Kyoshi Nagai,born September 6,1945 in Wajima,Ishikawa,better known by the penname Go Nagai,is a Japanese manga artist and a prolific author of science fiction,fantasy,horror and erotica.He made his professional debut in 1967,but is best known for creating Cutie Honey,Devilman,and Mazinger Z.Initially working as an assistant for the creator of the Masked Rider series-Shotaro Ishinomori.Go Nagai is credited with Mazinger Z in 2005,he became a Character Design professor at the Osaka University of Arts.
Since 2009,he is a member of Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize's nominating committee. In 1968 Shonen Jump,in order to compete with other magazine from rival companies,Nagai was invited to be one of the first manga artists publishing in the new magazine.Nagai had to design a long-running series and the aeries became a big success,being the first for Nagai and making Shonen jump sell more than one million copies.
With Harenchi Gakuen,Nagai was the first to introduce eroticism in modern erotic manga and also became the symbol of an entire generation.This work has influenced Japanese society radically,completely changing the common perceptions of manga. In 1970,Go Nagai started Dynamic Productions,Getter Robo was amongst the first tiles published.Nagai created the Mazinger Z series,later expanded into Great Mazinger,Grendizer,and Mazinkaiser,where he developed he concept of giant mecha.Mazinger was the first manga where a giant robot was piloted by the hero,thus creating one of the biggest staples of the industry.Mazinger is considered the first successful"super Robot"anime show,and has spawned numerous imitations.