# The Manga-ka Info Thread



## Arcanis (Jul 4, 2005)

*The Mangaka Info Thread*

Ok I had this idea where everybody can post the biographies and works of the diferent mangaka they like and feel should get some recognition, adding some pictures and stuff so that everyone can get to know the really genius writers and artists there are out there in the manga world, and also check out some other works they didn't know about a certain mangaka, or find out who did this and that, etc.

It'd be pretty nice to have something like an encyclopedia similar to The Encyclopedia of Manga that moe started a long time ago. 

If you have some kind of suggestion you can PM me or a mod. And please don't spam.

--- 

*Biographies:*


Abe Yoshitoshi


Adachi Mitsuru


Akamatsu Ken


Anzai Nobuyuki


Aoyama Gosho


Araki Hirohiko


Asada Hiroyuki


CLAMP


Fujishima Kōsuke


Fukumoto Nobuyuki


Hiroaki Samura


Hōjō Tsukas


Hoshino Katsura


Ikegami Ryōichi


Inoue Takehiko


Katsura Masakazu


Kishimoto Masashi


Kishiro Yukito


Koike Kazuo


Kojima Gōseki


Kubo Tite


Kurumada Masami


Mashima Hiro


Miura Kentaro


Nagai Go


Nihei Tsutomu


Obata Takeshi


Oda Eiichiro


Oku Hiroya


Ōtomo Katsuhiro


Sadamoto Yoshiyuki


Shirō Masamune


Takada Yūzō


Takahashi Tsutomu


Takashi Rumiko


Tezuka Osamu


Togashi Yoshihiro


Toriyama Akira


Urasawa Naoki


Watsuki Nobuhiro


Yagi Norihiro


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## Arcanis (Jul 4, 2005)

*Masami Kurumada* (車田正美 Kurumada Masami)



Kurumada Masami was born on December 6, 1953. He debuted in 1974 with Sukeban Arashi, the story of a teenage girl. But he didn't get his first hit until three years later when he published Ring ni Kakero, where he used for first time the things that will become his trademark. In 1986, he started his biggest hit ever, Saint Seiya, which lasted 28 volumes and span a 114 episode TV series and four movies.

He published exclusively for Shueisha (in their Shonen Jump magazine) until 1994. In 1996, he published Evil Crusher Maya as freelance in Enix's Shonen Gangan magazine before he went to Kadokawa Shoten, where he published his second best hit, B't X, in the pages of Shonen Ace magazine.

When B't X ended, Kurumada returned to Shueisha where he's publishing the sequel to Ring ni Kakero, simply called Ring ni Kakero 2.

Although his style has evolved significantly during his long career, it's still closer to the classic manga, specially in his faces, than to the modern stiles of today's hits.

One thing is sure: you won't have a problem figuring out his main characters. All of them (with the exception of two) are Seiya's twins.

*Works:*

Akaneiro no Kaze (1995)
Aoi no tori shinwa (1993)
B't X (1994 - 2000.02)
Evil Crusher Maya (1996)
Fuma no Kojiro (1982)
Jitsuroku! Shinwakai (1979)
Jitsuroku! Shinwakai II - Ring ni kakero (1980)
Jitsuroku! Shinwakai III (1983)
Kyôfu taiken (1993)
Mabdachi Jingi (1978)
Mikereko Rock (1975)
Otokozaka (1984-85)
Raimei no Zaji (1988)
Ring ni Kakero (1977-81)
Ring ni Kakero 2 (2000 ~)
Saigo no Jitsuroku! Shinwakai (1983)
*Saint Seiya (1985.12 - 1991.12)*
Shiroobi Taishoo (1979)
Silent Knight Shô (1993)
Sukeban Arashi (1974-1975)


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## spinstate (Jul 4, 2005)

*Kazuo Koike* (小池一夫 Koike Kazuo) 

Koike, along with artist Goseki Kojima, made the manga Kozure Okami (Lone Wolf and Cub), and Koike was also responsible for that series' film adaptation. Koike and Kojima became known as the "Golden Duo" because of the success of Lone Wolf and Cub.

Koike's other series, Crying Freeman, which he made along with artist Ryoichi Ikegami, was given a Hollywood adaptation.

Kazuo Koike started the Gekika Sonjuku, a college course meant to teach people how to be manga-ka.

Koike's works include:

    * Crying Freeman, along with Ryoichi Ikegami
    * Kozure Okami (Lone Wolf and Cub), along with Goseki Kojima
    * The script to the 1973 film Lady Snowblood, along with Kazuo Uemura

See also:
biguharuna

*Goseki Kojima* (小島剛夕 Kojima Gōseki, November 3, 1928 - January 5, 2000) 

Kojima was born on the same day that Osamu Tezuka was born on. After getting out of junior high school, Kojima painted advertising posters for movie theaters as his source of income.

In 1950, he moved to Tokyo. The post-World War II environment lead to forms of manga meant for impoverished audiences. Kojima created art for kamishibai or "paper play" narrators. Kojima then started to create works for the kashi-bon market.

In 1967, Kojima created Dojinki, his first manga for a magazine. In 1970, he collaborated with writer Kazuo Koike to create Kozure Okami (Lone Wolf and Cub), their most famous work. Koike and Kojima were dubbed "the Golden Duo".

Kojima died at 71 years of age.

*Manga List
*
Lone Wolf & Cub
Samurai Executioner


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## Arcanis (Jul 4, 2005)

*Rumiko Takahashi* (高橋 留美子 Takashi Rumiko)



Rumiko Takahashi was born in 1957 in Niigata, Japan. In her junior year of high school she had decided to make manga her profession and made her debut two years later with the story Katte Na Yatsura (Overbearing People) in the magazine that she would call home for the rest of her career, Shonen Sunday. 

In 1978 Urusei Yatsura was released, which ran until 1987. Following Urusei Yatsura was another very successful manga, Maison Ikkoku. Maison Ikkoku was written with a young adult audience in mind, and was therefore puplished in Big Comic Spirits, rather than Shonen Sunday. 

1987 was a big year in Takahashi's career because it saw the beginning and ending of her three most well known stories. Urusei Yatsura and Maison Ikkoku both bid their final farewells after 34 volumes and 15 volumes respectively. Both series did very well and saw Takahashi's writing and artistic abilities improve over the years.

As both series wrapped Takahashi began work on Ranma 1/2 a series about a teenaged martial artist named Ranma Saotome that has become cursed and transforms into a girl whenever he is splashed with cold water. Ranma 1/2 ran the longest of all of her series, 38 volumes, and came to an end early in 1996.

As she had previously done, Takahashi quickly began her next series, Inu-Yasha Sengoku Otogi Zoushi (Inu-Yasha A Feudal Fairytale) only a few months after the end of Ranma 1/2. 

Takahashi has also had quite a few short stories over the years such as One or W, Maris the Chojo, and Firetripper (which have been collected in Rumic World and Rumic Theater) along with the more lengthy short works of the Mermaid Saga which deals with elements of immortality and One-Pound Gospel a love story focusing on a Catholic nun and a young boxer. 

Over Takahashi's 20+ year career she has been considered the first major female to do work on boys comics, and has earned the title "The Princess of Manga". She won the Shogakukan sponsered "New Comic Artist Award" in 1978 and won the 1994 Inkpot Award in America.


*Manga's:*

InuYasha
Maison Ikkoku
Mermaid Saga (Mermaid's Forest, Mermaid's Scar, and Mermaid's Gaze)
One Pound Gospel
Ranma 1/2
Rumic Theater, her most recent work
Rumic World
Urusei Yatsura


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## spinstate (Jul 4, 2005)

*Masamune Shirow*

*Masamune Shirow (士郎 正宗 Shirō Masamune)*

If there were actually such an animal as a "Perfect Creator," Masamune Shirow is probably a short, evolutionary step behind it! In a synergistic dance of written word and visualisation, he weaves extraordinarily complex stories of vast character and subtle speculation. Born on November 23rd, 1961 in the Hyogo Prefecture of Kobe, Japan; the name ?Masamune Shirow? is a pseudonym.

Even while attending elementary school, Shirow?s interest in art was noted; working with water-colours and using the local mountains, seashore and illustrated reference books as inspiration. Although he did not draw much during Junior High and High School (concentrating more on sports such as judo); his fondness for art gave him the incentive to enter the Osaka University of Arts, where he studied oil painting (ironically Shirow finds he does not often use the skills he learned; having basically ?self-taught? himself into the art of manga.)

It was at college where he was introduced to manga by a friend and in 1983 he self-published the manga paperback Black Magic (in the Japanese manga fanzine Atlas). Shirow was 22 yrs. old at the time. Black Magic was noticed by Harumichi Aoki, president of Seishinsha, a publishing firm in Osaka. Mr.Aoki invited Shirow to make his official debut through his company; upon graduation in 1985, Shirow drew Appleseed specifically for Seishinsha, and made his commercial debut. (nb : This is very different from most manga artists in Japan, who first debut with a short work in a commercial magazine, and then serialise it.)

In parallel to the debut of Appleseed, Masamune Shirow also became a high school teacher. He taught for five years, but stopped due to dissatisfaction with the format of school education; at this time he started work on Ghost in the Shell and Orion for Seishinsha. (Orion came out in 1988, first published in Seishinsha?s monthly manga anthology COMIC GAIA, and then through DarkHorse comics.)

Masamune Shirow lives in Kobe. It is a long, narrow city hemmed in by mountains and the ocean, at the corner of an industrial region that stretches out from Osaka, Japan?s second largest metropolis. Kobe is the second largest port city next to Yokohama (historically it was an early port of entry for Western culture.) In Japan today, Kobe has a reputation of being a tourist city. The Hanshin earthquake unfortunately destroyed his home and studio; Shirow now lives in another section of the Hyogo Prefecture.

Of all the things that Shirow values highly, is his personal privacy. He lives in virtual isolation, working alone; his primary contacts being that of Harumichi Aoki (Seishinsha president) and long-time friend and editor Shigehiko Ogasawara. At one point he did have an assistant, Hagane Kotetsu, but in Shirow?s own words -- "I really couldn?t keep him busy. Since there aren?t too many artists here, the poor fellow would practically starve." -- Kotetsu is still a good friend.

Shirow?s primary influences were animation and T.V. dramas such as Gundam and Macross (many U.S. and U.K. productions.) Shirow also admits to influence from other artists? styles -- "When I was working on the animated version of Black Magic M-66 I concentrated very intently on the techniques of Hayao Miyazaki. Looking back at Appleseed, I seem to find nuances strongly reminiscent of Katsuhiro Otomo; mainstream film industry would be Terry Gilliam and many others." -- Although Shirow considers all his works -- "my own children"--, Appleseed stands out the most.

Shirow's works reflects on his extensive reading and the huge influence of spiders and other crustacians is apparent in his designs. Medicine, general science, supernatural stuff, philosophy, military strategies, mythology, biology, nanotechnology, sword-fights, even comedy. In his spare time, Shirow enjoys taking care of his pet spiders and photographing them; he likes making paper-mache and reading (although he does not often get time for this). Since he has always loved to draw, it?s hard for him to differentiate between work and play. An intensely private man, images/photos of the artist are almost non-existent!

Info from: 

*Manga List*
Black Magic M-66 (1983)
Appleseed (1985-89)
Dominion (1986)
Ghost in the Shell (1991)
Orion (1991)
 Intron Depot 1 (1992) (sci fi-themed color illustration artbook collecting his work from 1981 to 1991)
Dominion: Conflict 1 (No More Noise) (1995)
Intron Depot 2 - Blades (1998) (fantasy-themed color illustration artbook featuring female characters with armor and edged weapons)
Ghost in the Shell 2: Manmachine Interface (2001) (the "true" sequel to Ghost in the Shell, released in collected form in America on January 19, 2005)
Intron Depot 3 - Ballistics (2003) (military-themed color illustration and CG artbook featuring female characters with guns)
Ghost in the Shell 1.5: Human Error Processor (2003) (original version of Ghost in the Shell 2, scrapped when Ghost in the Shell 2 was collected in a single volume, but recently rereleased in Japan)
Intron Depot 4 - Bullets (2004) (color illustration artbook collecting his work between 1995 to 1999


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## Kucheeky Badkuya (Jul 4, 2005)

*Eiichiro Oda*


Oda began his manga career at the age of 17 with his one-shot cowboy manga *Wanted!* won second place in the coveted tezuka manga awards.  Oda went to work as an assistant to some of the biggest manga artists in the industry, inculding Nobuhiro Watsuki, before winning the Hop Step Award for new artists.  His pirate adventure *One Piece*, which was debuted in Shonen Jump Magazine in 1997, quickly becasme one of the most popular manga in Japan

Works:

One Piece
Wanted!


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## spinstate (Jul 4, 2005)

*Katsuhiro Otomo*

*Katsuhiro Otomo (大友克洋 Ōtomo Katsuhiro)*



Date of Birth: 14 April 1954
Place of Birth: Miyagi Prefecture, Japan

Alongside Hayao Miyazaki, Katsuhiro Otomo is the best known name in anime in the West, thanks to the phenomenal success of his 1988 epic Akira. However, to label Otomo purely as an anime director would be wrong as he has had less of an impact on the development of the form than one might expect - his contributions to the world of anime purely as a director have been surprisingly few and far between, but his influence as a writer and designer and the enormous impact that Akira made on Western anime fandom cannot be underestimated.

Otomo was obsessed with manga, film and television from a very early age and it was clear even early on that he wanted to forge a creer as a manga artist. After graduating from Sanuma High School, he headed for Tokyo to realise his ambition and was soon employed to adapt Prosper Merimee's short novel Mateo Falcone for the popular weekly magazine Action. The adaptation, retitled A Gun Report, first appeared in October 1973, and was the first of a series of self-contained stories that Otomo would create for Action, and in true manga fashion, he dabbled in many and various subjects.

Throughout the 70s, Otomo continued to hone his skills, graduating to headline stories and longer strips before embarking on the ambitious Fireball, a complex tale of mankind locked in a struggle with an all-powerful supercomputer. The story was never completed but it was important for many reasons, not least of which were the proto-cyberpunk leanings of its plot and for being Otomo's first sustained exploration of the interaction between Man and machine. It also featured government scientists locked in a struggle with terrorists for control of a devestating new technology, a theme that Otomo was to return to in his later work, Akira.

