Old Boy mangaka Caribu Marley passes away

Caribu Marley, the prolific mangaka with many names, passed away on January 7th at the age of 70. He created under monikers including Hijikata Yumine, Dark Master and most notably Garon Tsuchiya, under which he wrote Old Boy. This 1996 manga with art by Nobuaki Minegishi would inspire Korean director Park Chan-wook’s magnum opus Oldboy, and later Spike Lee’s Hollywood remake.

Under his default Caribu Marley, he wrote Ao no Senshi with the also sadly departed Jiro Taniguchi as artist. There was also detective thriller Hard & Loose with Kaiji Kawaguchi, and Hard Core: Heisei Jigoku Brothers with Takashi Imashiro. The latter is soon to be adapted as a live-action film itself, directed by Takayuki Yamada and due for release this year.

We at the blog are grateful for Marley’s work, which gave us a bombastic and bone-shaking story in Old Boy, as well as an all-time favourite film. Our thoughts and sympathies are with his loved ones at this sad time.