{"id":954,"date":"2025-06-22T20:13:16","date_gmt":"2025-06-22T19:13:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/japanmatsuri.org\/it\/?page_id=954"},"modified":"2025-08-20T22:01:53","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T21:01:53","slug":"go-nagai","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/japanmatsuri.org\/en\/go-nagai\/","title":{"rendered":"Go Nagai"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Go Nagai<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of UFO Robot Grendizer, we are honored to announce the presence of a true manga legend: Master Go Nagai.<\/b><\/p>

The Master will hold a conference and a live drawing demonstration on stage on Saturday at 4:45 PM<\/b>, in addition to two free autograph sessions<\/b> scheduled for Saturday<\/b>, September 20, from 2:15 PM to 3:15 PM <\/b>, and Sunday<\/b>, September 21, from 1:15 PM to 2:15 PM<\/b>.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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G\u014d Nagai, (born Kiyoshi Nagai, September 6, 1945 in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture) is considered one of the most important Japanese manga artists, and the pioneer of psychological horror and splatter with works like Devilman<\/i>, Shutend\u014dji<\/i> and Violence Jack<\/i>; the \u201ccute fighting girls\u201d genre with Cutey Honey <\/i>; and the giant robot genre, for which he is most famous worldwide, with Mazinger Z<\/i>. In particular, Mazinger Z<\/i> is hugely popular all over Asia, Central \/ South America and Spain, while Grendizer <\/i> has been one of the greatest hits ever in Italy, France, Russia and the Middle East.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Fourth of five male brothers, while he was still in his early childhood, his father passed away and the family moved to T\u014dky\u014d. There, through his brothers who were all passionate readers and movie-goers, he had the chance to read the comic books of artists like Osamu Tezuka and Mitsuteru Yokoyama and to see Dante\u2019s Divine Comedy <\/i> illustrated by Gustave Dor\u00e9, which deeply influenced his future works.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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After graduating from the Metropolitan Itabashi High School, he studied to enter Waseda University, but when he felt ill and one of his brother jokingly told him that he was probably going to die soon, he decided that he wanted to leave some evidence that he had lived by doing something that he really liked. Consequently, he chose to leave his studies and work on a manga.\nHowever, publishers continually returned his works, until the day when his work was noticed by Sh\u014dgakukan. The publisher contacted Sh\u014dtaro Ishinomori, who finally hired him as an assistant in 1965.<\/p>

His very first professional manga work was Meakashi Polikichi (Polikichi the Detective), a very short gag comedy oneshot, published in November 1967 in the magazine \u201cBokura\u201d by K\u014ddansha. After that, his works consisted entirely of short gag comedy manga. This would change with Harenchi gakuen <\/i> (Shameless School).<\/p>

In 1968, when Sh\u016beisha was getting prepared to launch its first manga publication, \u201cSh\u014dnen Jump\u201d, in order to compete with other magazines from rival companies (like \u201cSh\u014dnen Magazine\u201d from K\u014ddansha and \u201cSh\u014dnen Sunday\u201d from Sh\u014dgakukan), Nagai was invited to be one of the first mangakas publishing in the new magazine. He accepted and the series became a big success, being the first for Nagai and making \u201cSh\u014dnen Jump\u201d sell more than one million copies. This work has influenced Japanese society radically, completely changing the common perceptions of manga as a reading for little kids and imposing for the very first time the idea that comic books were enjoyable also by adult readers. Several live-action films and TV series based on this manga were developed, all with great success. In particular, the TV series\u2019 record as the top-rating show at TV T\u014dky\u014d remained unbroken for nearly forty years.<\/p>

It was also around this time, simultaneously to the worldwide student protests that shut down many universities in Japan, that he created Gakuen taikutsu otoko <\/i> (Guerrilla High), an eccentric manga mixing the reality of the protest movements with graphic elements of the extremely popular \u201cspaghetti-western\u201d genre.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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A little before that, in 1969, he released the comedy manga Abashiri Ikka <\/i> (The Alcatraz Family) with a huge success. Overnight, Nagai had become the most popular and influential mangaka of Japan!\nIn 1969, he founded with his brothers Dynamic Productions, originally meant to be a group of creators but which eventually focused on managing Nagai's relations and contractual rights of his work. The same year, Ken Ishikawa joined the company, becoming Nagai's regular work partner and his best friend.<\/p>

In 1971 Nagai, long considered as a comedy writer, shocked the readers with some dark horror stories and finally started releasing Ma\u014d Dante <\/i>, his first psychological horror manga. When the magazine featuring it was shut down by the publisher K\u014ddansha, Nagai started a very similar story on \u201cSh\u014dnen Magazine\u201d, the higely successful Devilman, which is still considered one of the most influential comic ever in the history of manga.
\nAlmost simultaneously, Cutey Honey <\/i>, the story of a super-heroine who is in reality a cyborg, became a top seller: both Devilman<\/i> and Cutie Honey <\/i> were soon transposed to animated series, becoming the two first (and almost only) anime series to ever be broadcasted in a prime time slot on Japanese TV.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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©Go Nagai \/ Dynamic Planning<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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When asked by the animation studio to offer some ideas for a new series, Nagai brought a totally new concept: a giant robot piloted from inside its head by a man, just like we usually drive a car. Titled Mazinger Z<\/i>, it immediately became one of the biggest hits of Japanese TV, hitting average ratings well over 30% and introducing the concept of multi-media development linked to a TV character: a huge number of toys, records and other gadgets were produced and sold by the millions, creating the basis for the modern form of anime-business.<\/p>

Other huge hits followed: in the horror genre, Shutend\u014dji <\/i>, Violence Jack <\/i>, Susano\u014d <\/i> and Devillady<\/i> were all incredibly successful, with Susano\u014d winning him the K\u014ddansha 4th Manga Award for a Manga Story for Boys.
\nIn the robot genre, Mazinger Z <\/i> was followed by Great Mazinger <\/i>, Grendizer<\/i>, Getter Robot<\/i> (the manga of which was drawn by Ken Ishikawa), Steel Armor Jeeg<\/i> and many others.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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©Go Nagai \/ Dynamic Planning<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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In the late Seventies, the animated versions of his characters started being broadcast worldwide: Grendizer<\/i> became the only program in French TV history to hit a 100% record rating, with an average 45% in other countries like Italy. Mazinger Z <\/i>was constantly over 60% in Spain, and became hugely successful all over Asia. International audiences were exposed for the very first time to the experience of Japanese animation, which eventually became a world-wide recognized for of entertainment.<\/p>

In 2009, G\u014d Nagai Museum has been opened in the city of Wajima.\nCurrently, Nagai pariticipated in several comic fairs and film festivals abroad, say Barcelona, Rome, Annecy, Paris and Los Angeles.\nIn 2017, he commemorates 50th anniversary of his life as a comic artist.\nHe was awarded the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government in 2019.\nHe continues to be actively involved in creative activities and continues to publish weekly comic series.\nBased on his Manga, many animation films and live-action films have been produced.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Autograph Sessions<\/b><\/b><\/h3>

The free autograph sessions with Master Go Nagai<\/b> will take place at Pavilion E <\/b>at the following times:<\/p>