Shoko Asahara, born Chizuo Matsumoto in 1955, is the original creator credited for the anime and manga works produced by the religious organization he founded, Aum Shinrikyo. Asahara established the group in the late 1980s, and as part of its public relations and recruitment activities aimed at younger demographics, he oversaw the creation of a dedicated studio to produce animated and comic works. In 1991, the organization established the Manga, Animation, and Team (MAT) studio specifically for this purpose. Asahara is credited as the original creator, the original manga author, the general director, and the scriptwriter for these works, including the notable original video animation (OVA) series Chōetsu Sekai.

The anime and manga produced under Asahara’s direction were intended to promote the teachings of Aum Shinrikyo and to present a fictionalized account of his own life and spiritual journey. The primary work, Chōetsu Sekai, is a ten-episode OVA that depicts Asahara as a central figure with supernatural abilities, such as levitation and teleportation, portraying him as a savior guiding followers toward enlightenment. A second OVA series, titled Chōetsu Shinriki, was also produced, focusing more on religious and philosophical concepts. The anime featured a heavily idealized version of Asahara as the protagonist, and he himself provided the voice for his character as well as the narration. In addition to these animated works, the organization published manga such as the two-volume series Anata mo Nareru Kamo? Mirai o Hiraku Tenrin’ō, which were more widely distributed.

The artistic identity of these works is inseparable from their function as propaganda for the cult. They were designed to appeal to fans of science fiction and mecha anime, incorporating themes of space missions, world conspiracies, and the quest for ultimate truth to tie the group’s religious ideas to popular culture. The animation was produced internally for a limited audience, primarily for members and potential recruits, and was not a commercial product available for general sale. The production is noted for having a low budget, with staff reportedly being reassigned to other projects, such as the construction of sarin gas facilities, which were later used in the group’s terrorist activities.

Asahara’s role as a creator is directly tied to his leadership of Aum Shinrikyo, which was responsible for numerous crimes, including the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin attack and the murder of the Sakamoto family. Following his arrest in 1995 and a subsequent trial, Asahara was sentenced to death and executed in 2018. The anime and manga he created are not considered part of mainstream industry history but are instead documented as artifacts of the cult’s operations. Successor organizations, such as Aleph, continued to use these materials for promotional purposes until at least 2015.