Shigeru Mizuki is the preeminent figure of Gekiga and one of the most famous working cartoonists in Japan todayna true living legend. ONWARD TOWARDS OUR NOBLE DEATHS is his first book to be translated into English and is a semiautobiographical account of the desperate final weeks of a Japanese infantry unit at the end of World War II. The soldiers are told that they must go into battle and die for the honor of their country, with certain execution facing them if they return alive. Mizuki was a soldier himself (he was severely injured and lost an arm) and uses his experiences to convey the devastating consequences and moral depravity of the war. In Japan, the life of Mizuki and his wife has been made into an extremely popular daily television drama. Mizuki is the recipient of many awards, including the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize Special Award, the Kyokujitsu Sho Decoration, the Shiju Hosho Decoration, and the Kodansha Manga Award. His hometown of Sakaiminato honored him with Shigeru Mizuki Road and the Shigeru Mizuki International Cultural Center.