Go Nagai Sensei

Kiyoshi Nagai known to the general public as Gō Nagai is considered one of the greatest authors of Japanese comics and animation. He created a universe of characters that has raised entire generations: Goldrake Robot UFO, Mazinga, the cult Devil Man, Cutey Honey, Jeeg Robot, Violence Jack. His career began in 1965, but only two years later he created his first manga Meakashi Porikiki.  In 1968 he published Harenchi Gakuen, considered one of the first modern erotic manga. In 1968 he founded Dynamic Production with which he produced his immense masterpieces. We remember in 1971 Mao Dante with whom he began his exploration of religious and demonic themes; the author said that he drew the inspiration to create Mao Dante from an edition of the Divine Comedy illustrated by Gustave Doré. In the same year Devilman, one of the most influential and famous works of the seventies, was published. Nagai introduces situations at the edge of the splatter with an apocalyptic ending that leaves you speechless. Of this comic is made a TV series considerably less violent and with great references to the iconography of the western superhero. 1972 is a very important year for Japanese animation and for Nagai, a great innovator of the Mecha genre that gives life to Mazinga Z, the first Japanese anime starring a super robot controlled from the inside by a human being. The idea of a great flying robot came to Nagai while driving in traffic, imagining what could have happened if the car had gone out of limbs with which to bypass the other means. Several comic book versions are published, the most important of which is the one written by Nagai and drawn by Gosaku Ota, who faithfully follows the plot of the television version accentuating its violence and introducing many innovations. In addition, in the course of the comic and television series is introduced the Duke Gorgon, the first exponent of the Mycenaean people who will battle the successor of Mazinga Z, the Great Mazinga. In 1973 he created Cutie Honey, the android girl who lives under the secret identity of the blonde Honey Kisaragi, but who in case of need can take on more alternative identities, each of different appearance and equipped with special powers and equipment. The main identity is precisely that of Cutie, a swordswoman with short red hair, decidedly mischievous compared to Japanese female standards, who often teases her male friends and mocks her enemies during the fights. This is where Go Nagai combines superhero and erotic themes. In the same year begins the long epic of Violence Jack, a series in which the Kantō peninsula is isolated from a cataclysm and becomes the scene of wild struggles for survival, which Nagai will stop and resume repeatedly, until completing it only in 1990. Going back to the Great Mazinga, his 1974 television series will deepen and extreme the themes present in Mazinga Z: This time the pilot of the mecha is a real soldier trained to achieve a single purpose: the defeat of the people of the Mycenaeans, who are presented in the monstrous features of huge robotic monsters with human heads usually embedded in the belly. Also in 1974, Nagai proved his genius and invented the "mecha componibili" with Space Robot (Getter Robot). Also in this series returns the theme of the "enemy from the past", the Dinosaur Empire, a race of humanoid reptiles particularly intelligent, remained in hibernation for centuries and returned to reclaim the Earth. Of the TV series is produced a comic strip reduction, which again extremes the violence of the cartoon and changes the characters of the characters, much more extreme and disturbing. Also from '74 is the comic Kekko Kamen (Libidinous Mask), yet another fusion of superheroes and eroticism in which the protagonist fights crime dressed in the mask alone. In 1975 the sequel to Space Robot, Jet Robot (Getter Robot G) was produced and especially of two very popular series in Italy, Jeeg robot steel (Kotetsu Jeeg) and Goldrake (Grendizer). The themes are this time more "classically" science fiction, with a real alien invasion. Goldrake was particularly successful in Europe, where especially in Italy it gave rise to a real phenomenon of custom, studied even by the faculties of sociology. Goldrake officially marks the entry of anime into television programming. The impact was very strong, there were many differences, both in drawing, animation technique and themes. Famous also became the Italian acronyms, created by the couple Luigi Albertelli - Vince Tempera. In addition, Goldrake finally shows with greater evidence that many of the characters of Nagai belong to the same narrative universe: in the series appears Koji Kabuto (in Italy he was renamed Alcor), pilot of Mazinga Z, driving an innovative disc-shaped steering wheel. In addition, numerous films and OVAs will be produced later in which the Nagai robots will unite for a common cause, such as The Great Mazinga against Goldrake, Mazinga Z against Devilman, The Great Mazinga against Getter Robot and the spectacular team-up Goldrake, Getter Robot G and the Great Mazinga against the Dragosaurus. In 1976 Nagai collaborated on two series, perhaps less original, but which were also broadcast in Italy with good success: Gaiking (Daizu Maryu Gaiking) and Gakeen the magnetic robot (Magne Robot Ga-Kin). A dispute over Gaiking’s rights resulted in a violent quarrel between Nagai and Toei Animation, which had produced all of his series, and the resulting separation. From this point on, Nagai’s career takes a curious turn: in addition to producing new works, he will devote himself almost maniacally to the "rewriting" of the works that made him famous, often helped by drawings by Ken Ishikawa and recently by Yu Kinutani. In this way will be re-read Mazinga (God Mazinger, Z Mazinger, Mainstage, Mazinkaiser), Getter Robot (Getter Robot Go, Shin Getter Robot, Shin Getter Robot: The Last Day, Shin Getter Robot vs Neo Getter Robot, Getter Getter Robot Ark) and Devilman (Neo Devilman, Devilman Armageddon, Devillady, Amon - The Darkside of Devilman, Strange Days - The Apocalypse of Devilman). To confirm the greatness of this Japanese author is the fact that even he or better his characters, have become, just like the international stars, also the subject of humorous super deformed parody, we talk about The crazy world of Go Nagai, in which all the characters of the most famous series appear.