- Being influenced by the works of manga (Japanese comic-book) pioneer Osamu Tezuka, Go Nagai aspired to be a manga artist himself. After graduating from high school, he became an assistant for manga writer/artist Shotaro Ishinomori, and then made his debut with the comic-book "Meakashi Pori Kichi" (published in the November 1967 issue of Bokura Magazine). His turning point came in 1968, with the controversial comic-book "Harenchi Gakuen" ("Shameless High School"), which not only became a huge success, but singlehandedly revolutionized the manga industry. The comic was also so controversial that the conservative Parent/Teacher Associations in Japan had publicly burned some copies! In 1969, Nagai began work on what would be his life's work; The year 1971 saw publication of his comic-book, "Devil King Dante," about a demon awakening in the present to destroy mankind, as it was influenced by an evil alien called "God" in prehistoric times. The following year saw what would be perhaps Nagai's best works, and since then, he had formed his own company Dynamic Productions. His "Dante" comic forshadowed its more popular incarnation, "Devil-Man," which soon had its own anime series in 1972. Then came his classic comic-book/anime series, "Mazinger Z," which started the "Super Robot" wave in Japan, and became influental to just about any giant robot you've ever seen, from Mobile Suit Gundam (1979) to Beast King GoLion (1981) (better known to US fans as Voltron)! His other giant robot works included "Getter Robo" in 1974 (the first heroic giant robot to combine from individual vehichles), and the "Mazinger Z" follow-ups "Great Mazinger" and "UFO Robo Grendizer." He is also best known for creating perverse, sex-oriented parodies, his most memorable being another 1972 vintage, "Cutey Honey," about an android girl named Honey Kisaragi, who fights monsters and demons, and also has the power to change into different clothes, most prominently from her blonde-haired Kisaragi persona to her red-haired, super-suited Cutey Honey persona! Nagai created a similar superheroine called "Kekkou Kamen," a spoof of Japan's pioneer TV superhero show, _"Gekkou kamen" (1958)_. Whereas Gekkou Kamen was a man wearing a white costume, cape, mask and turban, Kekkou Kamen was a girl who wore only a mask, an occasional cape, gloves, boots, thin scarf, and nothing else! Nagai's Dynamic Productions split from Toei Animation around 1981, so he was given more creative freedom, thus producing his own shows, such as a 2-part OVA (Original Video Animation - a term for anime made exclusively direct-to-video) remake of "Devilman" in 1987, and more recently, sequels to "Cutey Honey," "Getter Robo," and "Mazinger Z." His work, particularly "Devilman," is also appreciated by heavy metal rock bands!- IMDb Mini Biography By: John Cassidy <jonryusei@aol.com>
- Likes to put in as much nudity, sexual and scatological material as he can to see what he can get away with.
- While passing in a prep school, he suffered a severe case of diarrhea for 3 weeks. Believing he had not long to live, he wanted to leave some evidence that he had lived, through doing something that he liked as a child: working on manga. He was determined to create one work of manga in what he thought were his last months. As Nagai prepared for the task, he went to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with catarrh of the colon, and soon healed. But this was a turning point in his life: convinced that he would continue working on manga, he stopped attending school after three months and started living as a ronin.
- Nagai liked foreign movies, and used to read Playboy magazine.
- His "Harenchi Gakuen" work drew serious complaints and protests from Japanese parents and teachers. His fans supported him throughout the protests however; they sent him letters where they expressed how they were aware that the adults cracking down on them were reading raunchier stuff than what Nagai was producing.
- He cites the works of artist Gustave Doré and cartoonist Osamu Tezuka as an influence on his work.
- Considered to be the pioneer of ecchi and hentai manga with having first started erotic drawings of girls in manga. He started this with his 1968 comedy manga "Harenchi Gakuen" ("Shameless School"), which was meant to showcase embarrassing situations (girls exposing their panties, boys peeping on girls). It developed serious controversy, but also became wildly popular and succeeded in influencing Japanese society radically, and completely changing the common perceptions of manga.
- About "Harenchi Gakuen": We started "Harenchi Gakuen" with the idea of making a comic based on messing around at a school. I liked the word 'harenchi' (scandal), which was always being used in advertising copy for adult movies. Scandal and school are like oil and water, so I thought mixing them would be fun and easily came up with the name.
- My heroines were types who would hide themselves behind the idea of masculine sexuality. That's why I drew them as incredibly strong characters. What I drew was not eroticism. It was all about Japan's culture of shame. The characters want to show what they've got, but they're too embarrassed to do so. It's all about the tug of war between men and women. I wanted that embarrassment to be the eroticism of the stories.
- The reason why I depict the effects of war in my comics is because I strongly believe that a person should learn from childhood how war can be destructive and how much people and societies may suffer from it, just the same way I learned it from the stories of adults around me when I was a little child.
- It's not much fun if you show everything, or if you give too much information. I prefer to let loose with a little bit and let the imagination do the rest.
- I must admit that I really like pictures of nude girls and that influenced the way I drew.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content