Mitsuteru Yokoyama

Official Website

Mitsuteru Yokoyama was a Japanese manga artist born in Suma Ward of Kobe City in Hyōgo Prefecture.
Yokoyama spent his boyhood during World War II and was evacuated to Tottori with his family. He graduated from Kobe municipal Ota junior high school and went on to the Kobe municipal Suma high school. Osamu Tezuka's "Metropolis" made a deep impression on Yokoyama who wished to become a manga artist in earnest and so he contributed his works to a comic book in his high school days.
Yokoyama came out with the book "Otonashi no Ken (音無しの剣 Sword without sound)" for his manga artist début, which caught Osamu Tezuka's attention.
Created the very first "Giant Robot" series, Tetsujin 28 (Gigantor) in 1956. Also created the first "Magical Girl" series, Sally the Witch, in 1966.

Died from a house fire in 2004, aged 69.