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Leiji Matsumoto, the anime creator known for ”Space Battleship Yamato” and other classics using a fantastical style and antiwar themes, has died at age 85.
His manga works “Galaxy Express 999” and “Space Pirate Captain Herlock” were adapted into television anime series in the 1970s and became huge hits in and outside Japan.
Matsumoto, whose real name was Akira Matsumoto, died of acute heart failure in a Tokyo hospital on Feb. 13, his office, Studio Leijisha, said Monday.
Born in the southwestern city of Kurume, Matsumoto started drawing at age 6, and rose to fame with “Otoko Oidon,” a manga series telling the story of a poor man from southern Japan who lives in a boarding house in Tokyo and struggles to balance work and studying.
