Masami Kurumada was born in December 6th, 1953, in Tokyo, As a young man he dreamt of becoming a sailor, but in high school he discovered his true vocation, the art of storytelling. Kurumada read "Ashita no Joe" (a Box-Fight manga by Tetsuya Chiba) and realised that he wanted to do something like that as well.  He started to draw some mangas of his own and sent some of them to publishers all over the country. Shueisha saw his work "Otoko Raku", a story about boxing and published it, in 1974, when Kurumada was only 21 years old. Kurumada quickly began working on another story, "Sukeban Arashi", the story of Rei Kojin-Yama, a girl with a male atittude that leads a female gang. "Sukeban Arashi" can be considered his first hit. It lasted two years, from 1974 to 1975 and was published in the "Shuukan (weekly) Shounen Jump" magazine. It was later collected in 3 tankobon (pocket manga). With the ending of "Sukeban Arashi", Kurumada published a short story in "Shuukan Shounen Jump", named "Mikereko Rock". He then made a 2-year vacation, to make a successful comeback...

RING NI KAKERO

In 1977, Kurumada made a comeback with a new manga series named "Ring ni Kakero" (Fly To The Ring). It was his tribute to "Ashita no Joe". "Ring ni Kakero" tells the story of Ryuji Takane, a young japanese boxer who, due to his courage and willpower can achieve miracles and get to the highest rankings of boxing. The manga was published from 1977 to 1981, in the "Shuukan Shounen Jump", and later revised and collected in 25 tankobon and 15 bunko (bunko is a double-sized tankobon). "Ring ni Kakero" wasn't just a personal success, it was one of Shueisha's biggest hits ever and the creator of the whole shonen manga (manga for male teenagers) genre as we know it nowadays. It's also the basis of the whole Kurumada work, since most of the elements used in his works were taken from Ring ni Kakero. While he published "Ring ni Kakero", he did some other short stories, like "Mabudachi Jingi" (1979), "Shiroubi Taishou" (1979) and the first two parts of "Jitsuroku! Shinwakai" (1979 and 1980). In 1981 Kurumada finished "Ring ni Kakero"... But his story was just beginning...

FUUMA NO KOJIRO & OTOKOZAKA

In 1982, Kurumada returned with yet another hit series, on the "Shuukan Shounen Jump", named "Fuuma no Kojiro". The story revolves around the chinese mythology, with Kojiro, the main character, and his friends struggling to stop the evil from acquiring the 10 elemental swords. It was collected in 10 tankobon (6 bunko). In the meantime Kurumada kept on working in small stories, namely the last two chapters of "Jitsuroku! Shinwakai" (1983). After that, he came up with "Otokozaka" in 1984, a "Shuihu Yun", more known among us as "Water Margin" or "Suikoden", modern version. It lasted until 1985 and was collected in 3 tankobon (2 bunko). And then Kurumada gave birth to one of the greatest legends ever told...

SAINT SEIYA

In December 1985, Kurumada came up with his biggest success, "Saint Seiya". Kurumada was very impressed by a trip he had taken to Greece many years ago, before he started doing "Ring ni Kakero" (there are already some greek influences in this series, by the way), and he wanted to do a story based on greek mythology for a long time. The result was Saint Seiya, the story of 5 brave young teenagers, who were chosen to protect the life of the goddess Athena, and to fight against the evil gods which seek to destroy the earth. For their holy mission they are equipped with mythological armors called Clothes that resemble that resemble the 88 constellations and channel their Cosmo, a supernatural power that lies within every human being. The story lasted until 1991, spawning 28 tankobon (15 bunko) and a very sucessful anime series, art-directed by Shingo Araki (which, just by curiosity, art-directed the anime version of "Ashita no Joe"), with a remarkable OST directed by Seiji Yokoyama with songs by Make-Up and Hironobu Kageyama on the openings and endings. The anime was slightly different from the manga, with many new scenes and characters, and even a new chapter, Asgard, inspired by the second of the four movies (not based on the manga). Over 30 OST's were produced over the years, as well as a collection of toys, one of the best in Bandai's history. While "Saint Seiya" lasted, Kurumada only did a short story (a very weird one...), named "Raimei no Zaji", that came out in 1988 on the "Saint Seiya - Cosmo Special" magazine. Kurumada was so successful at that time that even an anime of "Fuuma no Kojiro" was made! Three OVA (Original Video Animation) series of "Fuuma no Kojiro" (1989, 1990 and 1992) came out, art-directed by Shingo Araki, and summing a total of 12 episodes and 1 movie. It seemed like Kurumada was having all the success he deserved, his series, both anime and manga wise, had reached China, Thailand, Europe, South and Central America. And wherever it was aired, it was a complete success. But then Shueisha noticed that the series was decreasing in success, so they ordered Kurumada to finish "Saint Seiya" after its third chapter, by killing Seiya. And that's what happened... Since Kurumada was considered by Shueisha to be their "golden egg chicken", they told him to do a new series at least as successfull as "Saint Seiya" was. The anime was finished after episode 114, in the end of the second chapter. The third chapter should then have been animated as an OVA, but something happened and Bandai cancelled the project, leaving the OST done and many cels finished. However there was an attempt to inhale new life into the legend. Around 1995, an action drama with living actors was produced. Displaying some of the ugliest armor design ever. Since hardly anyone knows of this oddity, it can't be considered that this escapade into the "real" world has been a success. Never the less, "Saint Seiya" can be considered as one of the originators of the fighting shonen series, along with "DragonBall" and "Hokuto no Ken"... There even were attempts to copy "Saint Seiya" that had some success, being the most notorious are "Shurato" and "Samurai Troopers" (also known as "Ronin Warriors" in the West). "Ronin Warriors" achieved some success in Europe and South America, and mainly in North America, where it filled the gap of not having "Saint Seiya".

