Kazuhiko Kato, known by the pen name Monkey Punch, was a Japanese manga artist, best known for his series Lupin III.
10 Facts About Monkey Punch
2.
Monkey Punch was an assistant to Naoki Tsuji on Zero-sen Hayato and Tiger Mask.
3.
In 2008, Monkey Punch was a judge at the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Second International Manga Awards.
4.
Monkey Punch designed the characters for the pachinko game CR Ginroku Gijinden Roman in 2012.
5.
Monkey Punch participated in the writing of the 2014 live-action film adaptation of Lupin III.
6.
Monkey Punch died on April 11,2019, due to pneumonia.
7.
For years it was widely believed that the pen name Monkey Punch referred to the two brothers working together as a creative duo, but in a 2017 interview they clarified that this idea stemmed from a mistaken magazine article, and that the name Monkey Punch should be understood to refer exclusively to the older brother Kazuhiko, who did all of the main creative work concerning the characters, story, and the main drawings.
8.
Monkey Punch has stated that Osamu Tezuka was the reason he wanted to become a manga artist.
9.
Monkey Punch acknowledged the influence Mad magazine artist Mort Drucker had on his work.
10.
Monkey Punch received the Inkpot Award in 1981 and a special Tokyo Anime Award in 2015.