Even more ambitious was Domu [1980 - 1982], a huge horror story about psychics at war in a run down Tokyo housing complex. The story took two years to tell in the pages of Action and was a massive success, netting Otomo Japan's prestigious Grand Prix award for a Science Fiction story, the first time that a manga had been so honoured.

The early 80s were a boom time for Otomo who became increasingly prolific. The war story Kibun wa mo senso [an adaptation of Toshihiko Yahagi novel] and It's a Crazy, Crazy World quickly followed as did Otomo's first attempt at film-making, a 16mm film titled Give Us Guns. He also made his anime debut in 1982 when he was asked to contribute character designs to the epic Harmagedon: Genma taisen and the space opera Crusher Joe, both of which were released in 1983.

By the time the films were released however, Otomo had already embarked on his magnum opus, the ground-breaking masterpiece Akira. Taking eight years to run its course and published bi-monthly in Action, it grew into 2000 pages of art, subsequently collected in six volumes. The sprawling story made Otomo a superstar and was equally popular when it was translated into English and other languages.

As the story of Akira wound its ever-more-comlex way to its conclusion, Otomo took the reins for the first time as director when he helmed one segment of the anthology piece Meiky? monogatari [1987]. He followed this with work on another anthology, the highly regarded Roboto k?nibauru [1987] before starting work on a big screen adaptation of Akira.

It's become de rigeur in some quarters to pillory Akira for being successful, to dismiss it as somehow not "real" anime and even to claim that its success has somehow "damaged" anime. All nonsense of course. It's a staggering achievement and its arrival in the West ignited fandom like no other film or TV show had managed before. It remains the high water mark for anime and is one of the truly great SF movies - animated or not.

Akira pretty well ended Otomo's work in manga. The Otomo scripted The Legend of the Mother Sarah was serialised in Young magazine and it proved to be his final work for the print medium. Instead, Otomo concentrated on movies - Warudo apaatoment hora was his first attempt at a live-action film and he soon became popular as a collaborator in many capacities, as script-writer, character designer and the, more cryptically, "supervisor".

A decade after the global success of Akira, Otomo announced that he would be returning to anime to write and direct Steamboy, a project that endured many tribulations and took years to get to the screen. At the time of writing [February 2004], the film is finally due for a release in July 2004. Whether it has the same impact as Akira remains to be seen.

*Manga List*
Akira


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## spinstate (Jul 4, 2005)

*Yuzo Takada*

*Yuzo Takada (高田裕三 Takada Yūzō)*

Yuzo Takada was born on March 21, 1963 in Tokyo. The first appearance of his work was in November of 1983, in the Biweekly Young Magazine. The piece was called Shuushoku Beginner. From December 1983 to February 1985 he ran his first series, Tokonatsu Bank, in Young Magazine). Apparently some of his earlier works were somewhat pornographic, at the insistence of his editor (^-^, but what Takada really wanted to do was a story about the supernatural. Takada drew several more titles, including Tour Conductor, Nikumori, and finally created his first supernatural manga, the popular 3x3 Eyes, which is still going today. Yuzo Takada is also well-known for creating All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku, Genzou Hitogata Kiwa, and of course, Blue Seed.

*Manga List*

Shuushoku Beginner (1983)
Endless Summer Bank aka Tokonatsu Bank (1984-85)
Tour Conductor, Nikumori (1985-86)
Sportion KIDs (1986-87)
Every Day is Sunday (1987-89)
*3x3 Eyes* (1987-ongoing)
Toritsuki-kun (1989-91)
All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku (1990)
Blue Seed (1992-95)
The New All-Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku (1997-98)
Genzou Hitogata Kiwa (1998 - )
Tsukumo Nemuri Shizume (2004 - )
Little Jumper (2004 - )


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## spinstate (Jul 4, 2005)

*Hiroaki Samura*

*Hiroaki Samura (広明)*

Date of birth: 1970-02-17

             Like fine literature and cinema, the medium of comic books can be a powerful vehicle for storytelling when it's done right. As Louis L'Amour depicts the adventures of the American West with fluid prose, and John Woo stages gorgeously choreographed shootouts in films chronicling a mythical Asian crime underground, so does Japanese writer/artist Hiroaki Samura elegantly and boldly tell the story of an angry young orphan who, in ancient Edo, seeks an immortal samurai's help avenging her murdered parents in his amazing comics series, Blade of the Immortal. Samura has been recognized by a wide variety of organizations - from the Japanese Government's Ministry of the Arts to the comics industry's annual Harvey Award Committee - for his groundbreaking contributions to graphicstorytelling. Publications from The Washington Times to U.S. News and World Report have included Blade of the Immortal on their recommended-reading lists. 

             Samura's art is instantly recognizable and without peer in his native Japan - from his expositional development of subtle plot features, to the gorgeous, and often graphic, details of brutal fight scenes between honorable ronin and renegade sword students. For storytellers like Hiroaki Samura, art is a striking and powerful tool, and the gut-wrenching drama it depicts inspires a great range of emotions - most typically, heart-rending empathy for the young heroine, Rin, as she struggles between wanting to be a good person and wanting a rogue band of killers to suffer as her parents did. 

*Manga List*

Blade of the Immortal
Ohikkoshi


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## CABLE (Jul 5, 2005)

Nobuhiro Watsuki



(actual pictures of him are rare but he does many self portraits like this one)


  In Tokyo, Japan, on May 26, 1970, Nobuhiro Watsuki was born. As a young child, Nobuhiro Watsuki practiced Kendo constantly at school. Unfortunately, though, he was not really good at it and never won his games. But at his high school, Nagoka High, Watsuki won the Pop Step Award for the manga, "Podmark". He had been influenced by his older brother, Osamu Tezuka and other artists like Fujiko Fujio in becoming a mangaka (manga artist).
  Nobuhiro Watsuki assisted Takeshi Obata (Mangaka for Hikaru No Go) and has had many now known artists as assistants such as Eiichiro Oda (One Piece) and Hiroyuki Takei (Shaman King). He helped produce Arabian Lamp- Lamp and Chikara Mito Denzetsu. Around this time, Shueisha Jump were looking for some talent. As many might know, Shueisha has a tendency to take new artists and turn them into something big. They did just this in 1992 when Watsuki gave Shueisha a 31-page prelude to our Rurouni Kenshin. The excerpt was called Rurouni: The Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story then from there on, Watsuki became famous.
  In drawing Rurouni Kenshin, Nobuhiro Watsuki used various ideas in history and even in his own life. The series, as we know, is based on the Meiji Era and so Watsuki bases most of characters upon former soldiers and figures in this time period. Watsuki uses himself as a character somewhat also. His favorite character, Myojin Yahiko, symbolizes his own childhood along with the frustrated feelings he felt during his Kendo classes.
  Watsuki is a normal person.  He likes to play video games like Vampire Hunter and Samurai Showdown. His favorite anime would be Neon Genesis Evangelion and Kodomo no Omocha. He likes reading some American comics like Spiderman and X-Men. He likes action movies too such as Die Hard, Midnight Runner, and Back to the Future.
  As for other works, Watsuki has worked on Gun Blaze West and his most recent work Buso Renkin began publication on June 2003 in Shueisha Jump.

(taken from the-oro.com)

Mangas

Rurouni Kenshin(1992)
Gun Blaze West(2000)
Busō Renkin(2003)


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## spinstate (Jul 6, 2005)

*Akira Toriyama*

*Akira Toriyama (鳥山 明 Toriyama Akira, born April 5, 1955) *


He debuted in 1978 with the Wonder Island story published in Weekly Shonen Jump, and gained fame for Dr. Slump, serialized weekly in Shonen Jump from 1980 to 1984.

He is probably best known for the Dragon Ball series (the second part of the manga in the United States is known as Dragon Ball Z to reduce confusion for American audiences). This series was one of the linchpins for what is known as the Golden Age of Jump. Its success "forced" Toriyama to work on Dragon Ball from 1984 to 1995. During that eleven-year period, he produced 42 volumes. Each volume has an average of 200 pages, so the entire Dragon Ball storyline extends to almost 9,000 pages. Moreover, the success of Dragon Ball led to an animated television series, feature-length animated movies, video games, and mega-merchandising.

His clean line and design sense led to jobs designing characters for the phenomenally popular Dragon Quest series of role-playing game (called Dragon Warrior in the United States). He has also served as the character designer for the Super Famicom and SNES RPG Chrono Trigger and the popular fighting game Tobal No. 1 for the PlayStation, and continues to produce the occasional manga story. His works after Dragon Ball were short (100-200 pages) stories, including Cowa!, Kajika, Sandland, and one-shots, like the spoof Neko Majin Z.

*Manga List*

*Akira Toriyama Sakugekijou*
This consisted of two books, with each one having a set of short stories, written between the times of Dr. Slump and Dragonball. They were both published by Shuiesha (Jump Comics)

*Akira Toriyama Laboratory*
This book was co-written by a man named Akira Sakuma. It is about Toriyama in a robot form, teaching how to draw manga, using examples from Dr. Slump. It did quite well, and was another innovative idea.

*Dr. Slump 1-18*
This was a masterpiece, and one of Toriyama's most successful pieces. It tells the story of a little robotic girl named Arale, working hard to stay on top in a crazy world, living in the penguin village. This was hailed by critics worldwide, and was what made Toriyama famous in the first place.
*
Dragon Ball 1-42*
Easily Toriyama's best work. The fantastic story of Dragonball was his most successful piece, and is still loved by millions world-wide today. This is what emphasized his fame, and showed that he really is one of the best manga creators in the world today. Appeared in Shonen Jump 1985-1994.
*
Dabu and Peter*
This was an on-going colour story about racing cars in V-Jump, a monthly computer games magazine. It was stopped though, because the quality was fairly lackluster. Most of the V-Jump stories were done by Toriyama's Bird Studio assistants.

*Go Go Ackman!*
Another colour story, this time starring a young demon boy who bared a sword, published monthly in a computer games magazine. From my sources, I have been told that this was so popular that computer games were based on it!

*Kajika*
Kajika is a anoying little child, for his sorroundings. One day he passes the line, and kills a fox. The dead fox's spirit casts a curse over Kajika, so he turns into a fox-human. The curse makes his village he lives in, to banish him, and Kajika must now go a journey to save 1000 peoples life to break the curse. He meets a girl, (cant remember her name) who's on the run from the mafia. She has a dragon egg, and thoose who drinks of a dragons blood will gain massive strength. And so Kajika must help the girl (she looks alot like Bulma), from the mafia.

*New Dr. Slump
* This was continuing Dr Slump, this time in colour, in V-Jump, the monthly magazine. I know very little about this though, so not much can be said for it.


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## Arcanis (Jul 7, 2005)

*Masashi Kishimoto* ((岸本斉史 Kishimoto Masashi) 



Born in the Okayama Prefecture in 1974 as the older of two twins. As a pre-schooler Masashi Kishimoto was fixated with the TV show "Doraemon", all of his friends at the time were in to the show as well, and everyone would draw pictures of the characters. Kishimoto was always the perfectionist, pointing out obvious mistakes in other people drawings and showing them the way to draw it.

In his elementary days, Masashi Kishimoto was obsessed with drawing, he filled his notebooks with drawings, and he even would draw while playing hide and seek with his friends while he waited to be found. Doraemon was always the anime of choice for him until one day he saw an incredible show on TV, Mobile Suit Gundam, all his drawing time was now dedicated to drawing characters from that.

After awhile of drawing Mobile Suit Gundam characters, Kishimoto once again found a new anime, Akira Toriyama's famous creation: Dr. Slump. Masashi Kishimoto recalls how he couldn't believe how "super duper good" the art was and he began to draw the Dr. Slump characters and even submitted a crayon drawing of Arale-chan to a contest.

In his latter Elementary school days, Akira Toriyama's most famous creation, Dragonball became an anime and for Kishimoto this spawned a whole new interest in Manga and Shonen Jump. 

Near the end of Elementary school, Masashi Kishimoto was strictly a Dragonball fan, he recalls how he was so obsessed with Akira Toriyama, "He was like a god to me, I was constantly drawing characters that appear in Dragonball."

It was at this stage in his life that Masashi Kishimoto made a decision that he is not regretting now, and many of his fans are thankful for. He started to think to himself that "Manga sure is great" and that he wanted to become a famous Mangaka like Akira Toriyama. Kishimoto created his first manga around this time entitled "Hiatari-kun", a story revolving around a "Shadow ninja boy".

Still in elementary school, Kishimoto was still obsessed with Akira Toriyama and would spend all of his extra time making his drawings look exactly like his idols. It was then that he saw a game that Akira Toriyama helped develop called "Dragon Quest". The drawings were amazing, but unfortunately for Masashi Kishimoto he did not own a Famicon. It was then that his twin brother devised a plan to get a Famicon from someone else, but could someone willing to give away something worth 10,000 Yen possibly exist, he did and Masashi Kishimoto began to view this friend as a god.

Masashi Kishimoto finally recieved the game "Dragon Quest" the first game he had ever owned and the first time he had played an RPG game.

In Junior High School, Kishimoto began to focus on things other then drawing. Baseball had become a big part of his life, and there was alot more studying to do, which meant little time for drawing. He pondered to himself if he was "Too old to draw", at this point an unbelievable event occured in his life. As he walked home from school he saw a movie poster, one of the best drawings he had ever seen, how could a person draw this good? The drawing was for Katsuhiro Ootomo's "Akira". This drawing rekindled the flame and passion to draw, and to this day he continues to draw continously in hopes of one day getting close to that picture.

After he learned of "Akira", Masashi Kishimoto's drawings changed in a big way. He spent hours studying and trying to understand the style of Ootomo, but couldn't. He then had a revelation that this was totally original, and nothing else was like this. It would be impossible to copy, much like a persons DNA. He couldn't understand what was great about the drawings of both Ootomo and Toriyama, but there was a few things he could understand. The effects, designs, every small detail was perfect and different from other artists. Kishimoto then began thinking to himself that an attractive picture is an original one, learning how to copy other artists was pointless.

Kishimoto began to try and create his own style, but he found himself always copying someone elses style to some extent, finding or creating an original style would be very rare and near impossible. With this new belief, and the thought that Ootomo's style was unbeatable, Kishimoto began to try and make his drawings look exactly like his.