AOITORI NO SHINWA & SILENT KNIGHT SHO

After a one year break, Kurumada came back in 1993 with two manga series on the "Shuukan Shounen Jump": "Aoitori no Shinwa" and "Silent Knight Sho". "Aoitori no Shinwa" is the story of Aoi Tendo, a young baseball pitcher on its way to the top, and lasted one tankobon. The second, "Silent Knight Sho", was the demanded work by Shueisha to fill the gap of "Saint Seiya" or, in other words, a "Saint Seiya" clone: a young man named Sho who is accompanied by a falcon, one day finds a fairy named Shirin that transforms him into an armored warrior who's mission lies in protecting Earth. The acclaimed "Saint Seiya"'s successor, despite its incredible armor artwork, only lasted two tankobon... Shueisha threatened to stop publishing his works if his next series wasn't a hit. Kurumada published a short story called "Kyoufu Taiken" and then got out of Shueisha by his own will...

B'T X & AKANEIRO NO KAZE & EVIL CRUSHER MAYA

Quite obviously there was a reason behind Kurumada breaking with Shueisha. He had received an invitation from Kadokawa Shoten to publish in their new magazine, the "Gekkan (monthly) Shonen Ace" to help them to rise Kadokawa Shoten to the status of a big publisher. There calculations have proven right, since Kadokawa Shoten today is among the top 3 manga publishers, along with Shueisha and Kodansha. "Shonen Ace" is even one of the most bought manga magazines, featuring series like "Evangelion". In return, Kurumada was getting more creative freedom than he had while he was with Shueisha. However, Kurumada had no clue what course he would follow in his new series, since he saw that the "mystic guardian with an armor" formula had stopped working. One of friends gave him the idea to do a manga about mechs, which he had never spend a thought about. And so "B't X" (reads Beat X) was born. It was a series about a teenager named Teppei Takamiya and a group of warriors (each one representing a chinese element) who ride machines that possess conciousness. Teppei rides a machine called called "B't" against the evil Elijah God.
They also wear armors when they're fighting, so we could say that somehow, "B't X" is the synthesis of all Kurumada's works with some new elements.
"B't X" was a hit when it came out, but its popularity decreased over the years. Never the less, Kurumada kept on publishing the series like he had done with "Saint Seiya" and "Silent Knight Sho". Thus the series lasted almost 6 years, until February 2000, with the publishing of tankobon 16. In its more successfull days, "B't X" was adapted into anime, feauturing a TV series consisting of 25 episodes. Even though it was not as successfull as "Saint Seiya" had been, a sequel called "B't X Neo" with 14 OVA was produced.

While he published "B't X" in Kadokawa Shoten, Kurumada drew two other mangas. In 1995, he did "Akaneiro no Kaze" (Red Wind) for (surprise!) Shueisha, as a freelancer writer in their "Super Jump" magazine ("Super Jump" is aimed at a 30-40 year old audience). "Akaneiro no Kaze" tells about the story of two kendo swordsmen named Soshi and Toshiso and how their town was sacked and massacred by thieves. Having arrived there too late to protect their citizens, Soshi's girlfriend dies in his arms leaving him with his hatred on a quest for vengance. This story was later collected in a tankobon.

In 1996, Kurumada published "Evil Crusher Maya" on an Enix magazine: Gan-Gan. Maya is a lone warrior that comes from the Land of Eternal Night to stop evil spirits from conquering the Earth, by sacrificing 7 girls who are messengers of the gods. "Evil Crusher Maya" was later collected in one tankobon published by Shueisha. Until 2000, with the ending of "B't X", Kurumada wouldn't publish any new series...

