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Go Nagai

Go Nagai was born in Wajima City on September 6, 1945. He was inspired to become a mangaka (manga author) after his brother gave him a copy of Osamu Tezuka's Lost World. Since that day, Go Nagai pursued his dream of becoming a mangaka.

Despite having done well in college, Go Nagai failed all of his university entrance exams. At around the same time, he fell terribly ill and feared that he would die without ever achieving his dream. It was during these tough times that he created Black Lion (Kuro No Shishi). The success of Black Lion drew the attention of Ishimori Shotaro who took in Nagai (age 20) to become his assistant.

Nagai's first work under Shotaro was Meakashi Polikichi (1967), published in the November issue of Bokura magazine. In 1968, Harenchi Gakuen debuted in Shonen Jump magazine. The violence and tasteless humor in Harenchi Gakuen started the first of many clashes with the PTA.

In 1970, Go Nagai started Dynamic Productions to fund his manga and anime ventures. The first titles produced by this new company were Getter Robo, Abashiri Family and Kiku No Suke.

In 1972, Go Nagai started his most famous work, Devilman. Also created in the same year was Mazinger Z. Both titles went on to become anime series later in the year due to their enormous success. Mazinger Z also started the super-robot trend that dominated the 1970's.

Go Nagai had quite a bit of help in creating his works. Ken Ishikawa was his assistant on many projects. Ishikawa went on to make manga on his own. Some of his works are Fatal Fury, Miroku and Samurai Spirits. His art style is very similar to Go Nagai's although much less gratuitous with nudity.

Some of Go Nagai's more recent anime projects have been Shin Getter Robo, Devilman Lady TV and Amon: The Apocalypse of Devilman. He is also putting out more manga now than ever.