In the Eleventh Grade, Kishimoto created his first 31 page manga, he couldn't tell if it was any good so he showed it to his brother. "Great isn't it?!!" he asked. Only to get a reply of "This sucks!!", naturally he couldn't take his brothers word so he showed his father, and got the same reaction. Up until then Kishimoto had been really excited about submitting it for a Jump Magazine Award, but after that he lost the nerve and that manga will forever sit in the bottom of his desk drawer.

Kishimoto did not lose sight of his dream and thought to himself that if he wants to win the contest he will have to just keep creating mangas. His thinking may have been odd then, but looking back on it he reflects how it made excellent practice. After a few more manga projects, and being told that "This is no good" he began to wonder to himself why his mangas weren't? What made other peoples better!?

Dedicating all of his time to figure this out, Masashi Kishimoto graduated high school ranked 38th out of 39th in his class, it quickly became obvious that with grades like this, he wouldn't be getting into any college. No good at manga, no good at school, what would he do in life? Masashi Kishimoto didn't give up, he got right back to drawing Manga, and inspiring to become a Jump mangaka.

Today everything has worked out for Masashi Kishimoto, his dreams of becoming a famous Jump mangaka have come true, his story about that shadow ninja boy, Naruto has become one of the best selling and most popular mangas worldwide.

*Manga works:*

Hiatari-kun
Karakuri
Naruto
Mario (for the future though..)

Credits:


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## Arcanis (Jul 15, 2005)

*Yoshihiro Togashi*(冨樫 義博 Togashi Yoshihiro)



He is the manga-ka who draws/writes HunterxHunter. This will be a (brief) biography of him, his relations, and his various other works which you might want to check out.

Togashi was born on April 27, 1966, in Yamagata, Japan. He wrote in some notes in the HxH manga that he had, since his childhood, wanted to be a manga-ka. He drew a lot as a child, and started drawing manga since elementary school. Togashi had an younger sister, and an older brother, who is also a manga-ka and his inspiration.
As an adult, his favorite food is rice with curry, he enjoys bowling, video-games and scary movies (which were the inspiration for YYH). Togashi described himself as a messy otaku gamer-type.

He married Naoko Takeuchi (famous for Sailor Moon) on June 6th, 1999, and so far has one child with her (a boy). Their wedding in Japan was actually a big event, and a small doujinshi was published by them both for the occassion.

Manga Togashi wrote:

    * Tonda Birthday Present (1986) this was his premier work.
    * Tende Showaru Cupid (1989, 3 volumes)
          o a manga that won the "new talent competition" in Shounen Jump Weekly, this story is basically a romance. It's about a succubus who is accidentaly discovered by a boy, and follows him home to molest him. The love story evolves from there.
    * Okami Nante Kowakunai! (1989, 1 volume)
          o About a teenage werewolf signing up to basketball camp to impress a girl. Now he has to juggle getting through basketball practice, which happens to be on the full moon, and wooing the girl he likes.
    * Yu Yu Hakusho (1990, 19 volumes)
          o A boy who died is revived again to become a "spirit detective", fighting the evil demons from the spirit world with his group of friends.
    * Level E (1996, 3 volumes)
          o A series of stories about an alien prince's visit to earth.
    * Hunter X Hunter (1998+)

All of his manga were published by Shounen Jump magazine.

So far, Yuyu Hakusho is Togashi's most popular work. It's been widely sold all over the world, in North America alone the sales rose up to 40 million, some of the most popular manga exported from Japan.

Courtesy of [Lunar] Bleach 40


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## spinstate (Jul 17, 2005)

*Clamp*

*CLAMP
*


 Clamp is a group of four remarkably talented women - Nanse Ohkawa, Mokona Apapa, Mick Nekoi, and Satsuki Igarashi - who started out as doushinji artists, but developed into one of the most popular shoujo manga artists in Japan.

Big eyes, lithe bodies, intricate costumes, and twisted plots strewn with religious connotations are distinct norms for Clamp. Avid fans can easily recognize the Clamp eye, be it drawn Nekoi or Apapa styled. Many other artists have taken up the general style of the Clamp eye, but the original is hard to imitate.

Similarly, most Clamp characters (even the more masculine ones) are drawn lithely, slimly, focusing more on ethereal, feminine aspects than brute, masculine force. For this reason, Clamp characters seem much more fantastic and otherworldy, even their interpretations of girls-next-door.

Costumes, of course, help to add to the atmosphere of surrealism. All Clamp series have costumes and designs that are distincly Clamp. Intricate details on armor, weapons, clothing, headpieces, and jewelry are expected. The series most famous for cutesy costumes is Cardcaptor Sakura, since one of the main characters insists on changing the lead character into different outfits for each escapade. However, we mustn't forget the other series, where costumes are a hybrid of ancient cultures and Clamp imagination.

Cultures in costumes sometimes directy translate into some of Clamp's many religious themes. Many manga plots, such as X and Wish rotate around the central theme of the Judeo-Christian religion. X and Tokyo Babylon are most famous for Clamp's religious fascination, with their plots, art, and characters focusing on direct quotes from the bible. Other series use religions or religious references as a backdrop, such as RG Veda, Angelic Layer, Cardcaptor Sakura, and Magic Knight Rayearth.

Along with their apparent art, Clamp has many distinct symbols, the most noted one being the famous Clamp curled wings (dc.org's favicon), which shows up in some form or another in almost every series I've ever read or seen (the exception being Shirahime Shou). Other well-known symbols include their massive use of feathers or sakura-petals, a flying egg (sometimes with a golden "C" and crown), and the fast food store, Duklyon Caf?.

Most Clamp works in the U.S. are published by TokyoPop, but other companies have published Clamp works in the past. Viz-Animerica have been publishing X (they have changed the name to X/1999 for obvious reasons), while Mixx published the first editions of Magic Knight Rayearth (now TokyoPop does). Angelic Layer, Clover, Wish, and Cardcaptor Sakura are also published by TokyoPop. Upcoming TokyoPop releases are Clamp School Detectives, Clamp School Defenders: Duklyon, Miyuki-chan in Wonderland, Shirahime Syo - Snow Goddess Tales, and Man of Many Faces. Obviously, I am very much looking forward to these new publications as they will be formatted in the traditions manga style (opening from right to left) and thus much cheaper than other companies.

*Clamp Members*

*Ageha Ohkawa*
大川緋芭 (Ōkawa Ageha), formerly Nanase Ohkawa (大川七瀬, Ōkawa Nanase)
 the lady with bunny ears and braids, is the leader of Clamp, and often the writer for Clamp stories. I find that Ohkawa's job must be the most difficult, since Clamp's storylines are so accurate to their religious references. Ohkawa is the woman who needs to have a strong hold on ancient cultures and she is also the one that changes old themes like love, God, and the apocolypse into new, interesting storylines.

*Mokona*
もこな (Mokona), formerly Mokona Apapa (もこなあぱぱ, Mokona Apapa),
 the short-haired kitty, is the artist responsible for the signature Clamp character art. She is the lady responsible for all the gorgeous artwork that Kiara drools over day-in, day-out! Apapa's art is usually very intricate, filling up entire pages and sometimes two-page spreads with extreme attention to detail.
*
Tsubaki Nekoi*
猫井　椿 (Nekoi Tsubaki), formerly Mick Nekoi (猫井みっく, Nekoi Mikku),
 often depicted as a puppy in chibi form, usually does the final editing, background art, and the chibi characters you usually find at the end of the earlier novels. However, in works such as Wish and Lawful Drug, she is the lead artist. Her art is very distict from Apapa's, taking the bold approach instead of the detailed one.

*Satsuki Igarashi*
いがらし寒月 (Igarashi Satsuki), formerly Satsuki Igarashi (五十嵐さつき, Igarashi Satsuki),
 the wavey-haired err... whatever she is, is the assistant designer and production coordinator. Mostly, companies that want to produce animes based on Clamp series go to this fine lady

Note:- These names are recent: In 2004, as part of CLAMP's 15th Anniversary, CLAMP's members changed their names from Nanase Ohkawa, Apapa Mokona, Mick Nekoi, and Satsuki Igarashi, respectively. The August 2004 issue of Newtype USA, a magazine specializing in events of the anime and manga subcultures, reported that the members of CLAMP simply wanted to try out new names.

   (courtesy Wikipedia.org)

Credits to:-

Cellphone^2 Gundam SEED DESTINY: Episode 39


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## Kucheeky Badkuya (Jul 18, 2005)

*Naoki Urasawa *


A commentary with Urasawa:

_Blur : are shite_ awesomeness


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## Seibikou (Jul 18, 2005)

Ken Akamatsu (赤松健 Akamatsu Ken) is a manga artist, born in Kanagawa prefecture, Japan, on July 5, 1968. Most of his works involve ecchi, often having a male protagonist being surrounded by numerous girls.

Biography:

Full name: Ken Akamatsu 
Job: Tentatively, cartoonist 
Height: 168 cm. 
Weight: 50 kg. 
Blood type: B 
Education: Department of Literature country literature course graduate of Chuo University 
In his teenage years, Ken failed the entrance exam to Tokyo University, and applied for Film Study instead, (it is speculated, in fact, that this is where Ken got his idea for Love Hina). Eventually, he became famous as an illustrator featured in Comiket (short for Comic Market, a comic convention bi-annually held in Japan). He used the pen name Awa Mizuno - poor and unfortunate but full of hopes and dreams. Ken, still in college, then proceeded to win the Weekly Shonen magazine awards twice. His "A Kid's Game for One Summer" was awarded the coveted 50th Shonen magazine Newcomer's Award soon after he graduated.

After a big hit with A.I. Love You, Ken finally made a grand success with his new manga, Love Hina. The series appeared in Shukan Shonen magazine and has been collected in eleven volumes (with fourteen volumes in total), which have sold over 6 million copies in Japan. Ken had added elements of his own life experiences to the story, and this was said to have induced an unique feeling to the manga especially for western readers, whose lack of familiarity with Japanese culture for the most part added to the effect. The series, published in America in 2002, was especially well received in many overseas countries - Ken was surprised that even foreign readers found Love Hina to be "cute" and to their liking.

Ken is now currently working on his latest manga series, Negima: Magister Negi Magi, which has also been made in to an anime series.

AI Love You

Love Hina

Negima

(Couldn't find original japanese release dates)


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## spinstate (Jul 31, 2005)

*Adachi Mitsuru*

*Adachi Mitsuru*


Adachi-sensei was born on February 9, 1951. A very well known author of many shonen stories that focus on sports with romance on the side. His first work was a short comic titled Kieta Bakuon in 1970 that was published in the magazine called, Deluxe Shonen Sunday . But his first manga, titled Ace of Hearts wasn't published until 1975. Although he has done previous illustrations for other artists such as Yamasaki Juro and Sasaki Mamoru before Ace of Hearts.

*Touch*, which began in 1981, was his most famous work, spanning 26 volumes. However, if you can get the "wide" version of the manga series it goes up to 11 volumes.

Many fans of Adachi loved the Touch series because of its great understanding of the character's thoughts and feelings, especially the character of Tatsuya. Adachi made us all care for the characters through all the defeats, through all the sorrows, the happiness, and finally through the victories.

That scanned picture of Adachi-sensei shown above was taken around 1986 but the recent images of him shows that he hasn't changed at all. The glasses and the clothes may have changed (of course) but he looks exactly the same. He still has the same hairstyle. Another interesting thing about Adachi, although if you are a Touch fan and the many other works already know is that he owns a baseball team. Surprise, surprise. His team is called Vitamin A

Adachi, is one of the very few people to have reached the landmark of selling 100,000,000 copies of their work. Yes, more than 100 million. Another manga-ka to do that is Takahashi Rumiko, who thinks of Adachi as a mentor to her. How cool is that, huh? Takahashi, if you're not familiar, is the author of Ranma 1/2, Inuyasha, Maison Ikkuko and other stories. I mean Tacchan was succumbed to go to the baseball club because of a signed picture of Lum of Urusei Yatsura by Takahashi herself. On that note Koutarou tried to give Tacchan a signed picture of Punch signed by Adachi so he can get out of the baseball club but Tacchan tore it up saying he hated manga artists... haha...

The List of all Adachi-sensei's works. Not only shonen but shoujo too!


*~1970 ll Kieta Bakuon

~1975 ll Ace of Hearts

~1978 ll Nine*
This work really started it all for Adachi. Reading Nine, you can clearly tell where the ideas of his later stories came from. From the title, you can tell already that it's a baseball manga. It's a very innocent story that I really got into for awhile. It's a little similar to Hiatari Ryoukou. It was made before I was born for goodness sakes and though it's a little old fashioned, it still has that Adachi touch to it that make you want to read more and more.

*~1979 ll Oira Hokago Waka Taisho

~1980 ll Hiatari Ryoko (shoujo)*
Ah! I truly LOVED this story. I can't believe I was only a year old when this was released. Yet, it seems like it was written in the present. This story is about a girl named Kasumi who goes to stay at the house of her widowed aunt during her high school years and realizes that her aunt has taken in four other students as boarders who all go to the same high school. All of them male of course so you can just see a comedy coming on right? The first meeting between Yuusaku (one of the roomates) and Kasumi is classic. And Yuusaku is soo (yes, he deserves another "o") cool. I totally loved his character from the very beginning. Such a happy go lucky guy whose goal was to get into the cheer squad in high school because he likes to cheer people on. I recommend this one a lot. It's quite old but give it a chance.

*~1980 ll Miyuki*
This one is pretty interesting. When I read this story I had all kinds of different feelings about it. It's sad, it's funny, it's weird and it's strange. This story is about a boy named Masato who has a step sister named Miyuki and who has a girlfriend also named Miyuki. So it's basically his story about how he feels for both of them... Who will he choose in the end? Masato has a very strange fetish (although I guess since he's a man, it's not that strange) and I was kind of put off by that fact but then this other side of him comes through also which is likable. He struggles to hold on to his feelings for both of these women but though he tries to hide his feelings for one, it's not hard to notice it. Then there are the 3 other characters that are chasing after his sister and well.... I don't really know how to describe it. In some ways it's sad. Sad in a way that I feel sorry for him and sad because this story left me feeling "funny". Urr. It's nice nonetheless but I think if people read this story everyone will interpret it in very different ways.

