nagano mamoru

Nagano Mamoru (永野 護, Nagano Mamoru?, born on January 21, 1960 in Maizuru, Kyoto Prefecture) is a Japanese mangaka, animator and mecha designer.

He is noted for his work with anime studio Sunrise in the series Juusenki L-Gaim from 1984. This revolutionary real robot show introduced mecha with armor plates that appeared to fit loosely over an internal skeleton. These detailed and somewhat plausible robotic forms sparked a fresh wave of designs in mecha anime that has continued to this day and can be seen in newer productions such as the live action Transformers films.

Nagano has also worked on some designs for the Gundam universe starting with the Zeta Gundam series from 1985.

From there, Nagano went on to design elegant and graceful mecha for his manga The Five Star Stories that displayed elongated lines, delicate curves and a degree of decoration and detail that appealed to the imaginations of a generation of mecha fans. Nagano can be called an innovator in the field of mecha design.

Fool for the City, his first manga, came out in 1985 but it was 1986 that brought The Five Star Stories, which is still in production today. Nagano founded Toys Press, Inc. to publish much of his work. Nagano is a very versatile man and has been a professional artist, manga writer, musician and fashion designer. Some of his artbooks show him dressed up as a female character from Sailor Moon for cosplay.

He is married to seiyuu Maria Kawamura.

Nagano is also the co-author (along with Kunihiko Ikuhara) and illustrator of Schell Bullet, a novel in two volumes.

Has since been involved with Automatic Flowers to create the anime movie Hana no Utame Gothicmade, which he worked on as the producer, director, chief writer, character and mechanical designer. The film infamously hasn't received a wider home release due to Nagano's belief that it should only be experienced in a theater setting.