is a Japanese manga artist and writer, known for specializing in fighting manga featuring bishōnen and magical boy. He is the founder of the manga studio Kurumada Productions or Kurumadapro for short. He is famous as the creator/author of popular manga, such as Ring ni Kakero, Fūma no Kojirō, Saint Seiya and B't X. His male protagonists are a reflection of the classical and modern society's archetype of the true men. The male characters in his works often display very masculine qualities and traits, and pursue to achieve courage and manhood perfection through sacrifice, selflessness and true heroism. He has won the best success award with Saint Seiya and the best inspiration award with Ring ni Kakero. Profile Kurumada's first work was Otoko Raku , which earned him an award in a manga contest for aspiring manga artist, and became assistant to professional manga artists. Some time later, he debuted as a professional manga artist in 1974 with his manga Sukeban Arashi, and achieved his first hit three years later when he started writing and drawing Ring ni Kakero, which brought him recognition as a popular manga author, and lasted five years, and he considers it his favorite creation. A practicer of the martial arts in his younger days, the influence this has exerted on his various works is worthy of mention. Also, in the same manner as many manga artists today, Kurumada employs the revered Osamu Tezuka's Star System manga technique, which is essentially resorting to the use of a stable cast of characters in his various works (characters keep the same appearance and personality, but sometimes the author gives them new personalities and different roles than in previous works). Because of this, the main characters of his works most of the time bear a resemblance to Takane Ryūji, the protagonist of Ring ni Kakero. The main characters of his subsequent works have almost the same appearance and personality of Ryūji, specifically Jingi Kikukawa (Otoko Zaka), Kojirō (Fūma no Kojirō), Seiya (Saint Seiya), Teppei Takamiya (B't X), Shō (Silent Knight Shō), Aoi Tendō (Aoi Tori no Shinwa), Rindō Kenzaki (Ring ni Kakero 2), among others. Besides Kurumada, other renowned manga artists that resort to the master Tezuka's technique include legendary authors Leiji Matsumoto, Monkey Punch and Shōtarō Ishinomori or Clamp. Clamp was heavily influenced by Kurumada's works, and they began their career as manga authors creating doujinshi based on