*~1981 ll Touch*

*~1986 ll Slow Step (shoujo)

~1987 ll Rough

~1988 ll Short Program (shoujo)*
This manga is a compilation of Adachi's short stories collected between 1986 - 1988 (I believe). This collection along with Short Program 2 are the only series of Adachi's that are translated into English and you can still order it in Viz's website. The many stories in here focus on ordinary life. Some of them are cute, some of them are twisted, some of them are unexpected. I really like it. Adachi likes to put a lot of his more popular stories in his other works (just like CLAMP does sometimes) so the short story, "The Intersection" has the characters in a restaurant where the radio is announcing the Koshien game between Meisei and Sumiko and that ace hitter Nitta!

*~1990 ll Niji Iro Toogarashi*

*~1992 ll H2*
H2 was first serialized in Shonen Sunday in 1992 but came out in manga format in 1993. This is Adachi's longest series and is up there with Touch in its popularity. Unlike Touch though which I think focuses more on the drama part of life, H2 is more on the comedic side. I really like the use of Adachi's inside jokes in here. Some of them are so ridiculous it cracks me up. You'll know what I mean if you read it. Check out my small H2 info. page in the "Fun" section for more about it.. I enjoyed reading this manga but I prefered the comedy side to it much more than the sports side. It's more suited for a male audience most definitely I think.

*~1992 ll Jinbee*
Jinbee is a short 1 volume manga about a daughter and her step father who are living alone together after her mother died. The step father cares very much for his adopted daughter who is not afraid to tell him her loving feelings for him. I read this story and thought it was very good. The relationship between these two characters are taboo but the way Adachi writes this tale is very much realistic and sentimental. This story was so popular that it was made into a live action tv movie. Although it's only in one volume it ran in Big Comics Special between 1992-1997 (one chapter every year)

*~1996 ll Short Program 2 (shoujo)

~2000 ll Itsumo Misora

~2001 ll Katsu*
This story is funny. It's about these two guys one named Katsu, who sign up for boxing in order to get closer to this girl, also named Katsu, whose dad is the owner of the boxing building. I only read up to the third manga but it's really very interesting.

Taken from :


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## spinstate (Aug 30, 2005)

*Tite Kubo*




Pen name *Tite Kubo*, also Kubotite (久保 帯人 Kubo Taito), real name Noriaki Kubo (久保 宣章 Kubo Noriaki, born June 26, 1977).

      He started drawing manga in High School, where he was a member of his Anime Club. It was in High School that he originally wrote his first manga, "Zombie Power," and had a few editions published. Later in his career, Kubo created a new manga, called Bleach, and submitted it to Weekly Shonen Jump in hopes of having it published. Bleach was originally rejected from Shonen Jump due to similarties to another manga being serialized in the magazine, known as Yu Yu Hakusho. Although Bleach did extraordiarily well when presented to a control group of readers, Kubo was disheartened by the rejection of his manga. This all changed, however, when Akira Toriyama, creator and artist of the manga Dragonball, sent him a letter of reassurance and inspiration. Bleach was eventually serialized by Weekly Shonen Jump, and has currently exceeded over one hundred chapters.

Kubo's works include:

    * Bleach, his latest series, which is still ongoing in Japan and quite popular, being made into an ongoing anime TV series.
    * Zombie Powder, which is a 4 volume series that was stopped by Shonen Jump due to lack of popularity


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## spinstate (Sep 2, 2005)

*Kentaro Miura  (三浦 健太郎) *



Kentaro Miura was born in Chiba, Japan on the 11th of July 1966.

In 1976, in primary school and being only ten years of age, Miura was already working on a manga. This first work titled "Miuranger" was said to be made for his class mates, and appeared in some of the school?s publications and books. As time progressed, "Miuranger" ended up finishing at around 40 volumes. A year later, Miura was working on his next work entitled "Ken e No Michi" or "The Way Of The Sword" - his first work drawn using indian ink. By 1979 and in middle school, Miura had began using rasters for his work, and had oriented himself to use professional drawing methods.

In 1982 he enrolled in an artistic curriculum in high school, where together with his friends and class mates they had their work published in school booklets, as well as having his first dojinshi published in a fan produced magazine.

Busy times for Mr. Miura in 1985. Miura applied for, and was accepted into an art course at the Niho Daigaku University. Two more works are started this year also, "Futanabi" and "Noa" - which may have been the work he showed to gain entry to the University in the first place. "Futanabi" and "Noa" where also submitted to the Shonen magazine, the magazine awarding Miura a prize for the best new author for "Futanabi", and they actually published "Noa" in their magazine towards the end of that year. However the publications were short lived; Miura had a difference of opinion with one of, or the editor, and no further work was published. This apparently starts some hard times for Mr. Miura.

With 1988 came the first appearance of his "Berserk". The 48 page manga - which we know today as the "Berserk Prototype", it was sort of a preview of things to come, but not quite the Berserk we know and love today. Still, it wins Miura a prize from the Comi Manga School and things start to look up.

Having finished his course, receiving a doctorate, in 1989 sees yet another work, entitle "Ohroh" or "The Wolf King" which is based on a script written by Yoshiyuki "Buronson" Okamura, creator of "Hokuto no Ken", of Fist of the North Star fame. "Ohroh" is published in the monthly Japanese Animal House magazine, in issues 5 and 7 for that year. The 10th issue of Animal House that year saw the first ever, and only publication for that year of Miura's solo work "Berserk". The year ending with "Ohroh" being released as a stand alone manga volume.

From the 2nd to the 6th issues of Animal House in 1990, a follow up to "Ohroh" is published. Entitled "Ohrohden" or "The Legend of the Wolf King", it too is based on a script by Okamura. "Ohrohden" receives a stand alone volume release that same year, but more importantly the first volume of what we know today as "Berserk" was released, though it only enjoyed limited success. It isn?t until a whole year later, with the release of the story arc entitled "The Golden Age" did "Berserk" find a degree of popularity and success.

Yet another joint effort between Miura and Okamura in the 1992 work "Japan", appearing in issues 1 through to 8 of Animal House for that year, again with stand alone manga volumes following later in the year. The year ends with "Berserk", currently only being released in volumes, again being taken up, but this time by the Japanese magazine Young Animal where it has enjoyed serialization ever since. That year, Miura decides to dedicate himself solely to working on "Berserk".

1997 saw the release of various art books and supplements by Miura based on "Berserk" as well as Miura overseeing the production of a 25 episode animated series based on his "Berserk" to be aired on Nihon TV in Japan. Since then in more recent times, the manga has made its way to 26 released volumes, 27 just around the corner and it is still going strong and with no end in sight, as well as having picked up a cultural award, second place supposedly, for Miura in 2002 earning him one million yen. The series has also spawned a whole host of merchandise, both official and fan made, ranging from statues, actions figures to key rings, video games, and a trading card game.

Both the manga and the anime have had success outside Japan, with both already available throughout Europe having been translated into various other languages from its original Japanese. America has just been privy to the release of the anime resulting in a push for more to be created, and possibly indirectly bringing about an official English release of the manga, the first three volumes available for purchase in the States as of now. 

Taken from: Mangahelpers.com

Kentaro Miura's projects:

    * Miuranger.
    * Ken e No Michi (The Way Of The Sword).
    * Futanabi.
    * Noa.
    * Berserk Prototype.
    * Oh Roh (The King Of Wolves).
    * Berserk.
    * Oh Roh Den (The Legend Of The Wolf King).
    * Japan.


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## spinstate (Oct 1, 2005)

*Ryoichi Ikegami*

*Ryoichi Ikegami (池上遼一 Ikegami Ryōichi, born 1944) *



In an interesting moment in Seijin Suzuki's 1965 classic yakuza/camp film One Generation of Tattoos, a young gambler realizes that he has unwittingly drawn his sensitive younger brother into the shady underworld. Looking intently at his baby brother, the yakuza admonishes him, "This is no place for you. Go back to school!" Suddenly the angle of the camera swings underneath the older brother's face until his tortured visage looms painfully close to the viewer. Surprisingly, his face looks hauntingly like the face in a Ryoichi Ikegami illustration for SANCTUARY. This particular drawing depicts the expression on the face of teenage gangster Akira Hojo as he bids his companion Chiaki Asami farewell. They are parting company to pursue their dreams. Just as Suzuki uses unusual editing and camera techniques to make an otherwise drab gangster story visually punchy and dynamic, so Ikegami manages with inks and brushes to pull all the emotions inside his characters right out into their faces.

Ikegami's first hit, drawn in 1974, was about a high school gang, tough punks who attended a school replete with guns, gangsters, terrorists, and even some very cute girls. GALLANT GANG may appear somewhat crudely drawn when compared to Ikegami's later work, but even its over-the-top story becomes believable when the artist breathes such vivid life into his creations. The hero of the story, emerging from a fight covered with blood and flexing his muscles despite razor blades stuck in his arms and face, still manages to look tough. In an interview printed in ANIMERICA, Anime & Manga Monthly Vol. 1, No. 7, Ikegami said that when GALLANT GANG first appeared in a weekly manga magazine, it "really stood out... All the other manga were so stylized and cartoony." While the comic's premise is rather farfetched, it nonetheless doesn't look corny. Characters are variously handsome or grotesque, but they look like real people.

Ikegami's next big hit starred a young girl gifted with shocking psychic powers. MAI, THE PSYCHIC GIRL , published in English by Viz Comics in 1987, was unique at the time because it was one of the first mainstream comics for boys to feature a female protagonist. Mai is a pretty Japanese teenager forced to battle evil organizations that seek to exploit her powers. One of her greatest nemeses is a young German psychic named Turm. Ikegami's illustration of icy Turm is chilling; her eyes are drawn in such a way that she looks vastly more threatening than innocent Mai.


MAI, THE PSYCHIC GIRL was a success with both young and older readers, but Ikegami next ventured into drawing comics definitely oriented towards adults. WOUNDED SOUL was an action-adventure series which put its female heroine into some very uncomfortable situations involving a large insect and a tree trunk.... Then came CRYING FREEMAN , an enormously successful, long-running series which masterfully depicted both extreme violence and sex. [This month the graphic novel CRYING FREEMAN PERFECT COLLECTION: PORTRAIT OF A KILLER (re-releasing the first two volumes of the CRYING FREEMAN series) goes on sale!-AR] While many of the sexual encounters in the FREEMAN series are rooted in violence, the relationship between the central character, Crying Freeman, and his wife, Emu, is always very tenderly portrayed. In context, their consensual sexual encounters look perfectly natural. But, as Ikegami points out: "If you only concentrate on bits and pieces, it's going to look lurid." Attempts to censor FREEMAN were made in both Japan and the United States, where, in spite of the "For mature readers only" warning on all the covers, it has stirred up quite a bit of controversy.

In Ikegami's next major work, he took a 360-degree turn from the fantasy world of FREEMAN. SANCTUARY is a series about two young men who attempt to change a relatively realistic, contemporary Japan. One joins the yakuza, the Japanese crime syndicate, and the other runs for political office. Ikegami's readers expect handsome men in his manga, and he comes through with dashing Akira Hojo, a rising Mafia don, and the bookish, yet hunky, Chiaki Asami, a political up-and-comer. Ikegami is a genius at depicting the unique faces of the old men who control the Japanese government. Isaoka, the nemesis of our young heroes, has a face straight out of the Tokyo daily papers: a mass of heavy eyebrows, artful wrinkles, sneaky eyes, and poker-faced expressions which explode into fierce anger. Ikegami's ideal as an artist is to draw a manga that "makes it seem as though [the story] could happen in 'real life' ".

Ikegami is currently illustrating an even more shocking, semi-realistic story, one that may be a little too much for some audiences to stomach. THE ACCIDENT is the story of Kyoko, a young Japanese woman who is raped by a group of American soldiers. A young African-American soldier rescues her, and as their relationship evolves, she falls in love with him. When he is killed, she begins a quest to avenge his murder.

What makes THE ACCIDENT so gripping is Ikegami's ability to portray the faces of the American G.I.'s and the young Japanese woman with equal accuracy. One has to imagine that Ikegami has spent tremendous amounts of time sketching the vast variety of American faces to so accurately depict them on paper. Even in SAMURAI CRUSADER (currently appearing right here in MANGA VIZION!) the face of legendary writer Ernest Hemingway is drawn with close attention to his outrageous public persona.

In Shonen Sunday Manga College, a Shogakukan, Inc. publication about Manga artists at work, I saw a photograph of Ikegami's workplace and drawing tools. The image that lingers in my mind is a close-up of Ikegami's drawing hand. The calluses on his fingers are enormous, thickened and hardened from the years he has spent creating characters for his fans all over the world. Imagining the sheer number of hours he's spent coming up with such a bevy of images is absolutely humbling to any aspiring manga artist or writer. When it comes to depicting characters and scenes that are both photorealistic and vividly imaginative, nobody has a more natural gift the Ryoichi Ikegami. With SANCTUARY having ended in Japan, we say "domo arigato," and look forward to Ikegami's next gripping work.
*
Works of Ikegami Ryochi*

Debuted in 1971 with Aiueo Boy, written by Koike Kazuo. One of the famous and influential realist/violence artists. He has long since given up trying to draw his own stories. Ikegami's art has been especially influential in Hong Kong and Taiwan. (Curiously, Ikegami once drew a version of Spiderman.)

*Mai*[aka Mai the Psychic Girl] -
    Story about a young, psychically gifted girl, and people who try to kidnap, kill or exploit her. (The director Tim Burton was involved in an attempt to bring a musical version of Mai to the big screen.) 

*Crying Freeman* - written by Koike Kazuo
    About a killer for the triads who cries whenever he kills someone. Ikegami's most best-known recent work; it's been adapted for various anime and movies. 

*Sanctuary *
    Story about two young men working together to change the shape of Tokyo's politics - one by becoming a politician, and the other by becoming a Yakuza. Doesn't pull any punches. 

*Strain * - written by Buronson

*Offered* - written by Koike Kazuo
    The main character is an "offered" of Gilgamesh, (Gilgamesh preserved his semen in an iceberg...so it survived. The grandfather of the main character for some reason was able to gain the semen..) so he goes on this trip to Agartha, where all the secrets of his birth lie. 

*Ouritsuin Kumomaru no Shougai* [aka Samurai Crusader: The Kumomaru Chronicles] - written by Hiroi Ooji
    In the early 1930s, the son of a Japanese noble family travels to Europe to seek his fortune. But he soon becomes embroiled in the militarist conspiracy, running up against the militarists' ninja Juuzou, Chinese demons and fleets of zeppelins. Ikegami's art is as good as ever, but its awkward story proved unpopular and it ended prematurely. 

