In particular, the PTA protests overHarenchi Gakuen were notorious. Nagai was bombarded with interview requests from newspapers, magazines and TV. Whenever he flew outside of Tokyo, TV cameras were waiting for him. He was branded a "nuisance" and even an "enemy of society". He, however, had a clear sense of what things he could or could not do with the manga.[26]
At first, Nagai did not think that the opposition was against him, since he was aware of the standards that applied with movies and similar things for an audience below 18 years old. At that time, he never drew sex scenes, avoided pictures of genitals and made nudes cute rather than sexy,[20] though the manga regularly showed male genitals throughout its run, including a castration scene. His fans supported him throughout the PTA protests. They sent him letters where they expressed how they were aware that the adults cracking down on them were reading raunchier stuff than what Nagai was producing.[20]
The protests were not only against the manga, but also against the TV series. The PTA managed to prevent the distribution of the magazine in some parts of Japan.[18] As a result of the protests, when the series was about to be cancelled because of the PTA, Nagai changed the theme inHarenchi Gakuen into a more mature and serious matter, from nonsense gags with sexy touches, to a full-scale war where murder was depicted in the bloody way for which many know him. This led to the famous ending ofHarenchi Gakuen, symbol of freedom and of rejection of the hypocrisy, where all students and teachers, while defending their freedom of expression, are killed by the PTA and other parental forces. This was the ironic answer that Nagai gave to the PTA. (In the end, this was not the actual ending ofHarenchi Gakuen, as the title would subsequently return to publication for several years.)[18]
It was also around that time that he createdGakuen Taikutsu Otoko (ガクエン退屈男), also known asGuerrilla High, another school-themed manga, but this time war between youths and adults was the main theme. Shortly before that, in 1969,Abashiri Ikka (あばしり一家) was created. Both titles are a direct result of the PTA protests, both being a form of parody of what happened.Abashiri Ikka became a big success, and along withHarenchi Gakuen, the most popular series of Nagai's juvenile period.[27]
Thanks to the success ofHarenchi Gakuen, Dynamic Productions (ダイナミックプロダクション, also known as Dynamic Production or Dynamic Pro, ダイナミックプロ), was founded by Go Nagai with his brothers in April 1969.[28] Meant to be a group to help him with his works, as a consequenceHarenchi Gakuen, where he derived almost no royalties from the TV series, films, or related merchandise, Dynamic Productions became a company established to manage Nagai's relations and contractual rights of his work. Dynamic became one of the first companies to require publishers sign contracts (even today many manga are created and published only on the basis of verbal agreements).[5] It would start as ayugen kaisha (limited company) and would change to akabushiki kaisha (stock company) in 1970.[6]
The same year of the foundation of Dynamic Pro,Ken Ishikawa joined the company. He would become Nagai's second assistant after Mitsuru Hiruta, who had been working with Nagai since the beginnings ofHarenchi Gakuen.[6] He would become one of Nagai's regular partners and his best friend. Ken Ishikawa participated as assistant inHarenchi Gakuen,Abashiri Ikka andGakuen Taikutsu Otoko, particularly in the last one. In parallel with those activities as assistant, he co-produces with Go Nagai what would be in fact his professional debut in manga,Gakuen Bangaichi (1969-09-08 ~ 1970-09-22), and also his second manga,Sasurai Gakuto (1970-01 ~ 1970-05). He temporarily quit Dynamic Productions in 1970. This prompted Nagai to endGakuen Taikutsu Otoko and the story of this series would be left inconclusive.
