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Waru Action Manga Artist Joya Kagemaru Passes Away
posted on by Egan Loo
Manga artist Jōya Kagemaru passed away in his Tokyo home on April 5 at 9:48 a.m. due to pancreatic cancer. He was 72.
Kagemaru's many works include the hard-boiled action series WARU (with martial artist Hisao Maki) and the martial arts series Karate Baka Ichidai (with manga creators Ikki Kajiwara and Jirō Tsunoda). WARU and its sequels inspired a dozen live-action adaptations, including two films directed by Takashi Miike. Karate Baka Ichidai drew inspiration from the real-life Karate Master Masutatsu Ōyama, and it spawned a 1973-1974 television anime series.
Kagemaru's WARU collaborator Hisao Maki had just passed away in January.
Kagemaru, whose real name was Minoru Kubomoto, was born in Osaka in 1940. He is survived by his wife Yoshiko.
Sources: Asahi Shimbun, Kumanichi