Other major works:
Nobunaga 
I Katsuotoko Boi
Otoko Gumi (aka Gallant Gang) 
Kyoko 
Odyssey 
"Sense of Guilt" in Goro.
"Tracker" in Shonen King magazine.
"Rin Alone" in Shonen magazine.
Otoko Ozora (aka Blue Sky Gang).
Kizuyoi Bito (aka Wounded Soul).
"The Red Dove".
"The Wounded Man".
Mazo (aka The Magic Image) [1st work].
Karate Man.
Seiken Wolf (aka Wolf).
The Real Man


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## Luciferxxxxx (Nov 12, 2005)

*Tsutomu Nihei*  (弐瓶 勉)


Born in the year 1971 in Japan, decided to study architecture, one of his passions, as seen constantly in his mangas with mega architectonic structures that awe the eye of the reader and inspire the mind to know no limit, geographically, scientifically or architectonically. After finishing his studies, took a plane to cross the world and work for a construction company based in the vast city of New York.

After knowing the American working system, he quit and returned to Japan to work in *Kodansha Magazine*, famous for its action series aimed to a more mature reading population, to start his career as a full-fledged manga-ka. He started under the wing of *Tsutomu Takahashi* (*Blue Heaven*, *Alive*, *Skyhigh*) while he was working in *Jirashin*, a story about a gun-wilding-loner cop that may have worked as a inspiration to *Tsutomu Nihei* to work on *BLAME* (that ran in the same magazine as his debut work) but with a more artistic touch and more sci-fi than his sensei instead of deep and complex stories, as his personal assistant. Among other facets that *Nihei* inherited from *Tsutomu Takahashi* after working with him, was his character design style, with some modifications. Looking more like unfinished sketches unlike the most other artists. This art style works as a signature for *Tsutomu Nihei* (and *Takahashi* while we are at it), making him easily recognizable.

After working on *BLAME* he tried to continue this story a bit more ambitiously and from another view point, with more sci-fi and action than before. And so he ended up with *Noise*. A manga that made the action fans out there to be on the look out for more *Tsutomu Nihei*. With jumpy and freaky action sequences he had the readers by the edge of their seats, while captivated by the atmosphere brought by the very imaginative worlds and character designs. Definitely the first step towards evolution for him, since the differences between *Noise* and *BLAME*, in style, artwork, atmosphere and action are by far better in his second work. Breeding a steady fan base, *Nihei* was ready to start a new project: *Blame!*

By the end of 1997 *Kodansha Magazine* started releasing *Blame!*, the most ambitious and longest manga Nihei has ever made. Running 10 volumes strong and distributed in many countries of Europe (France, Italy, Spain, Germany, among others...) Blame! was a complete success and a true stepping stone for *Nihei* to reach the entire world. After such a big hit he worked on *Blame! Academy*, a short manga that tried to show *Nihei*'s other side, a rather light and comedic manga unlike its predecessors. Followed by *Zeb-noid* a one shot manga about a war waged between humans and flies using characters that scream *Blame!* every chance it has. But his works have yet to reach the constantly increasing market of United States of America in terms of manga, since he was asked by *C.B. Cebulski* (Associate Editor for *Marvel Comics?*) to participate in a project involving *Wolverine*. Being the fan he is of *Wolverine*, *Nihei* couldn't say no and by July 2003 *Wolverine Snikt! #1* was released. *Wolverine* fans were pleased with the work done by *Tsutomu Nihei*. He continued working with *Marvel Comics?* till November 2003 when issue 5 of 5 was released. That same year *Anime Reactor* had him as a guest, where he talked about his work in *Wolverine Snikt!*, saying: "Wolverine already has a long history. It's almost impossible to make it a complete work of your own. I had to make it Wolverine as I draw it. I couldn't make it a complete character, so I admit that it's my Wolverine." He also had a word to say about one difference between Japanese Manga and American Comics. Japanese Manga are composed of monthly 200 or so pages anthologies against he 32-48 paged monthly American Comics, acknowledging the fact that this creates two different working environments for the artists.

Continuing his traditional sci-fi stories involving gun-wielding mysterious-looking men and a not-so-traditional gun-wielding bear, *Tsutomu Nihei* started his work on *Biomega!* Still working with *Kodansha Magazine*, by November 2004 the first volume was finished and ready to hit the streets. *Biomega!* may seem to walk into the same direction as *Blame!* and for a reason. Don't take my word for it, but any conclusions you may get from reading the first volume of *Biomega!* is this: Prequel. Yes, a prequel to *Blame!* is what this new manga looks like to me so far, but who knows what *Tsutomu Nihei* has for us in a not so far away future, we will just wait, read, enjoy and most certainly get excited with his use of shadows, the excellent and characteristic art style, and the impeccable action sequences that he enjoys drawing and planning for us to read, live and experience. Surely *Tsutomu Nihei* is one of those manga-kas to be on the look out from now on in case you have never  heard of him, and if you have, you know what I am talking about.



*Tsutomu Nihei's projects*:

Akai Kiba (Special Collaborator). 
Biomega. 
BLAME. 
Blame!
Blame Academy. 
Dead Heads. 
Digimortal. 
Net Sphere Engineer. 
Noise.
Wolverine Snikt. 
Zeb-noid.


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## Luciferxxxxx (Nov 13, 2005)

*Yukito Kishiro* (木城 ゆきと)


Born on March the 20th 1967 in Tokyo, but lived in Chiba trough his adolescence. Since young he started to show the signs of a manga-ka-to-be; making a pencil draw what he had in his mind, but these things inside his mind were almost never humans but, rather, monster or mechanical beings. And so his earlier mangas were filled with all type of bizarre creatures in bizarre places, truly a man with no limitations to when it comes to imagination. By the end of his elementary school he already had 17 notebooks that has a monstrous main character (literally) that controls a robot, it is around this time that *Kishiro-san* is struck by the idea of a post-apocalyptic setting. And so he created his first work called *War-men* on 1984, but it wasn't published until 4 year later.

Yet he couldn't leave his trusted and reliable pencil until he enter High School, at this time that *Kishiro-san* decided to try pens and ink for once and for all and so overcoming his lack of patience he worked on a short story called *Kikai* which he later sent to *Shogakuka*n winning the 1984 New Comer Contest, making his first appearance in a professional magazine. *Kikai* was followed by several short mangas *Kishiro-san* managed to have a devoted fan base. By now *Yukito Kishiro* was already drawing humans but he never stopped making new monster nor mechanical creatures, but *Kishiro-san* was still lacking a manga good enough to launch him to the international stage. In 1991 *Gunnm* was published and it was the big hit *Yukito Kishiro* needed and so he became renowned in various countries like the United States of America, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, United Kingdom and many more. 

Running for 9 volumes in length and spanning from 1991 to 1995 his work on *Gunnm* had to be suddenly suspended for personal reasons, although suspended, it wasn't forgotten, *Gunnm* caused a seism shocking many of its readers by offering a characters that behaved like humans. All of this possible by what *Kishiro-san* likes to call Darkness mode and Glory mode, it is in both of this modes *Kishiro-san* shows us a piece of himself and of his thoughts on humanity; greed, compassion, love, hate, rivalry, success and failure just to name the most remarkable ones, but when ever you read a page of *Gunnm* you realize there is something so humane it becomes impossible to set aside. After the hit *Gunnm* was *Kishiro-san* didn't just stop he created another short story called *Ashen Victor*, allowing us motorball (sport that has a great role in *Gunnm*) fans to have a better and more in depth look at the cruel world of this violent futuristic sport, while letting us see how *Frank Miller* has influenced him. Then he worked on 3 short stories forming the *Gunnm: Gaiden* anthology, printed in *Ultra Jump* magazine in the year 1997, one adds character background another some pretty awesome action scenes and the remaining one is neither, just a fun project.

After a time off *Kishiro-san* got his pencils and pens together again to make a story consisting of three volumes; *Aqua Knight*, running in *Ultra Jump* magazine from 1998 to September 2000 when it suddenly stopped with promises of continuing this work someday. But while Aqua *Knight* stopped *Kishiro-san* kept working now on a sequel to his worldwide renown *Gunnm*, called *Gunnm: Last Order* printed on the same magazine on December 2000 and still running in the same magazine and reaching it's 7th volume soon. *Gunnm: Last Order* delivers that background *Gally* needed in the original *Gunnm* while keeping the refined action scenes.

*Yukito Kishiro* is a renown manga-ka thanks to his hard work and dedication to each project and how he gives his best on each of them, which is not only well received by the manga fans, but idolized. He has with out a doubt been recorded in the History of  Modern Manga as one of the most influential manga-kas.



*Yukito Kishiro's projects:*

War-men. 
Kikai. 
Kaiousei. 
Hito. 
Dai-Machine. 
Mirai Tokyo Headman. 
Uchukaizokushonendai. 
Gunnm (Battle Angel Alita). 
Ashen Victor. 
Gunnm: Gaiden. 
Aqua Knight. 
Gunnm: Last Order (Battle Angel Alita: Last Order).


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## Luciferxxxxx (Nov 14, 2005)

*Inoue Takehiko* (井上雄彦)


*Born*: January 12 1967, Kagoshima, Ooguchi
*Hometown*: Kyush?, Japan
*Favorites*: Fond of natto.
*Hobbies*: He's also into golf.
*Offical Site*: 
*E-mail to Inoue*: guard@itplanning.co.jp
*Guestbook*: here's

He is one of the most famous Japanese manga artists. He has been drawing manga mainly in male-oriented magazines. *Inoue*'s name is ordered as *Takehiko Inoue* on the *Vagabond* books sold in North America, while it is ordered Inoue Takehiko on the *Slam Dunk* books sold in Singapore. The North American *Slam Dunk* books use *Inoue Takehiko*, but they are now out of print.

His debut in manga magazines was in 1988, and *Purple Maple* appeared in the *Shonen Jump* magazine. His manga book debut was *Chameleon Jail* in 1989. His most known work is *Slam Dunk*, it has become a big influence in Japan, and this fame has gone overseas.

The next work he has produced is *Buzzer Beater*, and this manga can be found on the Internet. It appears on his official web site, and it has three language versions, Japanese, English, and Chinese.
*Buzzer Beater* Read Online

His serial manga now are *Vagabond* and *Real*. These manga have been one of the most published manga books in Japan. Many of his works are about basketball, and many Japanese children started to play basketball because they read his manga. Therefore, he made basketball popular in Japan

*His works are*: *Chameleon Jail*, *Slam Dunk*, *Buzzer Beater*, *Vagabond* (for which he received an *Osamu Tezuka Culture Award* in 2002), and *Real*.


*Chameleon Jail* (1989) [Volumes 1-2]

"Risk Hunters" are a special breed of professionals, willing to take on the jobs that even experienced detectives, law enforcement officers, negotiators or agents are incapable of handling. Among them, one man stands out as the strongest, as well as the strangest, risk hunter. His name is Chameleon Jail.

*Slam Dunk* (1990-1996) [Volumes 01-31]

Sports manga. Basketball. *Sakuragi* wants to impress the girls by joining the basketball team. He prefers to slam dunk instead of practicing the basic moves. Millions of copies of the manga "*Slam Dunk*" have been sold worldwide. Tankoubon volumes 21 and 22 first print reached 2,500,000 copies. This broke the record of 2,388,000 first print copies of manga, held by "*Chibimarukochan*" #7 in 1991.

*Inoue Takehiko Irasuto Shuu [Inoue Takehiko Illustrations]* (1997)

*Slam dunk* series arbook, with 116 pages and 110 of them in full color, hardcover.

*Buzzer Beater* (1997-1998) [Volumes 1-4]

Another Basketball Story.
2XXX AD... Earth's greatest basketball team is formed to take on the Intergalactic League. Basketball in the near future unfolds on an intergalactic stage.

*Vagabond* (バガボンド) (1998-200?) [Volumes 01-21+(ongoing)]

This series is based on the novel *Miyamoto Musashi *by *Yoshigawa Eiji*, a historical biography/fiction about the famed Japanese samurai. If you have seen *Slam Dunk*, you are familiar with the excitement and intensity in *Inoue*'s action sequences. They are here again in this series.

*Vagabond* is the winner of the "2000 (The Fourth) *Media Arts Festival Grand Prize*". Except from the reason for the award: "From *Toyotomi* to *Tokugawa*. *Musashi Miyamoto* grew up amidst the turn of two great eras. Mr. *Inoue* has taken the powerful *Musashi* who was sometimes called a "beast" and drawn him as a *vagabond*. The artist brags about boldly challenging the national literary work of *Eiji Yoshikawa*, even so, the sense of speed that he creates is impressive. I send my applause to the artist for creating a new image of *Musashi*."

*REAL* (1999-200?) [Volume 1-4+(ongoing)]

The first volume of *Real* sold more than one million copies. 
"*Real*" is the Winner of the "2001 (The Fifth) *Media Arts Festival award for Excellence*". Excerpt from the reason for the award: "*Takehiko Inoue* is well-known for "Slam Dunk," a serial comic on the subject of basketball. "*Real*" is another sports comic, but one whose story revolves around the novel theme of tough guys and wheelchair basketball. All of the Adjudication Committee members could hardly wait to read the next installments and had to content themselves with awarding Real the Excellence Prize. It would have been no surprise if Inoue had followed his success with "*Vagabond*" by winning the Grand Prize for the second year in a row with this terrific manga."

*Manga Project's:*
*Buzzer Beater* (1997) (Shueisha)
*Chameleon Jail* (1989) (Shueisha)
*Real* (1999) (Kogansha) (Shueisha)
*Slam Dunk* (1990) (Shueisha)
*Vagabond* (1998) (Kogansha)

-*Other Works*-
◆ One Shot-
*Akagasuki* (1990) (Shueisha)
*Baby Face* (1992) (Shueisha)
*Hang Time* (1993) (Shueisha)
*Pierce* (1998) (Shueisha)
*Jump Shonen* (1999) (Shogakukan)
*I Love This Game* (2002) (STYLE) 
◆ Column-
*Season Seat Diary* (1997) (Nippon Bunka Publishing)
*Tsubezuregusabasuke* (1998) (Nippon Bunka Publishing)
*Show-Times* (1998) (Shueisha)
◆ Illustrations & Design, etc... 
*JBL men's tournament 1st 1996* (Poster, 1996)
*High Time* (Basketball Shoes Design, 1995)
*NBA Kaitaisinsho* (Cover, Diamondsha, 1997)
*NBA Zatugaku Bible* (Cover, Nippon Bunka Publishing, 1997)
*FILA Amateur Games* (Poster, 1997)
*1on1* (Game Soft Character Design, Jorudan, 1998)
*Shiseido Aleph* (Commercial, 1998)
*Buzzer Beater-Playstation comic* (Supervision, 1999)
*The Slamdunk way of winning* (Cover, Shueisha International, 2000)
*Bu* (Cover, Takarajimasha Inc, 2004)


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## Luciferxxxxx (Nov 14, 2005)

*Tsukasa Hojo* (北条司)


*Born*: March 5 1959, Fukuoka
*Blood Type*: O
*Offical Website*:  (Japanese)
*Skills & Abilities*: 
Originally used his drawing for interior decorating and architecture.