RING NI KAKERO 2

But the Mangaka never forgot his old series "Ring ni Kakero", which had always been his greatest passion. So in 2000 he returned to Shueisha, to publish the sequel of "Ring ni Kakero", "Ring ni Kakero 2", on the "Super Jump" magazine. "Ring ni Kakero 2" takes place 17 years after "Ring ni Kakero"'s final battle between Ryuji Takane and Jun Kenzaki. A new boxer suddenly appears and stands out in the middle of deception that Japan is suffering, and his name is Rin Warabe. "Ring ni Kakero 2" is still being published, with much success among Kurumada's followers, and 6 tankobon have already come out.

SAINT SEIYA - HADES

After returning to "Ring ni Kakero", Kurumada also was able to revisit his most popular series, "Saint Seiya". In the end of summer 2002 the news dropped like a bomb out of the blue into the "Saint Seiya" fan community: Toei was busy animating the last chapter of "Saint Seiya", the "Hades" chapter, and it was even ready to be aired later that year, and released on DVD in 2003, with some bonuses, including new scenes. After a short waiting period of a few months, the "Saint Seiya" fan community finally received what they had been longing for for over a decade. On November 19th 2002, the first two "Hades" OVAs were aired on Sky Perfect, a Japanese pay TV channel. One could trace Toei's decision back to a series of events in France, involving a man named Jérôme Alquié, author of an amazing "Saint Seiya - Hades" artbook.

Jérôme has also done the covers for the french "Saint Seiya" DVD's (and also the covers of the "DragonBall Z" and some Leiji Matsumoto's anime DVD's) and, perhaps the most notorious and amazing part of his work are two "Saint Seiya - Hades" trailers, that would fool even the biggest fan of "Saint Seiya". This trailers were shown on a french anime convention on which some Toei reprentatives were invited, in order to show Toei that "Saint Seiya" was far from being dead, and thus giving them a clue what it would be like if they did the acclaimed "Saint Seiya" anime sequel.

Jérôme even said that if Toei would foot the bill, he himself would do it, with the help of Masami Kurumada and Shingo Araki, whom he knows personally. Fortunately, there was no need for that. Except Seiji Yokoyama, the former OST composer of "Saint Seiya", who has been invited too late, and therefore only had the time to compose a few new themes, Shingo Araki and most of the old team were invited to animate "Saint Seiya - Hades" in OVA format with the aid of all the new animation technologies. 13 OVA's, covering the sub-chapter of the "12 Houses/Sanctuary" of the "Hades" chapter were planned.

Depending on the success of the first 13 "Hades" OVAs, Toei said that they would decide wether or not they would produce another 13 OVAs, to complete the "Hades" chapter (and thus the series). In the meantime it was confirmed that they will be done. The following 13 OVAs would be the second half of the "Hades" chapter, including the sub-chapter "Hell". The animation has been improved greatly, with the use of CGI in the scenarios, and there are some new scenes and dialogues. A dream came true for every "Saint Seiya" fan. But as if animating the "Hades" chapter wasn't enough, Toei also decided to release 5 DVD boxes, each containing 4 DVD's (the last only contains 3), each DVD with 6 remastered "Saint Seiya" episodes, altough sold at a very high price (about 200 Dollars/Euros), that makes this a collector edition.

But wait! There's more! Kurumada also decided to make a new "Saint Seiya" manga! Its name is "Saint Seiya - Episode G" ("G" for "Gold") and tells about the events that ocurred in the Sanctuary 13 years before the start of the regular "Saint Seiya" series, with the birth of Athena/Saori, Gemini Saga's possession by Ares, imprisioning his twin brother Gemini Kanon in cape Sunion and killing the Pope, Aries Shion. The main characters will be Sagittarius Aiolos, who dies by the hand of Capricorn Shura, during the attempt to save Athena, and his younger brother Leo Aiolia. This manga will neither be published by Shueisha nor will it be drawn by Masami Kurumada, which is creating a big splitting among his fans. The drawer will be Megumo Okada, author of the two manga series "Shadow Skill" and "Nirai Kanai". Megumo has a style that can be described as a cross between shojo and shonen, a weird mix of Kazushi Hagiwara ("Bastard!!") with Nobuhiro Watsuki ("Rurouni Kenshin"), CLAMP ("X", "Cardcaptor Sakura", "Clover", "Tokyo Babylon"), Masami Kurumada and the art of the videogame "Guilty Gear".

A modern artstyle for a modern manga. For "Saint Seiya" will always be alive in the heart of the fans. And the return of this epic tale, that has influenced and moved many generations, in the appearence of a new anime and manga is a proof for the intense love and faith which fans all over the world have for Masami Kurumada and Saint Seiya.

Biography written by Luis dos Santos