Mikiya Mochizuki was a Japanese manga artist and original creator known for his action-oriented works spanning from the 1960s through the early 2000s. He was born in Yokohama on December 16, 1938. After being inspired by the work of Osamu Tezuka, he pursued a career in manga, making his professional debut in 1960 with the story Toku Dane o Oe in a special issue of Shōnen Club magazine. In his early career, he worked as an assistant at the anime studio Tatsunoko Production when it was founded by Tatsuo Yoshida in 1962.

Mochizuki achieved early success with the manga Himitsu Tantei JA (Secret Detective JA), which began serialization in 1964 and became a hit in Weekly Shonen King magazine. His most renowned and enduring work, Wild 7, launched in 1969 and ran for over a decade, concluding in 1979. This motorcycle-riding police action manga became his signature creation, selling millions of copies and spawning a multimedia franchise that included a 1972 live-action television series, a 1994-1995 original video anime (OVA) project, a 2002 television anime series, and a 2011 live-action film.

Beyond his work in manga, Mochizuki was also credited as an original creator for anime productions. One notable example is the 1976 television anime Machine Hayabusa, a racing series produced by Toei Animation and Dynamic Planning for which he is listed as the original author alongside Dynamic Planning. This series, known in Italian as Ken Falco il superbolide, ran for 21 episodes and centered on a young racing driver and his technologically advanced machine, featuring recurring rivalries and action-oriented racing scenarios. His career demonstrated a versatility that encompassed both long-form serialized manga and original concepts developed directly for animation.

His body of work frequently incorporated themes of action, crime-fighting, and advanced machinery, with a particular interest in motorcycles, police work, and military settings. This thematic consistency is evident in the police action of Wild 7 and the high-stakes motorsports of Machine Hayabusa. Throughout his career, he continued to create and revisit series, producing several sequel manga to Wild 7, including Shin Wild 7 and Hiba - Mō Hitotsu no Wild 7. Mikiya Mochizuki passed away on April 3, 2016, at the age of 77 due to pulmonary adenocarcinoma, leaving behind a legacy as a prolific creator whose work saw multiple adaptations across different media.