Akira Matsumoto, better known as the famous Japanese manga and anime creator Leiji Matsumoto, passed away at the age of 85, according to his studio.
On February 13, he passed away from acute heart failure, according to a statement from Studio Leijisha.
Galaxy Express 999, Queen Emeraldas, and Space Battleship Yamato are just a few of Matsumoto's famous epic science fiction sagas.
His works frequently had heartfelt plotlines and anti-war themes.
He "set out on a journey to the sea of stars," according to Makiko Matsumoto, the director of Studio Leijisha and Matsumoto's daughter. I believe he had a contented existence and was considering carrying on as a manga artist. ".
Matsumoto was only 15 years old when his first work, Mitsubachi no Boken (Honey Bee's Adventures), was published in a manga magazine. He was born in 1938 in the Fukuoka Prefecture city of Kurume in the south-west.
He relocated to Tokyo following his high school graduation in order to pursue his career as a professional artist.
In 1961, he wed Miyako Maki, a well-known manga artist and one of the country's first female creators of the genre. He changed his name to Leiji Matsumoto while working with them on a number of projects.
After publishing Otoko Oidon, a series about the life of a young, impoverished man preparing for university exams, ten years later, he got his big break. Because of its enormous success, it was given the Kodansha Publishing Award for Children's Manga.
A number of his manga comics have been adapted into anime television series, such as the sci-fi epic Space Pirate Captain Harlock, which chronicles the exploits of a former outsider who becomes a space piratical captain.
Matsumoto was seven years old when World War Two ended, and more than 150 of his manga stories depicted the tragedy of war. Many years later, he claimed that his own father, an elite army pilot, had inspired him and had taught him that war should never be waged because it "destroys your future.".
The world has lost an "absolute giant," according to Californian author Zack Davisson, who translated much of Matsumoto's writing.
He continued that Matsumoto's portrayal of emotionally frail boys and young men demonstrated that it was acceptable to experience emotion: "Star Blazers and Galaxy Express was a gut-punch. People. died. People. cried. People. got in love. ".
His artwork possessed a grandeur that was unmatched by anything else. All of this was encased in striking visuals that were both mythological and futuristic, Mr. Davisson said.
Daft Punk, a French musical group, was a fan of Matsumoto's creations and hired him to make several animated music videos for them, most notably for the song One More Time, which was released in 2000.
Matsumoto was cited as one of their childhood heroes by both members, Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. .
Together, they also produced the anime movie Interstella 5555, which is about a group of aliens. It was "a cult hit before it even came out," according to the Japanese publication Pen Online.
In the Japanese port city of Tsuruga, several bronze statues were erected in 1999, each of which featured a character or scene from Space Battleship Yamato and Galaxy Express 999.
Matsumoto has been honored by Japan with a number of prestigious cultural and artistic medals, including the Order of the Rising Sun, and by France with the Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters.
His works have been adapted and spun off for a very long time because of how well-liked they were, influencing generations of manga and anime fans.
