is a Japanese film director best known for his work on various anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

 works. A leading director at the Toei Animation

Toei Animation

Toei Animation Co., Ltd. is a Japanese animation studio owned by Toei Co., Ltd. The studio was founded in 1948 as Japan Animated Films . In 1956, Toei purchased the studio and it was reincorporated under its current name...

 studio during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, Katsumata worked as a director on several of Toei's TV anime adaptations of manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

 by Go Nagai

Go Nagai

, better known by the penname , is a Japanese manga artist and a prolific author of science fiction, fantasy, horror and erotica. He made his professional debut in 1967 with Meakashi Polikichi, but is best known for creating Cutie Honey, Devilman, and Mazinger Z in the 1970s. In 2005, he became a...

, including Devilman

Devilman

is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Go Nagai which originally started as an anime adaptation of the concept of Nagai's previous manga series, Demon Lord Dante. A 39 episode anime series was developed by Toei in 1972 and Nagai began Devilman as a manga in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen...

(1972), Mazinger Z

Mazinger Z

, known briefly as Tranzor Z in United States, is a Super Robot manga and anime series created by Go Nagai. The first manga version was serialized in Shueisha Weekly Shōnen Jump from October 1972 to August 1973, and it later continued in Kodansha TV Magazine from October 1973 to September 1974. In...

(1972), Cutey Honey (1973), Great Mazinger

Great Mazinger

is a manga comic book and anime television series by manga artist Go Nagai, made as a direct continuation of the successful Mazinger Z series...

(1974), UFO Robo Grendizer

Grendizer

is a super robot TV anime and manga created by manga artist Go Nagai. It is the third entry in the Mazinger trilogy. It was broadcasted on Japanese television from October 5, 1975, to February 27, 1977, and lasted 74 episodes...

(1975) and Gaiking

Gaiking

was a Japanese Super Robot mecha anime series produced by Toei Animation.It ran from April 1976 through January 1977 and consisted of 44 26-minute episodes. Gaiking was notable for being one of the few super robot series to take place in real places outside of Japan, and for being the first Super...

(1976) (both Grendizer and Gaiking became later part of Jim Terry's Force Five

Force Five

Force Five was a syndicated anime cartoon anthology during the late 1970s/early 1980s. In the US, this series was primarily shown only in New England and Virginia, though it did make brief appearances in other markets, such as Dallas, Texas and San Jose, California on KICU-TV 36. It was also shown...

package on U.S. television).

Katsumata graduated from Nippon University's film school in 1960 and began working with the Kyoto

Kyoto

is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...

 division of the Toei Company

Toei Company

is a Japanese film, television production, and distribution corporation. Based in Tokyo, Toei owns and operates thirty-four movie theaters across Japan, a modest vertically-integrated studio system by the standards of the 1930s United States; operates studios at Tokyo and Kyoto; and is a...

 that same year as an assistant director to Masahiro Makino

Masahiro Makino

was a Japanese film director of more than 260 films, primarily in the chanbara and yakuza genres. His real name was Masatada , but he took the stage name Masahiro, the kanji for which he changed multiple times .-Career:...

, Eiichi Kudo

Eiichi Kudo

was a Japanese film director. He directed 30 films between 1956 and 1998. His 1982 film Yaju-deka was entered into the 33rd Berlin International Film Festival.-External links:...

, Tomotaka Tasaka

Tomotaka Tasaka

was a Japanese film director.-Career:Born in Hiroshima Prefecture, he began working at Nikkatsu's Kyoto studio in 1924 and eventually came to prominence for a series of realist, humanist films made at Nikkatsu's Tamagawa studio in the late 1930s such as Robō no ishi and Mud and Soldiers, both of...

 on his samurai dramas. After a few years, Katsumata moved to Toei Doga (Toei Animation) in Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

, working as a director on some of Toei's early television series, including Ken the Wolf Boy (1963) ,the original Cyborg 009

Cyborg 009

is a manga created by Shotaro Ishinomori. It was serialized in many different magazines, including Monthly Shōnen King, Weekly Shōnen Magazine, Shōnen Big Comic, COM, Shōjo Comic, Weekly Shōnen Sunday, Monthly Shōnen Jump and Monthly Comic Nora in Japan...

anime (1968) and Tiger Mask

Tiger Mask

is a Japanese manga series written by Ikki Kajiwara and illustrated by Naoki Tsuji. The series was first published in Kodansha's Bokura Magazine from 1968 to 1969 and was later published in Weekly Shōnen Magazine from 1970 to 1971...

(1970).

Among Katsumata's other credits for Toei as a director include the TV series Captain Future

Captain Future

Captain Future is a science fictional hero pulp character originally published in self-titled American pulp magazines during the 1940s and early 50s.-Origins:...

(1978), Fist of the North Star

Fist of the North Star

is a Japanese manga series written by Buronson and drawn by Tetsuo Hara that was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1983 to 1988, spanning 245 chapters, which were initially collected in a 27-volume tankōbon edition by Shueisha...

(1983) and Saint Seiya

Saint Seiya

, also known as Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac or simply Knights of the Zodiac, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masami Kurumada and serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1986 to 1991, and adapted into an anime TV series by Toei Animation from 1986 to 1989.The story follows...

(1986), and the feature films Mazinger Z vs. Devilman

Mazinger Z Vs. Devilman

is a 1973 animated movie that crossed over two then-popular Anime series, both of which were created by Manga artist Go Nagai. Note however that the movie features alternate versions of events from both series, and is therefore not canonical to either one.-Story:...

(1973), The Little Mermaid

Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid

is a Japanese anime film based on Hans Christian Andersen's eponymous fairy tale, released in 1975 by Toei Animation. Unlike the later Walt Disney Pictures animated film adaptation released 14 years later, this film is closer to Andersen's original story, notably in its preservation of the original...

(Anderusen Douwa Ningyo Hime, 1975), and Arcadia of My Youth

Arcadia of My Youth

is an anime film depicting the origin of Leiji Matsumoto's seminal character Captain Harlock. At one time, it was considered to be the central hub of the so called Leijiverse with other works such as Galaxy Express 999 and 1978's Space Pirate Captain Harlock television series occurring sometime...

(1982).

Sources