Judo Icchokusen | 柔道一直線 - Shōnen King

Shinji Nagashima (1937-2005) started his manga career at Wakaki Shobo where he met Yoshiharu Tsuge with whom he a close friendship / rivalry. At that time (1955-) he frequented most of the mangaka groups and became, for a while, the assistant of Osamu Tezuka.

In 1961, Nagashima published 'The Harsh Story of a Manga Artist', a story which showed the other side of manga and which, ironically, brought Nagashima to the forefront of manga. The story became the reference for autobiographical manga depicting the struggles, anxieties and frustrations of young manga artists!

During the 60s, he published an impressive number of manga with Saitō-Pro but also in Shōnen mangazines, Garo and Tezuka's COM. In 1967, he began the serialization of Judo Icchokusen on a story by Ikki Kajiwara, a huge success which led to an anime series.

Whilst Osamu Tezuka is called the God of manga, Shinji Nagashima is considered the 'Guru of Seinen Manga'