"Golgo 13" won the 21st Shogakukan Manga Award in the General category in 1975, the Grand Prize at the 2002 Japan Cartoonists Association Awards, and the Special Judges Award at the 50th Shogakukan Manga Awards in 2005. "Golgo 13" is one of the works credited with popularizing the "gekiga" movement in Japanese comics, which strives for more realistic and dramatic works. Saito himself is surprised by his series' popularity overseas, because it is firmly rooted in Japanese culture and samurai. He cited the timing of when Golgo actually takes his shot as an example; "It evokes "iaidō" martial art of drawing one's sword and mimicking a deadly blow. It is the same movement and the same shape. I love Japanese samurai stories and that is why, unconsciously, Golgo moves like a samurai. That is why I thought foreigners wouldn't understand the story."