Tsukasa Hojo was born on March 5th 1959 on the Japanese Island, Kyushu. Despite the tendency at the time to create more western manga to satisfy the ever-increasing demand of the international market, *Hojo* instead succeeds in combining his original fiction elements with strict Japanese outlines. The realism of *Hojo*s drawing is similar in style to that of gekiga, meaning "theatrical pictures". The female characters in particular, are drawn very beautifully, which has done much to boost Hojos reputation.

*Tsukasa Hojo* discovered his love for drawing manga while studying Technical design in university. In 1979 he was a runner-up for *Shonen Jump* Magazines 18th annual *Tezuka* Prize for his submission of Space Angel, his first production. In 1980 he debuted the title *Im a Man!* in *Shonen Jump*. In 1981, he debuted what turned into his first hit title *Cats Eye*, which was very successful as a weekly manga, tankobon, and a live action movie in 1997. He didnt stop there, in 1985 *Tsukasa Hojo* followed this with the smash hit *City Hunter*, which ended in 1991 after 35 volumes. While writing *City Hunter* 
*Hojo* also created numerous short manga, such as *Splash!*(1987-1989) and *Taxi Driver*(1990). With "*Family Compo*", which was still under work in 1997, he details the lives of a family of transvestites. This is considered to be one of *Hojo*s under-rated gems. Today, *Angel Heart* is being published in Comic Bunch.

*Cat's Eye* (キャッツアイ) (1981-1984) [18 Volumes]

*Cats Eye* is *Hojo*s first long-running series. In terms of skill its not as good as City Hunter, but during its time, its new style attracted many readers, and became *Hojo*s first successful series.

In the manga we find ourselves in Tokyo, at the start of the 1980s. *Michael Heinz*, a German painter and art collector, disappeared many years ago along with his art collection. His daughters, the three sisters *Ai*, *Hitomi*, and *Rui Kisugi* are now trying to find him. Most
of the artworks are now in the hands of criminal collectors. Hitomi and her sisters feel that they have to resort to theft if they want to see their father again. Acting under the name of "*Cat's Eye*" (which is their caf's name as well), the three girls start their criminal career, supported by a close friend of the family Mr. *Nagaishi*.

The first episode was published in *Shonen Jump* on 1981, followed by 18 volumes from 1981 to 1984, and an additional short appearance in 1985.

This is also the biggest difference with the anime in which only Asatani and the chief have been kept. In 1997, a live-action film of *Cat's Eye* has been made.

*Tenshi no Okurimono [Gift from Angel]* (天使の贈りもの) (1988) [1 Volume]

One story is about a pair of lovers always quarrelling and not admitting that they're suited for each other. But their future daughter comes and helps them realise their love. There are also two early city hunter stories in this book.
1. Tenshi no Okurimono
2. Ore wa Otoko da!
3. Neko-manma okawari
4. City Hunter - XYZ
5. City Hunter - Double Edge

*City Hunter* (シティーハンター) (1985-1992) [35 Volumes]

If you're desperate and need a risky job done, write "XYZ" on the bulletin board at Shinjuku Station. That's the signal to hire *City Hunter*, made up of *Ryo Saeba* and *Kaori Makimura*. At first sight, Ryo seems to be a bit crazy, but when you start to know him better, you realize how calm, cool and overall an amazingly accurate shot he is. *Kaori* on the other hand, is *Ryo*'s deceased partner's sister and runs the business side of *City Hunter*. The jobs range from being a bodyguard to virtual espionage.

In 1983 *Hojo* started "*City Hunter*" and published two short stories, but the series officially started in 1985 and ended in 1991 after 35 volumes. Soon after its release, *City Hunter* became one of the favorite manga in Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

*City Hunter*s adventures are usually funny and original. The characters have different personalities, and the new story elements always stick out when you never expect they will.

*Sakura no Hanasaki kukoro* (桜の花咲くころ) (1993) [1 Volume]

Collects four stories.
1. Sakura no Hanasaki Kukoro
An early "Komorebi no moto de" story.
2. Family Plot
3. Taxi Driver
A story about a vampire who works as a night taxi driver. His victims are his clients.
4. Shoujo no Kisetsu - Summer Dream

*Shounentachi no ita Natsu* (少年たちのいた夏) (1996) [1 Volume]

*Hojo Tsukasa Illustrations* (北条司イラスト集) (1991) [Artbook]

Collection of color illustrations, mostly for *City Hunter* and *Cat's Eye*. Most of them have appeared on the covers of the tankoubon from those two series. There is a special "Gallery *Tsukasa*" in the first chapter of the book. The artbook is really interesting for the special story *SPLASH* that appears in here. This is a full color story of 28 pages that has appeared in *Super Jump* in 1987-88. Here it is reproduced in full color. At the end there are also a number of interviews.

*Komorebi no moto de... [Beneath the Dappled Shade]* (こもれ陽の下で) (1993-1994) [3 Volumes]

A sensitive story about two kids: *Sara*, who can emphasize with plants, and *Tatsuya*, her friend. The power *Sara* has enables her to help the people around her, like for instance bringing friends together... Where *Sara* comes from is not very clear, not even to *Tatsuya*. With her father (an "*Umibouzu*"-lookalike, from *City Hunter*) they have a mobile flower store with which they go from one town to another. Even more mysterious, *Tatsuya* discovers a photograph from several years in the past with *Sara* in it, but she hasn't changed at all. Not only can *Sara* talk to plants, but she can also detach her "spirit" from her body. Her spirit- form turns out to be an adult. One of the best works of *Hojo*. The stories are moving and will cause the occasional tear in your eye without becoming melodramatic.

*RASH!!* (1994-1995) [2 Volumes]

The main character is a *Kaori*-like nurse with a tendency to beat people up. Mercilessly (or mercifully) terminated by Jump editors. *Hojo* himself has admitted that it was a failure.

*Family Compo [F Compo]* (1997-2001) [14 Volumes]

Just before entering university, *Yanagiba Masahiko's *柳葉雅彦 father died in a car accident. His mother died when he was two, which makes him now really an orphan. But even before the death of his father he didn't have a family life, his father being busy or abroad. When his mother's younger brother and his wife decide to invite him to live with their family, his life takes a turn. But it is not going to be the normal family life he is imagining himself. What is the "terrible" secret that lead his parents to break the bonds with his aunt and uncle? What could be the true nature of his niece, Shion? And last but no least, will this "terrible" secret eventually get Yanagiba too?

Hojo has hit the charts again with this series, after several years of unsuccessful works. *F. Compo*, being targeted at a slightly older male public, contains gorgeous artwork, a good story and a lot of humour. Highly interesting is the depiction of the work of *Yanagiba*'s "uncle" who makes his living as a successful mangaka. It is clear that *Hojo* is having a lot of fun in doing so.

*Parrot - Koufuku no Hito [Parrot - The Blessed Man]* ( (ＰＡＲＲＯＴ -パロット-) (199?) [1 Volume]

The short stories collection done in color, with CG backgrounds. A break through title (At least I have not see one like it before) which cover many new grounds, like in credits they have for computer company, models, photographers, stylist, customs, and makeup artists, etc. 
The main story is the 9 scenes *Parrot*, A guy who can imitate any voice he heard. Plus 4 short stories of *The Eyes of Assassin*, *Air Man*, *Cat's Eye*, and *Portrait of Father*. The stories tend to be melodrama and nice. *Hojo* seems to be writing scripts for a TV productions. The artwork quality is typically *Hojo*, consistently good. *Hojo*'s story and taste has obviously changed from his *City Hunter* day. People who can enjoy a small, nice and quiet story should have no problem with this one. At this price I can only recommend it to people with that particular taste. 

On a side note. As a *Mac* user I like to point out this marks another mangaka who prefers the use of *Mac* like *Masamune Shirow*, *Yui Toshiki*, *Kozou Youhei*, and *Terasawa Buichi*, etc.

*Houjou Tsukasa Mangaka Nijuu Shuunenkinen Illustrations*
*[Houjou Tsukasa's 20th anniversary Collection]*
(Artbook)

Half of the book are *F-Compo* covers and inserts, the other half contains *City Hunter*, *Cat's Eye*, even some short stories like Rush... Even if some of the series in it are old, it features new drawings. In the *City Hunter* part, there are a few manga cover pictures which did not made it into the first illustration collection, and some new artwork for the TV movie (98. 99. etc.). *Ryo* looks like in his earlier 20's instead of his earlier 30's (page #53). In fact, he rather takes on the look of the guy in *F-Compo*. Some artwork was used in *City Hunter* novel, there's the *Cat's Eye*'s artwork for the novel, wideban and live movie also are included.

Definitely his best art book ever, (well, he only has two so far) if you have seen *F-Compo* volume #13's cover, you know what I mean. 

If you get your paws on this one, don't throw away the wrap around banner, in the back is a pretty full length picture of the cover for *Shion*. Check it out.

*Angel Heart* (2001) [16 Volumes -ongoing-]

*Hojo* has left *Shueisha* and went to *Shinseisha* to create this series which is a sequel to *City Hunter*. Be forewarned: if you liked *City Hunter* and felt emotionally attached to the characters, this manga may not be for you, as you may not like what Houjou did with the *City Hunter* characters. The story is based on a short story *Hojo* has done before: "*The eyes of the assassin*".

Short summary of the premise: some years after the end of *City Hunter*. *Angel Heart* is the codename of a professional female assassin. She got mortally wounded, but the organisation she worked for didn't want to loose her experience so they arranged a heart transplantation for her. After a long coma, she awakens and immediately escapes. But she's troubled: it seems as a second consciousness interferes with her thoughts. It clearly must be the spirit of the previous owner of the heart...

*Manga Projects:*

Space Angel [1979]
Orewa otogo da! (I am a Man!) [1980]
Third Deka [1981]
Cat's Eye [1981-1984]
Space Angel (2nd Season) [1982]
City Hunter [1985-1991]
Nekoman Maokawari [1986]
Splash! [1987] 
Tenshi no Okurimono [1988]
Taxi Driver [1990] 
Sakura no hana saku koro [1993] 
Komorebi no moto de... (Under the Dappled Shade) [1993-1994]
Rash!! [1995]
Shotenachi no ita Natsu -Melody of Jennny- [1996]
F.compo (FAMILY COMPO) [1997-2001]
Angel Heart [2001]


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## Luciferxxxxx (Nov 18, 2005)

*Kousuke Fujishima* (康介藤島)


*Kosuke Fujishima* was born on July 7th, 1964, in the wilds of Chiba, Japan. It was soon determined that he was a human, with blood type B.
He then proceeded to grow up and go to school, but let us draw a discreet curtain over those days.

After graduating from high school, he landed a job as an editor for _Puff_, a comics news magazine. While there, it is rumored he was responsible for the parody comic called _`X'-pa no Yoko-chan _that ran in _Puff_.

One of his jobs as editor was to interview *Tatsuya* "*Comics Master*" *Egawa* (who was running his ground-breaking *Be Free!* serial in Kodansha's Comic Morning magazine at that time). After the interview he got up the nerve to ask *Egawa* if he needed an assistant. *Egawa* looked at his work and said "Sure!" Thus our unsuspecting young editor plunged into the abyss of comic artist hell....

In 1986, *Be Free!* was made into a live-action theatrical movie. For _Comic Morning_, *Fujishima* did a comic-style report on the making of the film, and he generally dates his debut as a professional from that publication.

The fans loved his work, and *Morning* received a fan letter raving about the policewoman characters *Fujishima* had used in the *Making of Be Free!* report. He was inspired by this letter to create his first series, *You're Under Arrest!*, which began in *Morning Party Extra* in 1986.

In 1988, he did a four-panel gag cartoon which featured the characters from *You're Under Arrest!* praying to a goddess. This was part of contest in which readers could win various *You're Under Arrest!* presents (such as T-shirts, etc.). In the cartoon, *Miyuki* and *Natsumi* were asking the goddess to please let them win the contest. *Fujishima* was so pleased with the way the goddess turned out that she became the basis for *Belldandy*, and inspired the creation of the *Oh My Goddess!* series for *Afternoon* magazine.

So as you can see, his stories are often inspired by some minor character he creates for another purpose entirely....

Currently, he's drawing *Oh My Goddess!* in the monthly magazine Afternoon (where he also does Striker at random intervals), as well as numerous illustrations for other magazines, character designs for video games, etc.

He has a ridiculous number of hobbies, including: building plastic models and garage kits; playing electric guitar, playing with his new Mac, and taking care of his numerous tropical fish. He also owns, rides, and repairs his seven (!) motorcycles and three cars.

He listens to DMX (a digital, commercial-free radio service) while he works, and likes classic American hard rock such as *Van Halen* and *Bon Jovi*. He also likes Japanese idol singers--in fact, there is a quite convincing rumor that the name "*Morisato*" (from *Oh My Goddess!*) comes from the name of the idol singer *Moritaka Chisato*.

If you do a search on "*Krauser Domani*", you can find a lot of results about the manga *Ah! My Goddess* while *Krauser Domani* is a real motorcycle.

*Taiho Shichauzo * (逮捕しちぁうぞ) (1986-1992) [7 Volumes]
[You're Under Arrest]

The story is about the life of two policewomen, *Miyuki* (mechanical genius, expert vehicle driver, the brain of the pair, more introverted and in love with one of her male colleagues), and *Natsumi* (enormous strength, expert motorcycle driver, more action-minded but has no apparent romantic connections). Both feel embarrassed when faced with romantic situations. There are many interesting supporting roles. *Fujishima*'s art changes greatly between the first and seventh volumes, as is common with debut manga.

