Zack Davisson, a Californian writer who has translated much of Matsumoto's work, said on Twitter that the world has lost an 'absolute giant'. Many years later, he said he had been inspired by his own father, who had been elite army pilot and had taught him that war should never be fought because it 'destroys your future'.

More than 150 of his manga stories depicted the tragedy of war - Matsumoto was seven years old when World War Two ended. Several of his manga comics were made into anime television series, including the sci-fi epic Space Pirate Captain Harlock, which follows the adventures of an outcast turned space pirate. It was hugely successful and won the Kodansha Publishing Award for Children's Manga. His big break came a decade later after he published Otoko Oidon, a series about the life of a poor, young man preparing for university exams. Together they collaborated on several projects, and he changed his name to Leiji Matsumoto. He married Miyako Maki in 1961, a well-known manga creator and one of Japan's earliest female artists in the genre. Born in 1938 in the south-western city of Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, Matsumoto was only 15 when his debut work, Mitsubachi no Boken (Honey Bee's Adventures), was published in a manga magazine.Īfter finishing high school, he moved to Tokyo to pursue his dream of becoming a professional artist.

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