Leiji Matsumoto


Leiji Matsumoto is a Japanese mangaka, creator of several anime and manga series. His wife Miyako Maki is also a manga artist.

Space opera

Matsumoto is famous for his space operas such as Space Battleship Yamato. His style is characterized by tragic heroes; tall, slender, fragile-looking heroines with strong wills and in some cases, god-like powers; and a love of analog gauges and dials in his spacecraft.

Career

Matsumoto made his debut under his real name, Akira Matsumoto, in 1953. His wife is shōjo manga artist Miyako Maki.
Matsumoto had his big break with Otoko Oidon, a series that chronicled the life of a rōnin, in 1971. In 1972 he also created the mature-themed dark comedy Western seinen series, Gun Frontier, for Play Comic magazine, which ran from 1972 - 1975. Around the same time he started a series of unconnected short stories set during World War II, Senjo Manga Series, which would eventually become popular under the title The Cockpit.
He was involved in Space Battleship Yamato and created the highly popular series Space Pirate Captain Harlock and Galaxy Express 999. In 1978, he was awarded the Shogakukan Manga Award for shōnen for Galaxy Express 999 and Senjo Manga Series. Animated versions of Captain Harlock and Galaxy Express 999 are set in the same universe, which spanned several spin offs and related series, most notably Queen Emeraldas and Queen Millennia.
Matsumoto supervised the creation of several music videos for the French house group Daft Punk, set to tracks from their album Discovery. These videos were issued end-to-end on a DVD release titled .
About two dozen bronze statues – each perhaps four feet tall – of characters and scenes from Space Battleship Yamato and Galaxy Express 999 were erected in the downtown area of Tsuruga in 1999. Each statue includes a plaque at its base explaining the character, and featuring Matsumoto's signature.
designed by Leiji Matsumoto
Matsumoto worked with Yoshinobu Nishizaki on Space Battleship Yamato. Matsumoto created a manga loosely based on the series, and the Yamato makes cameo appearances in several of his works including the Galaxy Express 999 manga.
A recent work by Matsumoto called Great Yamato featuring an updated Yamato had to be renamed Great Galaxy due to legal issues with Nishizaki.
As of 2009, Matsumoto and Nishizaki were working on independent anime projects featuring the acclaimed Space Battleship Yamato, with the conditions that Matsumoto cannot use the name Yamato or the plot or characters from the original, and Nishizaki cannot use the conceptual art, character or ship designs of the original. Since Nishizaki's death in 2010, it is uncertain whether these restrictions will continue to apply.
On August 2014, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of his debut, Matsumoto launched the manga Captain Harlock ~Jigen Kōkai~, illustrated by Kōichi Shimahoshi, in the pages of Akita Shoten's Champion Red magazine. Dimensional Voyage is a retelling of the original 1978 Space Pirate Captain Harlock manga. It had been licensed in the U.S. by Seven Seas.
Matsumoto is one of the 'Frontier Ambassadors' of Koriyama City.

Health

On 15 November 2019, Matsumoto suffered severe respiratory problems and collapsed during an event in Turin, Italy, for the 40th anniversary tour celebrating the Captain Harlock anime adaptation. He was taken in hospital in critical condition, and had a breathing tube inserted after he was checked into the emergency unit. However, he was considered to be out of danger two days later.

List of works

NameYearRoleReference
Arcadia of My Youth1982Story
'1982-1983Story
Arei no Kagami1985Story
'2014Story
Cosmo Warrior Zero2001Story
Dai-yojo-han series1970–1974
Fairy Hotaruna
Fire Force DNAsights 999.9
Galaxy Express 9991977–1981Story
Great Galaxy
Great Yamato No. Zero2004-2007Story
Gun Frontier1972–1975Story
Harlock Saga1998-1999Story
Insect1975
'2003Production
Supervisor
Kousoku Esper1968–1970
Machinner series1969–1970
Maetel Legend2000Story
'1980Character
Designer
Mystery Eve1970–1971
Otoko Oidon1971–1973
Ozuma2012Story
Planet Robot Danguard Ace1977–1978Story
Pu Pu1974
Queen Emeraldas1978-1979Story
Queen Millennia1980-1983Story
Saint Elmo – Hikari no Raihousha1986Credited
Senjo Manga series1973–1978
Sexaroid1968–1970
Space Battleship Yamato1974
Space Pirate Captain Harlock1977–1979Story
Space Symphony Maetel2004-2005Producer
Starzinger1978–1979Story
Submarine Super 991970-1972Story
The Cockpit1993Story
The Galaxy Railways2003-2007Producer
The Ultimate Time Sweeper Mahoroba
Tiger-Striped Mii