Still highly influenced by his assistant work for *Egawa*, the work *Fujishima* has done for "*Be Free!*" is the basis for *Taiho Shichauzo!* 

There have been appearing irregularly in 1993, on *Morning *magazine some stories called "*Striker, the Shining Star*", which were loosely based on the "*weird baseball dude*" from *Taiho Shichauzo*.

The first anime comics series, based on the OAV includes the story of how *Natsumi* and *Miyuki* first met, something that never appeared in the original manga.

The second anime comics series, based on the TV series (second season), presents presents a story of *Miyuki* and *Natsumi* in their police-school days as well as introduces a new character, *Saori*.

*Special features:*
Some of the original colorwork has also been included in the tankoubon. (4 pages/volume)
Volume one contains three "special issue" sections.
The first volume of the republished series reissue appears to combine the original "*Party*" volumes 1 & 2, but some of the *Party* volume 1 "Special Issue" chapters were dropped

*Taiho Shichauzo Postcard Book*

*Taiho Shichauzo Postcard Book 2*

Contains 32 color detachable postcards, a page with 9 self adhesive stamps.

*Aa! Megami-sama!* (ああっ女神さまっ) [1989-2006] [32 Volumes]
*[Ah! My Goddess!, aka Oh My Goddess!]*

*Keiichi*, a student at *Nekomi* Institute of Technology, calls a wrong number and ends up invoking *Belldandy*, goddess of the present. *Belldandy* grants him one wish, and he says: "I want you to stay forever". The wish is approved, and *Keiichi* is shortly thrown out of his all-male dorm. He settled in an old temple and is eventually joined by *Belldandy*'s sisters *Urd*, troublemaking goddess of the past, and *Skuld*, mecha freak and goddess of the future. (*Fujishima* derived many characters' names from Norse myth; for example, *Belldandy*=*Verdandi*).

A light-hearted romantic comedy, initially a cult favourite, but now fairly popular because of its warm atmosphere and eye-candy appeal; the five OAVs didn't hurt either. *Ai ga Tomaranai ＡＩ*が止まらない, which ran on *Shounen Magazine* for a while, is one of many blatant *Aa! Megamisama!* ripoffs. As with *Taiho Shichauzo*, the artwork improves greatly in the latter volumes.

The first series of anime comics is based on the OAVs.

The second series of anime comics (3 volumes) concentrates on the movie. The story of the movie: "This story is set in the spring, three years after the OVA episodes of "*Oh! My Goddess!*" *Keiichi* and *Belldandy* are leading quiet and peaceful lives. *Belldandy* is reunited with her mentor *Celestin*. Little does *Belldandy* know that *Celestin* has committed a grave crime and escaped to earth from the prison in heaven. *Belldandy* is pleased to see *Celestin* again, but her happiness is short-lived. *Celestin* releases a virus that affects goddesses and erases all her memories of *Keiichi*. *Celestin* quickly disappears. *Keiichi* and his friends try to restore *Belldandy*'s memory, but it isn't an easy task. Will she ever remember her past?" {020}

*Special features:*
Now and then, between chapters, there are a few four-koma gag strips included, featuring SD-style versions of the goddesses. There is even a TV series featuring the SD goddess versions.
Some of the original color work is included inside. The first pages also tend to feature a color-postcard-style page. It is those pages together with some of the covers which have been featured in the postcard book.
The first 9 tankoubon have a red spine, the next 7 have a blue spine, and the current ones have a marble spine.

*Aa! Megami-sama! Chitchai tte koto wa benri da ne*
*[The Adventures of Mini-Goddess in Handy "Petite" Size!]*
Another world from *Kosuke Fujishima*'s "*OH! My Goddess.*" The Goddess *Urd* is always bored. "I wonder if there is anything interesting going on." She uses her special separation powers to make herself small so that she can explore *Keiichi Morisato*'s apartment. She finds a hidden book of bikini-clad girls belonging to *Keiichi*, she plays with the rat, and in the end, she even sets up a volleyball court on *Keiichi*'s back and plays with *Skuld*, who also has turned small.
Each of *Urd*'s pranks are shown in 4 frames. One can't say if it is either convenient or inconvenient to be so small, but it is definitely fun. *Urd*'s popular friend is the rat, *Mitsuo Iwata*. Urd uses him, rather than playing together on an equal basis. {020}

The *AMG* spin-off which appeared between chapters in the regular series is now collected into one volume of 110 pages.

*Aa! Megami-sama! Postcard book* (ああっ女神さまっポストカード・ブック第２集)
*[Oh! My Goddess Postcard Book]*

The book contains postcards featuring color artwork of which a lot if not all, have appeared in the tankoubon.

*Aa! Megami-sama Postcard Book 2* (ああっ女神さまっポストカード・ブック第２集)
*[Oh! My Goddess Postcard Book 2]*

*Taiho Shichauzo The Movie* (逮捕しちゃうぞ ｔｈｅ ＭＯＶＩＥ)

*Gekijouhan Aa! Megami-sama* (劇場版ああっ女神さまっ)
*[Ah! My Goddess Movie Comic]*

B6-size *A!MG* movie "anime comic" (anime still frames with added text dialog).

*Manga Projects:*
You're Under Arrest (1986)
Oh! My Goddess (1989)
eX-Driver (coming soon?)

*Other Works:*
eX-Driver (?X-D) (Anime) Character Designs and Settings.
Piano (Anime) Character Designs and Settings.
Sakura Wars (Game and Anime) Character Designer.
Tales of Symphonia (VideoGame) Character Designs. 
Tales of Phantasia (VideoGame) Character Designs.


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## HollowDreamer (Nov 18, 2005)

excellent detail and information Lain great job 2 thumbs up!


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## Luciferxxxxx (Nov 18, 2005)

ANBUWOLF said:
			
		

> excellent detail and information Lain great job 2 thumbs up!


thanks a lot, my friend... X.x this thread no spamming... shhh XD,
Arcanis isn't update on my post... ing


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## Hokage Naruto (Jul 19, 2006)

*Hiroya Oku (奥 浩哉)*



*Born:* 1968

Hiroya Oku was born in 1968 in the Fukuoka prefecture. When using the psuedonym Yahiro Kuon he managed to win the second place prize in the 19th Youth Manga Awards which took place in 1988. His favourite films include Die Hard, The Matrix, The Terminator, Dawn of the Dead and more, he pays tribute to many of these frequently in his current title Gantz.

Hiroya Oku is a Japanese mangaka who has been producing manga as a profession since 1995. He is most famous for his work on the manga Gantz which runs weekly in the magazine Young Jump. His first work was HEN (Strange Love) which was hentai material. He is known for creating 'tit-motion trails' in HEN which were blurs that showed the movement of female character's breasts as they had sex or were engaged in otherwise ecchi situations. Many other authors have since used this technique while producing hentai manga. His least well known production is Zero One, which lasted only three volumes from 1999 to 2000 and never recieved an anime adaption like his other works have.

*His credits in full include:*

*Story and art on HEN (Strange Love) 
*Original creator of HEN (Strange Love) (OAV Anime adaption) 
*Story and Art on Zero One (Manga) 
*Story and Art on Gantz (Manga) 
*Story and Art on Gantz Manual (Book) 
*Original creator of Gantz (Anime adaption) 

Taken from:


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## theleaningelm (Oct 20, 2006)

*Arakawa Hiromu 荒川 弘*


*Birthdate:* May 8, 1973
*Blood Type:* A

Hiromu Arakawa was born and raised on a dairy farm in Hokkaido, Japan. While growing up, Arakawa learned a work ethic that would inspire the idea of "Equivalent Exchange" a major theme in one of her manga. Although she has no publicly released photographs, she usually depicts herself as a bespeckled cow. In fact, until recently, due to the fact that her pen name is rather masculine, and due to her infrequent public appearances, Arakawa was often referred to as a man. Many of her fans also associate her with the phrase “fighting panties” from a self portrait of herself, as depicted above. Arakawa highly enjoys the Star Wars and Indiana Jones movie series, as well as cheesy B-movies. She thinks Darth Vader is the most evil villain of all time, and thinks Sean Connery is the greatest old man.

Arakawa's first work was Stray Dog, an award-winning one-shot published in Shonen Jump. However, her most famous work to this day is Fullmetal Alchemist, which debuted in 2001 in Shonen Gangan magazine. Since then, she has published other, lesser known but still quality works, including _Shanghai Youmakikai_, _Raiden-18_ and _Souten no Koumori._

*Fullmetal Alchemist*

The Fullmetal Alchemist (FMA) franchise includes a still-ongoing manga, an anime series, a movie, four OVAs, numerous videogames (one which may not be entirely legal), novels and a trading card game. Due to this, canon varies significantly across the board. The general plot, however follows the story of two boys who are on a quest to get their bodies, and in extension their lives, back, after a devastating accident that occurs when the boys try to reincarnate their mother. Through their journey, they become involved with the military, and come in contact with a mysterious group, called the Homunculi, who seem to be after the same goal as they are: the Philosopher’s Stone. This would be the point to insert the words “alchemy”, “automail”, and “enough-toned-abs-to-give-Arnold-Schwarzenegger-a-run-for-his-money” to retain the reader's attention and make up for that horrible summary. 

However, only the manga is the sole creation of Arakawa-sensei. While she collaborated with BONES on the making of the anime, she also requested for the production staff to take their own route, so that the manga can reach its own conclusion. The same can be applied to the novels, which were a collaboration between Arakawa-sensei and Makoto Inoue.

FMA was ranked 5th in top manga, and 9th in top anime by fans during the tenth anniversary of the Japan Media Arts Festival. The manga also ranked first for four weeks consecutively in the Bookscan Graphic Novel List, the longest for any graphic novel, and also ranked in USA Today's Best-Selling Books List for the same four weeks.



*Hiromu Arakawa’s projects:*
Fullmetal Alchemist (2001~Present Day)
Raiden 18 (2005)
Shanghai Yōmakikai (2000)
Souten no Koumori (2006)
Stray Dog (1999)
Totsugeki Tonari no Enikkusu (2000)


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## Bresakar (Jan 13, 2007)

*Obata Takeshi*

*Takeshi Obata*

(jap. 小畑 健 Obata Takeshi; born feburary 11, 1969 in Niigata, Japan). A very popular mangaka that draws for other authors (in most cases) instead of being author and mangaka of a story. Obata is very popular in Japan and famous for his excellent drawing style. 
In 1985 Obata, while still going to school, send a short story called "500 Kounen no Shinwa" to Shueisha. For this story he got the Tezuka-Prize yearly announced by  Jump, Japan's most buyed Manga magazine. Afterwards he became assistant of Makoto Niwano.
In 1989 "Cyborg Jiichan G" his first professional work was published but under the pen name Ken Kobatake. Cyborg Jiichan G was serialized in Jump.
His breakthrough came when Hikaru no Go was published in 1998, a manga about a tradional japanese game called Go. On this manga he worked together with Yumi Hotta.
Hikaru no Go has still a very large fan community even after being finished and was awarded with many great prizes like the "Shogakukan-manga-prize" (2000) and "Osamu-Tezuka-Cultur-Prize" (2003). Hikaru no Go was also being made into a anime.

Next artwork of Obata was Death Note. Also making a huge impact on the japanese fan community of  Shonen Jump. Death Note was converted into a real movie and anime.
Obata also mentored many famous mangaka like Kentaro Yabuki (Black Cat), Nobuhiro Watsuki (Rurouni Kenshin) who was one of his former assistants and helped with "Arabian Majin Bōkentan Lamp Lamp" and Yosuke Murata (Eyeshield 21) who assisted Obata while drawing "Hikaru no Go".

*Works:* 
500 Kounen no Shinwa (1985) 
Cyborg Jiichan G (1989) 
Deteki teoku Rei! Kami Tarō-kun 
Arabian Majin Bōkentan Lamp Lamp (1991–1992, together Sendo Susumu) 
Mugen Dōshi – Dream Master 
Rikijin Densetsu – Oni wo Tsugu mono (1992–1993, together Masaru Miyazaki) 
Ningyō Sōshi Ayatsuri Sakon (1995–1996, together with Sharakumaro) 
Hikaru no Go (1998–2003, together with Yumi Hotta) 
Hajime (2003, together with Otsuichi) 
Death Note (2003-2006, together with Tsugumi Ōba) 
Lust For Life and Adidas Manga Fever (together with Sho-u Tajima and Hiroyuki Asada) 
Blue Dragon - RalΩGrado (2006)


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## Kuroyoru_Kanji (Jun 7, 2007)

spinstate said:


> *Manga List
> Akira*


*

You only listed AKIRA? He's got a lot more accomplished then that! Let me contribute:
All Mangas:
A Gun Report (1973) 
Fireball (1979) 
Domu (A Child's Dream) (1980-1982) 
Sayonara Nippon (さよならにっぽん, 1981) 
Kibun wa mou sensou (気分はもう戦争, 1982) 
Jiyu o Warera ni (自由を我等に, 1982) 
Akira (アキラ, 1982-1986) 
Memories (1990) 
Legend of Mother Sarah (1990-1996) 
Akira Club (1995 - Artbook) 
SOS Dai Tokyo Tankentai (ＳＯＳ大東京探検隊, 1996) 
The Memory of Memories (1996 - Artbook) 
Hipira (2002) 

Short story collections:
Short Piece (ショート・ピース, 1979) 
Highway Star (ハイウェイ・スター, 1979) 
Good Weather (グッド・ウエザー, 1981) 
Hansel and Gretel (1981) 
Boogie Woogie Waltz (1982) 

Now allow me to add one of my favorite artists ever:

TAKESHI OBATA
Takeshi Obata (小畑 健, Obata Takeshi?, born February 11, 1969 in Niigata, Niigata) is a Japanese mangaka. He generally works as the primary artist in collaboration with a primary writer. He has also mentored several mangaka, including Kentaro Yabuki of Black Cat fame and Nobuhiro Watsuki of Rurouni Kenshin.

He is most well-known as the artist of Hikaru no Go and Death Note. Obata is rare among shōnen artists not only for the detail of his drawings, but in his penchant for fashion; the characters he draws often wear stylish clothes and trendy items like the latest fashionable scarf, tie or handbag.

On September 7, 2006, he was arrested for possessing an army knife in his car. [1]. He was originally pulled over for driving his car with the headlights off at 1 a.m., and reportedly said he keeps the knife in the car for when he goes camping. [2]

Since late 2006 he has served as the artist of Blue Dragon Ral Grado, a manga adaptation of the fantasy video game, Blue Dragon.

