Takao Saito

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This is the manga artist. For the politician, see Takao Saito (Politician)

Takao Saito (斎藤隆夫, さいとう・たかを) (November 3, 1936 - ) is a Japanese Manga artist, married to fellow artist Setsuko Yamada (セツコ・山田). He is most well known for creating the very successful series Golgo 13.

[edit] Life

Takao Saito was born on November 3, 1936 in Osaka as the son of a barber. During his school days in Osaka he was the best in his class in drawing and fighting, and also considered becoming a Boxer. After graduation from Junior High School in Osaka, he decided to become a manga artist, influenced by movies like King Kong and War of the Worlds.

He debuted with his first manga 空気男爵 in 1955. In 1958 he moved to Tokyo, where he started a comic story atelier (劇画工房) together with 7 other artists (松本正彦、佐藤まさあき、石川フミヤス、桜井昌一 (Shoichi Sakurai)、山森ススム、K・元美津). Since April 1960 he runs Saito Production, a company with currently 19 employees.

In 1971 he also started to give courses in drawing manga.

According to his website, he is 166 cm tall and weighs 70 kilogram.