Leiji Matsumoto, Artist For Space Battleship Yamato And Creator Of Galaxy Express 999 Manga, Passes Away Aged 85

TV & Film

Feb 21

Leiji Matsumoto, the legendary manga artist behind works such as Space Battleship Yamato and Galaxy Express 999, has passed away aged 85. The Japanese manga artist died of acute heart failure on February 13. Born Akira Matsumoto in 1938, the artist debuted his first manga at the age of 15 in 1953. He adopted the pen name Leiji Matsumoto during the 1960s.

Matsumoto is best known for his science fiction manga which features space opera themes and settings. In the 1970s, he debuted his most famous works Space Pirate Captain Harlock and Galaxy Express 999. Space Pirate Captain Harlock is about a romantic rebel pirate captain who leads his starship against humanity's oppressors. Galaxy Express 999 features the journey of a young Tetsuro Hoshino with the mysterious Maetel on a space-faring high-tech train. These mangas have been made into anime series, movies, and numerous spin-offs.

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Leiji Matsumoto's best works in the English-speaking west are arguably Space Battleship Yamato and Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem. Space Battleship Yamato was a 1974-1975 anime series he helped develop, renamed Star Blazers in the U.S., and featured the eponymous space battleship fighting to save humanity. Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem was a musical film in collaboration with French electronic music duo Daft Punk which features songs from their 2001 album Discovery. The French musicians were quoted to have been fans of Matsumoto's Space Pirate Captain Harlock.

For his decades of work in the manga, anime, and arts, Matsumoto received several awards from the Japanese and French governments including the ‘Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres’ (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) from France. Matsumoto's art and stories have also influenced other Japanese science fiction franchises such as Gundam and Neon Genesis Evangelion.