Leiji Matsumoto Dies: Japanese Manga Artist & Daft Punk Collaborator Was 85

Leiji Matsumoto, the Japanese manga and anime creator known for science fiction sagas, TV series like Space Pirate Captain Harlock and music videos for Daft Punk, died of acute heart failure on February 13. He was 85.

His death was announced by his studio, Studio Leijisha.

Among his best-known science fiction sagas were Galaxy Express 999, Queen Emeraldas and Space Battleship Yamato.

In a statement to the BBC, Matsumoto’s daughter and head of the studio, Makiko Matsumoto, said her father “set out on a journey to the sea of stars. I think he lived a happy life, thinking about continuing to draw stories as a manga artist.”

Born Akira Matsumoto in 1938 in Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, Matsumoto published his first work, Mitsubachi no Boken (Honey Bee’s Adventures), at the age of 15.

His breakthrough work came in the early 1970s with the publication of Otoko Oidon, a series following a poor, young man preparing for university exams, according to the BBC.

With a career devoted to depicting anti-war themes in his art, Matsumoto’s influence was widespread throughout the manga and anime communities. He collaborated with Daft Punk in the early 2000s on several popular music videos for the music duo’s album Discovery, perhaps most memorably for the song “One More Time.” The videos were later combined into the film Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem.

Watch the video for “One More Time” below.