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Even with the changes inHarenchi Gakuen and other series, Nagai remained writing mostly gag comedies, varying only in the thematic. With the success ofHarenchi Gakuen andAbashiri Ikka, most editors expected this kind of story from Nagai. This would start to change in 1970, with the one-shotOni -2889 Nen no Hanran-, which tells ascience fiction story set in the year 2889 about a war between the race ofOnis (who in this story are treated as a lower class) and the human beings. After this, in 1971 came the horror one-shotSusumu-chan Dai Shock about a violent collapse of the parent-child relationships. A series of horror one-shots would follow, in the series calledGensou Kyofu e Hanashi (幻想恐怖絵噺), which comprehendsAfrica no Chi (an original story ofYasutaka Tsutsui),Schalken Gahaku (based in the famous storyStrange Event in the Life of Schalken the Painter byJoseph Sheridan Le Fanu) andKuzureru. A little before that, Nagai would be given the chance to write a fullserial of an occult horror story calledDemon Lord Dante, which would in turn mark the beginning of his most famous horror work,Devilman. Nagai stated in his autobiographical mangaGekiman! that his aspirations had always been to write more serious science fiction stories, and after the discontinuation ofDemon Lord Dante sawDevilman as his chance to break out of the gag manga expectations publishers had of him.[29]
In his seriesHarenchi Gakuen (ハレンチ学園,Shameless School, 1968–1972,Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine) Nagai used eroticism and extreme, graphic violence in kid's manga for the first time in Japan, thus breakingtaboos and becoming quite controversial.[1] His use of violence and gross humour was widely loathed in many corners of Japan's society and became a concern for manyPTAs at the time. The series temporary ended dramatically when all the characters died during a massacre. This type of content would be a trend in most of Nagai's later work and in those of other directors such asYoshiyuki Tomino. AHarenchi Gakuen live-action TV series followed in the early 1970s, as well as several other live-action movies and anOVA version (Heisei Harenchi Gakuen, or "Modern-Day Shameless School") in the mid-1990s.
In 1970, Go Nagai started a company,Dynamic Productions, to fund hismanga andanime ventures. Dynamic Productions' first titles wereGetter Robo andAbashiri Ikka (あばしり一家,Abashiri Family).
AfterHarenchi Gakuen Nagai created theMazinger Z (マジンガーZ) series, later expanded intoGreat Mazinger,Grendizer, and - many years later -Mazinkaiser, where he developed the concept of giantmecha. Mazinger was the first manga where a giant robot was piloted by the hero, thus creating one of the biggest staples of the industry.Mazinger is considered the first successful "Super Robot" anime show, and has spawned numerous imitations.
Simultaneously toMazinger, he created one of his most popular manga,Debiruman (デビルマン,Devilman), about a demonic hero fighting against hordes of demons. This manga was published simultaneously alongside an original TV anime under the same name, but due to the difference in age demographics became very different stories.[30] The concepts were initially conceived for the TV series, which would be directed at elementary school age children, and were altered for the manga, which would be published in ashōnen magazine with teenage readers. This allowed Nagai to include violence, nudity, and darker themes closer to the content ofDemon Lord Dante.[31] Go Nagai considers theDevilman andMazinger series to be his life's work due to their massive popularity all over the world. In 1972, Nagai managed the very difficult feat of both drawing and writing five weekly manga publications at the same time, an accomplishment only equalled by other manga artistsShinji Mizushima andGeorge Akiyama.[32]
A month later after finishingDevilman, Nagai would create a sequel to it calledViolence Jack (ヴァイオレンス ジャック), another long-running series that spanned multiple volumes and dealt with a giant brute of a man fighting for justice in a post-apocalyptic setting where Japan has been devastated by a massive earthquake and isolated from the rest of the world.
Years later Nagai revampedDevilman featuring versions of the protagonists as young adult women and altering the storyline, which eventually became another sequel story to the original. This series is calledDevilman Lady (デビルマンレディー,Devil Lady in theUS). It was first released as a manga and later animated with some changes.
One of Nagai's most popular works outside of his fanbase has beenCutey Honey, considered to be one of the first "magical girl" comics and a major influence on future series in the genre (in particularSailor Moon). Nagai had less success a few years later withMajokko Tickle, a more traditional magical-girl series for younger children, although the accompanying anime was popular on TV in someEuropean countries.
In 1980, he received the 4thKodansha Manga Award forshōnen forSusano OH.[33]
Nagai has worked with Shotaro Ishinomori andKen Ishikawa. He is currently being more prolific in manga production than ever. Much of Nagai's work has been adapted intoanime andtokusatsu. Nagai has made cameo appearances in some live-action films, includingThe Toxic Avenger Part II, theCutie Honey 2004 live action film, and in a special DVD-only episode ofCutie Honey: The Live as Dr. Koshiro Kisaragi.
