Manga author Leiji Matsumoto, creator of ‘Albator’, dies at 85

He was the father of the “corsair captain” whose adventures rocked the children of the 1980s. Leiji Matsumoto, legend of manga and Japanese animation, died last week, at the age of 85, from a heart failure, announced, Monday, February 20, the production house Toei. The author is particularly known for works of science fiction such as Yamato, space battleship (1974) or Galaxy Express 999 (1977).

But it’s mostly the series Captain Harlock (Harlock in its original version and in English) which has made it essential throughout the world. It recounts the adventures of a space privateer with a scarred face and a long black cape emblazoned with a skull. Released in Japan between 1977 and 1979 and then adapted into a cartoon, this work was a worldwide success, notably broadcast on French television from 1980. “Albator is my most faithful and oldest friend. He is my alter ego in his determination”assured Leiji Matsumoto in 2011 at the Annecy Animation Film Festival, where he came to present the trailer for the film Captain Harlock, space corsair.

Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters

Born in 1938 on the island of Kyushu, in the southwest of Japan, this precocious genius, admirer of the great mangaka Osamu Tezuka, published his first manga at 15 years old. The artist said he was inspired in his work by the atomic bomb dropped by the United States in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, when he was 7 years old and lived in Fukuoka, 300 km away.

This pop culture icon also produced a medium-length animated film in the early 2000s, including the album Discovery of the French group Daft Punk provided the soundtrack. Decorated in 2012 by France with the medal of Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters, Leiji Matsumoto celebrated his 60-year career in 2013 at the Angoulême Comics Festival, where he was the guest of honor. He had more recently participated in the Japan expo, a large exhibition dedicated to Japanese pop culture, in Paris, in 2019, with another manga legend, his compatriot Go Nagai, author of Grendizer.