People like Taiyo Matsumoto

Taiyō Matsumoto (Japanese: 松本 大洋, Hepburn: Matsumoto Taiyō, born October 25, 1967) is a Japanese manga artist from Tokyo. He has won several awards, including the Shogakukan Manga Award, the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize and Eisner Award. Ping Pong and Blue Spring have been adapted into live-action feature films. Animation studio Studio 4°C adapted Tekkonkinkreet into an animated feature film, it was released in Japan in late 2006, and both the anime and manga have been published in English. He is the cousin of Santa Inoue, another manga artist.

Matsumoto originally wanted to be a soccer player, but changed to artist as an occupation instead. After his initial success in the Comic Open contest, he began touring France in 1986, an event that became a significant point in his career. The manga he produced covers a variety of topics, from sports to family comedies to science fiction epics.