Go Nagai is the original bad boy of manga. His series ¡°Shameless School¡± (¡°Harenchi Gakuen¡°) cemented his status as the inventor of the hentai (erotic) genre. ¡°Shameless School¡± debuted in the very first issue of Shueisha Inc.¡¯s Weekly Shonen Jump, Japan¡¯s best-selling manga magazine, in August 1968. The adult shenanigans and sexualized students Nagai depicted rendered him the target of national media, Parent Teacher Associations and women¡¯s groups ¡ª and an infamous artistic pioneer.
Over the past year, both Nagai and Shonen Jump have been celebrated for their 50th anniversary milestones. But one of Nagai¡¯s later achievements has gained immediate relevance. The animated adaptation of his 1972 ¡°Devilman¡± series, ¡°Devilman Crybaby,¡± directed by Masaaki Yuasa and released on Netflix back in January, has become one of 2018¡¯s most talked-about anime and biggest international hits, despite its source being 46 years old.
Now 73, Nagai looks like a professor, which, in fact, he is, albeit one with a flair for smart jackets. In 2005, he started teaching character design at the Osaka University of Arts. The soft-spoken former troublemaker admits that he may have been ahead of his time, and is quick to cite Netflix as the reason his work is today being embraced globally.
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