Addio Leiji Matsumoto. These words remain engraved in our hearts, for news that we really never wanted to hear. In fact, one of the greatest comic book authors of all time, the legendary, has left us in these days Akira Matsumoto said, for friends, Leiji, a nickname that roughly means The Midnight Samurai. And for all of us fans of the Master Mangaka, he really was a friend, a couple of generations who grew up with his adventurous stories, often set on mysterious planets, and always imbued with that typical melancholy and mal de vivre of his works, but always ready to show us the right way, with redemption, with the basic moral, while making us daydream, lost among the stars.
The legendary Leiji Matsumoto on the armchair-throne of his country house, with his iconic and inseparable space pirate cap
Addio Leiji Matsumoto in what, as we know, is just a greeting, because those who create works to leave never really die, but live forever in their stories. Dystopian sci-fi themes reflecting on the woes of reality. Whenever someone will read the pages de The Battleship Yamato oh you Capitan Harlockor will see the unforgettable anime series Galaxy Express 999, Queen Emeraldas e The Queen of a thousand years everything that the exceptional artist conceived and his unique narrative universe will come to life once again. Forget every other work, because the Matsumotoverse is something unique, which captures the reader (or the viewer) and takes him to the borders of the highest science fiction narrative, where the great problems of Planet Earth, translated and analyzed with the trick of the sci-fi eye, alien and external, are narrated and criticized. An eclectic personality, that of Leiji Matsumoto, whose stories deserve to be rediscovered also by the new generations. The author, moreover, is active until 2014, the year in which the manga is published Capitan Harlock: Dimension Voyage, the latest sequel in the series. In Italy we had the honor of being able to see him live at the 2018 edition of Lucca Comics & Games, where he was the special guest of the event. The author drew in front of the audience accompanied by a live orchestra, in a very emotional moment of the show.
The Master’s passions are many, even bizarre, including Japanese trains, the narrative inspiration for perhaps his most famous series, of a romantic and desperate train that runs through space, to the point that he often appeared in public dressed as a railwayman, sending one into a frenzy the fans. Not to forget the sci-fi western settings, which in the seventies were in fact a real novelty, the fulcrum of works such as The World of Robots of the novelist Michael Crichtonhere as a film director, from which the contemporary is taken Westworldand which inspired turn of the millennium series such as Firefly Of Joss Whedon, which you can find on this page. An unforgettable author Leiji Matsumoto, who left us on February 13, 2023, after struggling with a long illness due to heart failure. However, the news was released by the media only today. A true institution in the manga and anime sector, a true old school samurai, born in 1938, who grew up in full Second World Warbetween hardships and difficulties, proud and lucidly crazy in wanting to take our souls to very distant worlds, as he would say Franco Battiato. A true Master of quality drawn science fiction. Goodbye Leiji Matsumoto, have a nice trip among the stars.
The splendid Artwork dedicated to Leji Matsumoto and his characters created by Lejiverse
We will meet again in that place where the wheels of time cross.’
(Leiji Matsumoto)
