Kazuo Koike

Early in Koike's career, he studied under Takao Saito. He began his manga career at Saito Production in 1968, working on series such as Muyōnosuke and as a founding scriptwriter for Golgo 13. Koike, along with artist Goseki Kojima, made the manga Lone Wolf and Cub, and Koike also contributed to the scripts for the 1970s film adaptations of the series, which starred famous Japanese actor Tomisaburo Wakayama. In 1992 he himself produced a Lone Wolf and Cub film, Lone Wolf and Cub: Final Conflict which starred Masakazu Tamura. Koike and Kojima became known as the "Golden Duo" because of the success of Lone Wolf and Cub. In the 1970s, Koike was exceptionally prolific, working on dozens of manga series. Notable collaborations from this period include Secretary Bird with Monkey Punch (1970), a story with Kazuo Umezu (1973), and Hanappe Bazooka with Go Nagai (1979-82). He also founded Studio Ship (later Koike Shoin) in 1972 as a production house and publisher. Another series written by Koike, Crying Freeman, which was illustrated by Ryoichi Ikegami, was adapted into a 1995 live-action film by French director Christophe Gans. In addition to his more violent, action-oriented manga, Koike, an avid golfer, has also written golf manga. He has also written mahjong manga, as he himself is a former professional mahjong player. Koike's later works included the long-running Auction House (with Seisaku Kano) and Yume Genji Tsurugi No Saimon, a novel serialized in the Mainichi Shimbun with illustrations by Rumiko Takahashi. His manga output slowed in the 21st century as he focused on teaching and writing theoretical books on character creation. In the early 2000s, he wrote a Wolverine story for Marvel Comics. In 2011, Koike announced his intention to write a magical girl manga series titled Maho Shojo Mimitsuki Mimi no QED. On April 17, 2019, Kazuo Koike died due to pneumonia at the age of 82. His death happened just five days after the death of fellow prolific manga artist Monkey Punch on April 11, who also died of pneumonia and who Koike considered his rival in the Weekly Manga Action magazine.

Koike's work is characterized by hyper-violence and choreographed action; his stories are known for graphic, meticulously detailed depictions of violence where fights and assassinations are treated as brutal, artful ballets, most famously realized in the swordplay of Lone Wolf and Cub and the gunplay of Crying Freeman. This violence is frequently contextualized by a deep exploration of existential codes and personal honor. Many of Koike's protagonists, such as Ogami Ittō in Lone Wolf and Cub or Yo Hinomura in Crying Freeman, operate under a strict, personal code that justifies their actions, placing them in constant conflict with societal laws and morality. Sexuality and eroticism are frank and frequent elements in Koike's narratives, ranging from consensual passion to depictions of sexual violence. Series like Wounded Man and I Ueo Boy are, as scholar Joe McCulloch writes, noted for their fusion of rage and eroticized intensity, while Lady Snowblood uses its protagonist's sexuality as a calculated weapon for vengeance. His content often served a larger purpose of social critique. Works like I Ueo Boy and Mad Bull 34 are infused with a spirit of social anger and anarchic rebellion, featuring anti-heroes who violently reject corrupt systems of power, reflecting, according to McCulloch, the tense, protest-heavy atmosphere of 1970s Japan in which Koike rose to prominence.

In 1977, Koike founded the Gekiga Sonjuku (劇画村塾), a vocational school to teach manga artists, manga writers (or gensakusha), and screenwriters. The school's pedagogy was built on Koike's belief that compelling character creation was the foundation of storytelling, rather than plotting a narrative from the outset.In 2009, the school became independent from Koike and renamed itself Manga Rak (漫画楽). Notable graduates: