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