Kaoru Shintani  

Shintani is an accomplished artist who has gained recognition for his work in various genres, including aviation comics, science fiction, fantasy, comedy, and hentai. His series Area 88 is widely regarded as one of the greatest aviator comic titles in manga history. In 1985, Shintani received the Shogakukan Manga Award for shounen for both Area 88 and Futari Daka. He began his career in 1972 as a shoujo artist and was nominated for the Ribon Comics Award for best new artist that year. After working with Leiji Matsumoto, Shintani started publishing aviator comics in various magazines. Area 88 became popular after its serialization began in 1979 and has remained so ever since. While assisting Matsumoto, one of Shintani's duties was to create plastic models for drawing reference. Matsumoto often credits Yattaran, a character from Harlock stories who appears as a supporting character, with being based on Shintani. Additionally, Shintani has collaborated with his wife, Saeki Kayono, and provided illustrations for her manga.