On April 11, the original author of "Kuni III", manga artist Monkey Punch (real name Kazuhiko Kato) passed away from pneumonia, aged 81.
Kazuhiko Kato was born in Hokkaido, Japan, and after graduating from high school, he went to Tokyo and debuted as a manga artist.
His "Lupin III" had a profound impact on the Japanese animation industry. The protagonist of the manga, Lupin III, acts both right and evil and is debauched, and the theme of the manga story is also difficult to discern, which is more complex and more adult than the mainstream anime works at that time.
It was later adapted into an anime, which became a national animation in Japan because of its different themes. At that time, "Lupin III" TV animation, Miyazaki Hayao and Takada Hoshi two famous directors have produced, after miyazaki Hayao for the first time as the theatrical animation director, filming also "Lupin III Kalio Stro City". In the hearts of Anime fans in Japan in the 1970s and 1980s, Lupin III is an irreplaceable work, and it has also influenced a generation of Japanese animators. The "Lupin III" series has been releasing animation works for thirty or forty years, which can be described as the evergreen tree of Japanese animation.
Kazuhiko Kato himself went on to create manga works such as "One Night, One Meal" after Lupin III. He also promoted the establishment of the Digital Comics Association, which is now a form of distribution used by major publishing houses. In 2003, at the age of 66, Kato Kazuhiko was admitted to Tokyo Institute of Technology as a graduate student, and in 2010, he became a visiting professor at Tokyo University of Technology.
Kazuhiko Kato died. But his legacy, Lupin III, is still launching new works, and the latest theatrical version of the series, "The Lie of Lupin III's Peaks", will be released in Japan on May 31. Lupin will always be young and dashing.
Monkey Punch, r.i.p.
via: Asahi Shimbun
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