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Article by Brian Cirulnick
Go Nagai: While the name Kiyoshi Nagai might not be instantly recognizable to you; I practically guarantee you've heard of some of his creations -- Cutie Honey, Devilman, and Mazinger Z; Mazinger being the most notable because it launched the entire "giant robot" genre of manga and anime.
Yes, yes, you're now crying out that Tetsujin 28 came first. You're right, it did - but, Tetsujin was controlled by a remote control box -- Go Nagai's innovation was to put the pilot INSIDE the robot. And everything from Gundam to Evangelion to more modern mecha shows has followed this pattern ever since.
By now, you've figured out that Kiyoshi Nagai is the real name for manga artist Go Nagai, one of the most influential manga artists of all time, and one of the richest men in Japan (although he made his fortune by taking the money he made in manga and investing in real estate early on in a little town called Tokyo). Go Nagai's influence is so pervasive even Marvel's "Star Wars" comic from the late 1970's featured an alien race known as the "Nagai".
Go Nagai's "big break" occurred with the initial publication of Shonen Jump, where he was invited to participate in the launch of the magazine, and did so with a startling and scandalous manga - Harenchi Gakuen - a manga which basically introduced modern eroticism to comics, although it's now probably considered tame by today's standards of hentai. Regardless, the more bad PR it got, the more popular the manga became, launching Nagai to stardom, and the series itself to live action films and a TV series.
Nagai's follow-up to this was Mazinger Z, which, as stated earlier, essentially changed the entire dynamic of giant robots forever. Mazinger was the first robot actually piloted by the hero, and it launched an entire industry around this concept that continues to this day in the world of anime and manga.
Cutie Honey is considered one of the first "magical girl" series (even though she's an android), and was a major influence on every anime/manga magical girl thereafter. Consider the "transformation sequence" where the heroine essentially loses her day-wear outfit to transform into her superheroine outfit. Nagai pioneered this and again, the concept is used to this day. "Honey Flash!"
Go Nagai's visionary influence helped transform the early industry into what you know and love today. His imaginative innovations have created entertainment staples that have lasted generations, and continue to power the current crop of manga and anime franchises.
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