Monkey Punch

Monkey Punch (モンキー・パンチ, Monkī Panchi) is the pen name of Japanese manga artist Kazuhiko Katō (加藤一彦, Katō Kazuhiko, born May 26, 1937), best known for his series Lupin III. In April 2005 he became the professor of Manga Animation at Otemae University, in their Faculty of Media and Arts, and was a visiting professor at Tokyo University of Technology in May 2010. He was born in Hamanaka, Hokkaidō and currently resides in Sakura, Chiba.

Biography

Katō began drawing at a very young age, but did not draw manga until junior high school, when his manga strips were used in the school newspaper.

Katō first started to work as a professional manga artist, under the pen name Kazuhiko Katō (加東一彦, Katō Kazuhiko, pronounced the same as his real name, but written with different characters), for a publisher that specialized in rental books and magazines. In 1965, he made his debut with Playboy School, writing under the name of Eiji Gamuta (がむた永二, Gamuta Eiji). The editor of the magazine that "discovered him" then suggested the pen name Monkey Punch. Katō claims that he did not like the name, but agreed because it was his boss' idea and his next series was only supposed to be a three-month project. When the series, Lupin III, became popular, he was stuck with the name.