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In Italy, France, and the Middle East,Grendizer was very popular when it aired.[citation needed] In Spain, aMazinger Z statue has been erected inTarragona.[34]
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Nagai is credited with pioneering thesuper robot genre withMazinger Z and themagical girl genre withCutie Honey.[3]Violence Jack also created thepost-apocalyptic manga and anime genre. Itsdesert wasteland setting hadbiker gangs, anarchic violence, ruined buildings, innocent civilians, tribal chiefs, and small abandoned villages. This was similar to, and may have influenced, the desert wasteland settings of later post-apocalyptic franchises such as the Australian film seriesMad Max (1979 debut) and the Japanesemanga andanime seriesFist of the North Star (Hokuto no Ken, 1983 debut).[35][36][3]
Anime directorHideaki Anno (Evangelion) citedDevilman andMazinger as a source of inspiration forEvangelion during a conversation between him and Go Nagai published inDevilman Tabulae Anatomicae.[37]
In an interview in the booklet that comes in the premiumBlu-ray edition ofDororon Enma-kun Meeramera, the animation directorTakahiro Kimura claims to be a Go Nagai fan since he was a child and thatDororon Enma-kun was his favourite.[citation needed]
Manga artistKentaro Miura (Berserk) claims that he likes Go Nagai's dynamic style and that Nagai had a big influence on him, in an interview which was included as an extra in the fourth volume of the North American DVD release byMedia Blasters in 2002.[38]
Movie directorYoshihiro Nishimura (Tokyo Gore Police) claimed that he's a fan of Go Nagai's works in an interview withSancho Asia and said that he wants to re-adaptDevilman into a live action movie since he did not like the 2004 live actionDevilman adaptation byHiroyuki Nasu.[39] In another interview byScreen Anarchy, he also said that he wanted to adaptViolence Jack into live action.[40]
ScriptwriterKazuki Nakashima is also familiar with his works. "In particular, I read everything by Go Nagai, from his debut works and then when I was in middle school his workDevilman really struck me. I felt like I was maturing along with the development of the writer himself."[41]
Japanese novelist, visual novel writer, and anime screenwriterGen Urobuchi explained thatDevilman made him realize that bittersweet endings are the best ones.[42]
According to an interview between an Italian gaming website, geekgamer.it andShadow Hearts video game series creator Matsuzo Machida, the latter was inspired by the works of Go Nagai and Keisuke Fujikawa (Mazinger Z screenplay).[43]
Videogame designer, writer, and directorGoichi Suda cites two works of Go Nagai,Violence Jack andSusano Oh as his favorite manga.[44]
Approximately seventy-five other series inspired byDevilman were also featured on a poster and website as part of the advertising forDevilman Crybaby. This list includes titles such asParasyte,Tokyo Ghoul, andAttack on Titan alongside the afformentionedNeon Genesis Evangelion andBerserk.[45] This list does not include a number of other series whose creators have attributed the series as an inspiration or featured clear visual homages. (For example,Yu-Gi-Oh!'s creatorKazuki Takahashi has stated that Devilman was one of the characters he drew most as a child.[46]) The story has also inspired stories published after this site was created, such asTatsuki Fujimoto'sChainsaw Man.[47]
Plans for a museum for Go Nagai were announced in 2005. Go Nagai Wonderland Museum opened in 2009 inWajima, Ishikawa. The museum burned down after the2024 Sea of Japan earthquake.[48]
Eppure senza le sue opere una grossa fetta dell'immaginario popolare non sarebbe la stessa, dai robottoni (che si apprestano a invadere anche i cinema grazie a Guillermo del Toro e al suo Pacific Rim) alle maghette (i Mahō shōjo) delle quali Cutie Honey è antesignana; senza dimenticare le influenze, o quanto meno l'anticipazione di certe tematiche, come l'ambientazione post-olocausto di Violence Jack (1973), che precede di diversi anni film come Mad Max (1979) o fumetti come Ken il Guerriero (1983).
Violence Jack a certainement du influencer beaucoup d'œuvres (le manga papier étant tout de même de 1973), comme Mad Max ou encore Hokuto no Ken. Les motards, la violence, les décors détruits, le désert, les innocents, les ignobles chefs de "tribus", les petits villages abandonnés... tous les codes y sont.
