Takao Saito

Takao Saito was a Japanese manga artist born in Wakayama (then Nishiwasa). He grew up in Osaka, where his family ran a barbershop, and decided to pursue manga after graduating junior high school. His professional career began in 1955 with Baron Air.

In 1960 Saito founded Saito Production, a manga studio that operated on a collaborative division-of-labor model rather than the traditional solo-artist approach. This method allowed consistent, high-volume output across multiple projects. His most enduring creation, Golgo 13, began serialization in Big Comic magazine in 1968 and continued without interruption for over fifty years.

With more than 200 collected volumes, Golgo 13 holds the Guinness World Record for most volumes published by a single manga series. Saito received the Shogakukan Manga Award twice and was honored with both the Medal with Purple Ribbon and the Order of the Rising Sun by the Japanese government.