Tropedia

-

READ MORE

Tropedia
Tropedia
Tropedia
178,339
pages
in: Names to Know In Anime, Speculative Fiction Creator Index, Mangaka,
and 2 more

Go Nagai

Sign in to edit
  • Farm-Fresh balanceYMMV
  • WikEd fancyquotesQuotes
  • (Emoticon happyFunny
  • HeartHeartwarming
  • Silk award star gold 3Awesome)
  • Script editFanfic Recs
  • MagnifierAnalysis
  • HelpTrivia
  • Sasquatch WMG
  • Photo linkImage Links
  • Haiku-wide-iconHaiku
  • Spartan-restaurant-logo Laconic
Uncle Go

Uncle Go

Go Nagai (永井 豪, Nagai Gō, born Kiyoshi Nagai in 1945) is a famous Japanese writer and artist, active since 1967. Highly influential in the world of Manga and Anime; he effectively created many of their tropes, such as the Super Robot Genre. While best known for his Mecha and Horror series, Nagai has also created a lot of comedy and erotic material, and even one Magical Girl series aimed at children (not Cutey Honey).

Nagai began his career after he fell sick in college and believed he had colon cancer; he wanted to leave something to be remembered for. By the time he found out he did not have cancer, he was set on his career. Ironically his first efforts at getting published were sabotaged by his own mother! Fortunately, he caught the attention of Shotaro Ishinomori, (creator of Cyborg 009) who helped him get started.

Nagai eventually funded his own company, Dynamic Productions. The 1970s were his decade, with his manga selling like hotcakes and Japanese TV at times broadcasting as many as three anime adaptations of his work simultaneously (1973-74 alone had Mazinger Z and Dororon Enma-kun airing on Fuji Television plus Cutie Honey on what is now TV Asahi). Meanwhile, starting in the latter half of the '70s, foreign broadcasts of his Super Robot series, particularly Mazinger Z and UFO Robo Grendizer, spread his fame globally, particularly to Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and Quebec. A 1980s OVA series, CB Chara Go Nagai World, was an Affectionate Parody of Nagai's works, with Super Deformed versions of his most famous characters interacting with each other.

Nagai is known for intentionally breaking taboos, and even his milder material has a humorously deranged quality to it. His early works (particularly Harenchi Gakuen) got him in trouble with the PTA, and even today some of them can contain controversial material. Nevertheless, most of his TV work is notably Lighter and Softer than its counterpart manga, likely with the double goal of appealing to kids and attracting international sales. Some of his anime even aired in the United States, including Mazinger Z (as TranZor Z), albeit in heavily edited and censored versions. His work is much more popular outside the English-speaking world, to the point where a statue of Mazinger Z was erected in Spain and the show was banned by Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

See also: Ken Ishikawa

Notable Nagai Series:[]

  • Abashiri Family — a gag series about a family of thugs.
  • Cutey Honey — The first (or at least the Ur Example) Magical Girl Warrior series, though not the first Magical Girl anime (that was Sally the Witch) or manga (which was Himitsu no Akko-chan).
  • Devilman — Horror/Superhero series, and the first of Nagai's works to receive a full animated adaptation. The TV anime is one of the most influential action anime of the early 70s (though it is much tamer than the manga), and the manga is widely regarded as his best work.
  • Dororon Enma-kun — Enma-kun, the Prince of Hell, heads up a "demon patrol" with his friends Yuki-chan and Kappaeru, searching for and punishing wayward monsters. In a way, sort of a much younger Devilman, and definitely aimed at kids although too violent (and Ecchi) for America. The '70s anime never made it to the West, but the 2000s reboot became a global favorite.
  • Harenchi Gakuen — Nagai's first work, an Erotic Comedy. Highly excessive pressure from the Moral Guardians was enough for him to Torch the Franchise and Run. The first of Nagai's works to be adapted into a TV series (although live-action, not anime).
  • Iron Virgin Jun
  • Kekko Kamen — an even more sexually explicit Magic Warrior; "Nobody's seen her face, but everyone's seen her body."[1] An outright Deconstructive Parody of the Magical Girl Warrior concept (and Moonlight Mask[2]), complete with nazi schoolteachers.
  • Kotetsu (Steel) Jeeg — a Super Robot with cyborgs and lost civilizations.
  • Majokko Tickle - A more straightforward, family-oriented (non-fighting) Magical Girl series. One of his lesser known works (supposedly).
  • Mao Dante — Horror series. A demon possesses a boy, and it builds up to a cataclysmic demon war. Elements from this would later be used for his far more successful Devilman. Toei initially planned to turn this into a TV anime, but Nagai offered them Devilman instead, and the rest is history.
  • Mazinger Z — The first piloted Super Robot series. Without a doubt his most famous and influential work.
    • Great Mazinger — The Sequel to Mazinger Z, continuing where it left off.
      • UFO Robo Grendizer — The third part of the trilogy and the one that launched Nagai's popularity big-time outside Japan, when it became a massive hit on French and Quebecois TV under the name Goldorak not long after finishing its run in Japan. Also his first work to make it to the U.S. in 1980 as Grandizer (part of Jim Terry's Force Five).
  • Psycho Armor Govarian - An Expy of Mazinger Z but with the pilot using his psychic abilities to control the robot. Nagai made a TV anime in 1983 with the infamous Knack studio (of Chargeman Ken infamy) and it would become very popular in South Korea.
  • Star Fleet — A Thunderbirds style sci-fi puppet series. Known as X-Bomber in Japan, and hugely popular in the UK where it ran on Saturday afternoons in the early 80's.
  • Violence Jack — as the name implies, an extremely violent series that really pushed the boundaries for what was acceptable in manga. Part of the Devilman universe, it features cameos from almost all of Nagai's works. One of the first post-apocalyptic manga to be published in Japan, and would later influence works such as Fist of the North Star.
  • Susano Oh - a manga about a boy with psychic powers who winds up in the middle of a war between two other psychics.

Contrary to popular belief, Go Nagai merely pitched the idea for a Combining Mecha story that became Ken Ishikawa 's Getter Robo rather than being actual creator.

Tropes common to many (not all) of Nagai's works:[]

  1. ↑ This is because Kekko Kamen - Japanese for "Beautiful Mask" - is nude except for said mask.
  2. ↑ or "Gekko Kamen" in the original Japanese, making Kekko Kamen a Punny Name
Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.