The veteran manga creator of
Captain Harlock and other iconic space characters was discharged
from a Turin hospital Wednesday after being admitted after a bad
turn on November 15.
Leiji Matsumoto, 81, famous for space operas such as Space
Battleship Yamato, will return to Tokyo later Wednesday.
He had the bad turn while talking to an association which had
invited him to Turin to talk about his work.
Sources at Molinette Hospital said Matsumoto was "in good
conditions of health".
They said he "thanked the doctors for the treatment received,
showing appreciation for the attention and professionalism of
the staff at the Città della Salute".
Matsumoto had the bad turn in his hotel, where he was
awaiting a Ristotram to take him on a tourist trip around Turin.
At the city council he had spoken about Captain Harlock, a
character created 40 years ago who has accompanied several
generations of manga readers.
Admitted on November 15 following electrolitic alterations
and pneumonia, he was first taken to intensive care at Molinette
and then the university internal medicine ward.
Matsumoto is famous for his space operas such as Space
Battleship Yamato. His style is characterized by tragic heroes;
tall, slender, fragile-looking heroines with strong wills and in
some cases, god-like powers; and a love of analog gauges and
dials in his spacecraft.
Matsumoto made his debut under his real name, Akira
Matsumoto, in 1953. His wife is shōjo manga artist Miyako Maki
(better known as the creator of the doll Licca-chan, the
Japanese equivalent of Barbie).
Matsumoto had his big break with Otoko Oidon, a series that
chronicled the life of a rōnin (a young man preparing for
university entrance exams), in 1971. Around the same time he
started a series of unconnected short stories set during World
War II, Senjo Manga Series, which would eventually become
popular under the title The Cockpit.
He was involved in Space Battleship Yamato (1974) and created
the highly popular series Space Pirate Captain Harlock and
Galaxy Express 999 (both 1977). In 1978, he was awarded the
Shogakukan Manga Award for shōnen for Galaxy Express 999 and
Senjo Manga Series.[4] Animated versions of Captain Harlock and
Galaxy Express 999 are set in the same universe, which spanned
several spin offs and related series, most notably Queen
Emeraldas and Queen Millennia.
Matsumoto supervised the creation of several music videos for
the French house group Daft Punk, set to tracks from their album
Discovery. These videos were issued end-to-end (making a
full-length animated movie) on a DVD release titled Interstella
5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem.
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