To Wajima, on Japan’s remote Noto peninsula, where the earthquake on 1st January, caused a short-circuit, or an upturned stove, or something to catch alight, creating a fire that levelled 50,000 square metres of the city. The fire destroyed part of the Asaichi historic area, which included the Go Nagai Wonderland Museum. Once the centrepiece of a series of street-based art installations celebrating the creator of Kekko Kamen, Devilman, Cutey Honey, Mazinger Z and Getter Robo, it is now a burned-out hulk.

This isn’t the first disaster to befall a manga creator and certainly won’t be the last. The Shotaro Ishinomori museum in Ishinomaki, for example, was totally wrecked by the 2011 tsunami, but reopened a year later. In that case, the museum had been deliberately designed to be tsunami resistant, with an eight-metre high central hall, and a policy of only storing original artwork and valuable items on the upper floors. So, when a massive gyre of floodwaters and debris smashed through the doors, it only ruined the reception area and the gift shop.

Fire, of course, is not so forgiving. In the case of manga artist Mitsuteru Yokoyama, the fire that killed him, sparked by a dropped cigarette, also swept through the personal archives that he kept in his home office, destroying countless original pieces by one of 1950s manga’s most influential creators.

A statement put out by Go Nagai’s production company, Dynamic Planning, puts a brave face on the Wajima disaster, expressing concern for the people and economy of the town, and shrugging off the lost artwork as something that he can always “draw again.” That’s not the sound of a man who expects to cash in a massive insurance policy – more likely a philanthropist signalling to his home town that he won’t be suing them for the lost paintings he lent to them.

Nagai’s thoughts were with the relatives of the 70 Wajima residents who died as a result of the tsunami and fire, and the likelihood that the loss of the museum and its location will be a damaging blow to local tourism. He wasn’t that bothered about a few old paintings, which was a sweet and noble thing for him to say. Considering that a single piece of Go Nagai artwork can fetch up to $1,800 at auction, particularly in the Francophone world where he is still be loved for “Goldorak” (UFO Robo Grendizer), maybe now is a good time to rustle up a few more for a charity auction?

Jonathan Clements is the author of Anime: A History. This article first appeared in NEO #238, 2024.