Kazuo KoikeKazuo Koike.

Kazuo Koike (Japanese: 小池 一夫, Hepburn: Koike Kazuo; May 8, 1936, April 17, 2019) was a Japanese manga writer (gensakusha), novelist, screenwriter, lyricist and entrepreneur. He is best known for his violent, artful seinen manga, notably Lone Wolf and Cub (with Goseki Kojima, 1970 to 6), Lady Snowblood (with Kazuo Kamimura, 1972 to 3) and Crying Freeman (with Ryoichi Ikegami, 1986 to 8), which, along with their numerous media adaptations − have been credited for their influence on the international growth of Japanese popular culture.