WORKS:
Arabian Majin Bokentan Lamp Lamp with Susumu Sendo 
Karakurizoshi Ayatsuri Sakon with Sharaku Marou (writer) 
Cyborg G-chan[1] Story and Art 
Hikaru no Go with Yumi Hotta (writer) - supervised by Yukari Umezawa (5-dan) 
Death Note with Tsugumi Ohba 
Blue Dragon Ral Grado with Tsuneo Takano 
*


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## Arcanis (Jan 28, 2008)

*Hirohiko Araki* (荒木 飛呂彦, Araki Hirohiko)


He was born on June 7, 1960 in Sendai, Japan. He's a manga artist. He left school before graduation from Miyagi University of Education.

Araki is best known for his long running series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, published in Weekly Shonen Jump starting in 1987. The story is famous for its original art style (complete with over-the-top violence), intricate plot, and numerous Western rock music references and Italy, both of which Araki is reportedly very fond. Many of Araki's creations have been translated and released in Europe but so far only JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and Baoh have been released in the United States. One popular theory is that Araki's frequent references to Western music may violate American copyright laws. Viz has eluded much of this problem in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure by replacing some band references with album or song references, which do not appear to be as strictly guarded.

Araki has received the Tezuka Award.

*Works:* 


Buso Poker (1980)
Autoto Man (1982)
Virginia ni Yohroshiku (1982)
Magic Boy B.T. (魔少年ビーティー mashōnen bītī 1982?1983)
Baoh (1984?1985)
Gorgeous Irene (1985?1986)
*JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (1987?)*
JoJo 6251 (1993) (Artbook)
Under Jailbreak, Under Execution]] (1999)
JOJO A-GO!GO! (2000) (Artbook)
The Lives of Eccentrics (2004)


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## Arcanis (Jan 28, 2008)

I made a few changes to the first post, updated it and also added Araki of JJBA fame to the list.

Don't let this thread die. =)


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## Castiel (Jan 28, 2008)

*Katsura Hoshino (星野 桂 Hoshino Katsura, born April 21, 1980) *

A Japanese mangaka who hails from Shiga prefecture. Although no photo of Hoshino Katsura has been published at this time, based on her past comments (particularly the comments for Miranda Lotto) and drawing style, Japanese fans usually assume Katsura to be a female mangaka, despite the fact that it is unusual for women to publish in shounen serializations. To further complicate this mystery, Viz refers to Katsura as a male when mentioning her. Her blood type is O.

Hoshino is known to have an older twin sister, who visits her often, and a younger brother who "gave her a watch as a present" (apparently she took it from him even though he protested). In order to please her sister, she used to draw manga every day, and she liked drawing herself. But even though Hoshino is assumed to be female, she often uses "boku" (male way of referring to self, also used by tomboys) and "jibun" (a more polite and humble way to refer to oneself, used both by males and females) to refer to herself, making much more confusion about the mystery of her true gender, especially when using "jibun", as it is harder to tell whether she is male or female.

Notable for:
D. Gray-Man


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## Castiel (Jan 28, 2008)

*Hiro Mashima (真島ヒロ, Mashima Hiro?, born May 3, 1977)*


A Japanese manga artist most known for his manga Groove Adventure Rave, published by Kodansha's Weekly Shonen Magazine, from 1999 to 2005. The series was later adapted into an anime. However, the anime adaption was cancelled before it could complete the series.

In 2003, he collected some of his one-shot titles in two volumes: Mashima-en- Vol.1 & 2. Those stories include, among others, Cocona, "Xmas Hearts" and "Fairy Tale", a sort of prototype for his last work.

In 2006, he began his current ongoing series, Fairy Tail, serialized in Kodansha's Weekly Shonen Magazine. He also he published the one-shot manga Monster Soul during the same year.

His drawing style is greatly influenced by that of Eiichiro Oda.

*WORKS:*
*Groove Adventure Rave (published as Rave Master in America) (1998-2005) *
Plue's Dog Diaries (2002-2007) 
Mashima-en Vol.1 & 2 (2003) 
Monster Soul (2006-2007) 
*Fairy Tail (2006-ongoing) *
Sangokushi Taisen card illustration 
Respect Gundam contribution


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## Castiel (Jan 28, 2008)

*Nobuyuki Anzai (安西 信行, Anzai Nobuyuki?, born August 19, 1972)*


Nobuyuki Anzai was born Aug. 19, 1972 in the department of Shiba. 
Disciple Kazuhiro Fujita, it is close to the mangaka Nobuhiro Watsuki 
(Kenshin the vagabond), Ken Yagami (Nanaka) and Ken Akamatsu (Love Hina). 

With "Ken 2 Strenger," he won the award of excellence from the 26th contest 
Beginners editions Shogakukan. He did his early 
Professional with D-fucker. 

His works are the most important in 1995 Flame of Recca (33 volumes), preceded by R-Princess published in 1994 (3 volumes) 

Currently, and since 2003, his last title, is published in M?r 
Series in the magazine Weekly Sh?nen Sunday. 

In 2005, M?r is adapted into animated series and has been a great success.

*Works:*
Flame of Recca (1995-2002) 
M?R (graphic novel) (2003-2006)


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## Luciferxxxxx (Jan 28, 2008)

*
TAKAHASHI TSUTOMU*
*高橋 ツトム*​
born on September 20, 1965 in Tokyo, Japan, is a Japanese manga artist, who is well known for his manga comic *Jiraishin*. As of March 2006, he is currently married and has one child. His starsign is Virgo, and his blood type is O, making him a workaholic, insecure, and emotional, according to Japanese culture. He likes rock'n'roll, particularly the Rolling Stones and *Keith Richards*, and he's also fond of Japanese artist *Akira Kurosawa*. *Jiraishin* was his first and most successful manga, starting publication in Kodansha's Afternoon magazine in 1992, and drawing to a close at the end of 1999. He has also published a single volume manga, *ALIVE*, for Shueisha, released in late 1999, and in February 2000 he began the series *Tetsuwan Girl*. Around December 1998, he gave a lecture about "Expression" at Ritsumeican University in Japan, and was said by the students to be very handsome, and very humourous. They also said he has hair "like a lion". His former assistant was Tsutomu Nihei, who went to create the manga comic, *BLAME!* His travels to the United States, New York in particular, enabled him to create scenes in *Jiraishin* that had English conversations. His travels also influenced him to make Kyoya, Eriko and other *Jiraishin* characters speak fluent English.

​
*Works:*

69 [One-Shot] in Blue Heaven Volume 3
Alive! [Volume 1] [1999]
Angel's Share [One-Shot] by Written *Go Ohinata*
Bakuon Rettou [Volume 1-11] [2002-Ongoing]
Blue Heaven [Volumes 1-3] [2002-2003]
Dead Flowers [One-Shot]
Jiraishin [Volumes 1-19] [1992-2000]
Route 69 [One-Shot] in Blue Heaven Volume 3
SIDOOH [Volume 1-11] [2005-Ongoing]
Sky High [Volume 1-2] [2001]
Sky High Karma [Volume 1-2] [2003]
Sky High Shinsou [Volume 1-4] [2003-2004]
Tetsuwan Girl [Volume 1-9] [1999-2002]


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## Luciferxxxxx (Jan 28, 2008)

*GO NAGAI

(Birth Name: KIYOSHI NAGAI)*

*永井豪*

*Date of Birth*: September 6, 1945
*Hometown*: Wajima, Ishikawa, Japan

*Blood Type*: O
​
He was inspired to become a mangaka (manga author) after his brother gave him a copy of *Osamu Tezuka*'s Lost World. Since that day, *Go Nagai* pursued his dream of becoming a mangaka. 

Despite having done well in college, *Go Nagai* failed all of his university entrance exams. At around the same time, he fell terribly ill and feared that he would die without ever achieving his dream. It was during these tough times that he created *Black Lion (Kuro No Shishi). *The success of *Black Lion* drew the attention of *Ishimori Shotaro *who took in *Nagai* (age 20) to become his assistant.

After working as assistant of *Shotaro Ishinomori,* his very first professional manga work was *Meakashi Porikichi (目明しポリ吉 also 目明かしポリ吉), *a very short gag comedy oneshot, published in November, 1967, in the magazine *Bokura* by *Kodansha.* Almost at the same time, this was followed by the manga adaptation of *Tomio Sagisu*'s TV anime *Chibikko Kaiju Yadamon (ちびっこ怪獣ヤダモン*, *Little Monster Yadamon*), also published in 1967 in the same magazine[4]. A common misconception is that *Kuro No Shishi ("Black Lion")* was his first manga work. While no entirely false, what Nagai really made two years ealier than *Meakashi Porikichi*, was only a draft for what would later be *Kuro no Shishi*, which would not be actually published until 1978.

In his series *Harenchi Gakuen (ハレンチ学園, Shameless School,* 19681972, *Shonen Jump* magazine) *Nagai* used eroticism and extreme, graphic violence in kid's manga for the first time in Japan, thus breaking taboos and becoming quite controversial. His use of violence and gross humour was widely loathed in many corners of Japan's society and became a concern for many PTAs at the time. The series ended dramatically when all the characters died during a massacre. This type of content would be a trend in most of *Nagai*'s later work and in those of other directors such as *Yoshiyuki Tomino*. *Harenchi Gakuen *did gain an anime in the early 1970s, as well as an OVA version (*Heisei Harenchi Gakuen*, or "*Modern-Day Shameless School*") was released in the mid-1990s, it was adapted into a live-action TV series and several live-action movies.

In 1970, *Go Nagai* started a company, *Dynamic Productions*, to fund his manga and anime ventures. *Dynamic Productions' *first titles were *Getter Robo* and *Abashiri Ikka (あばしり一家, Abashiri Family).*

After *Harenchi Gakuen Nagai* created the *Mazinger Z (マジンガーZ) *series, later expanded into *Great Mazinger*, *Grendizer*, and - many years later - *Mazinkaiser*, where he developed the concept of giant mecha. *Mazinger* was the first manga where a giant robot was piloted by the hero, thus creating one of the biggest staples of the industry. *Mazinger *is considered the first successful "*Super Robot*" anime show, and has spanned numerous imitations.

Simultaneously to *Mazinger*, he created one of his most popular manga, *Debiruman (デビルマン, Devilman)*, about a demonic hero fighting against hordes of demons. *Nagai* also turned Devilman into a series which was less violent and gritty than the manga. Years later *Nagai *revamped this popular series by introducing the main character as a female and altering the storyline. This series is called *Devilman Lady (デビルマンレディー, Devil Lady* in the U.S.). It was first released as a manga and then later as an anime. *Go Nagai* considers the *Devilman* series, as well as the *Mazinger *series, as being his life's work due to their massive popularity all over the world.

Another long-running series, *Violence Jack* (ヴァイオレンス ジャック) spanned multiple volumes and dealt with a giant brute of a man fighting evil warlords in a post-apocalyptic setting where Japan has been devastated by a massive earthquake and isolated from the rest of the world.

One of *Nagai*'s most popular works outside of his fanbase has been *Cutey Honey*, considered to be one of the first "*magical girl*" comics and a major influence on future series in the genre, in particular *Sailor Moon*. *Nagai *had less success a few years later with *Majokko Tickle*, a more traditional magical-girl series for younger children, although the accompanying anime was popular on TV in some European countries.

In 1980, he received the 4th *Kodansha* Manga Award for shōnen for *Susa-no-O*.

*Nagai* has worked with *Shotaro Ishinomori* and *Ken Ishikawa*. He is currently being more prolific in manga production than ever. Much of *Nagai*'s work has been adapted into anime and tokusatsu.

*Nagai* also made a cameo appearance in *The Toxic Avenger Part II*.

*WORKS:*

Abashiri Ikka (あばしり一家)(1969)
Allah-kun (アラーくん)(1969) 
Battle Hawk (バトルホーク)(1976)
Black Lion (黒の獅士, Kuro no Shishi)(1978)
Burai The Kid (無頼・ザ・キッド)(1978) 
Cutey Honey (キューティーハニー)(1973)
Cutey Honey '90 (キューティーハニー, Cutie Honey) (1992) 
Cutie Honey: Tennyo Densetsu (キューティーハニー　天女伝説)(2001) 
Dante Shinkyoku (ダンテ神曲)(1994)
Delinquent in Drag (おいら女蛮, Delinquent in Drag, Sukeban Boy, Oira Sukeban)(1974)
Demon Lord Dante (魔王ダンテ, Maou Dante)(1973) 
Demon Prince Enma (鬼公子炎魔, Kikoushi Enma)(2006)
Dororon Enma-kun (ドロロンえん魔くん)(1974)
Devilman (デビルマン)(1972) 
Devilman Lady (デビルマンレディー)(1995)
Dororon Enma-kun (ドロロンえん魔くん) and its OVA sequel Kikoushi Enma 
CB Go Nagai world 
Gakuen Bangaichi (学園番外地)(1969) 
Gekiga Kaitou Lupin (劇画・怪盗ルパン)(1984)
Getter Robo (ゲッターロボ)
Getter Robo G (ゲッターロボ G) 
Getter Robo: Armageddon In this series, Shin Getter Robo is introduced. 
Gloizer X (グロイザーＸ) 
God Mazinger (ゴッド・マジンガー)(1984) 
Great Mazinger (グレ－トマジンガ－)(1975) 
Hanappe Bazooka (花平バズーカ)(1979)
Harenchi Gakuen (ハレンチ学園, Shameless School)(1968) 
Harenchi Koumon Manyuuki (ハレンチ紅門マン遊記) 
Iyahaya Nantomo (イヤハヤ南友)(1975) 
Iron Muscle(アイアン・マッスル)(1982)
Iron Virgin Jun (鉄の処女JUN)(1984)
Jushin Liger (獣神ライガー)
Kabushiki Gaisha Tokugawa Ieyasu (株式会社　徳川家康)(1990) 
Kamasutra (manga)(カーマスートラ(1988)
Kama Sutra (カーマスートラ(1991) 
Kekko Kamen (けっこう仮面)(1975)
Kikkai-kun (キッカイくん)(1969)
Kishin (機神) (1999)
Kotetsu Jeeg (鋼鉄ジーグ) (Steel Jeeg)
Kotetsushin Jeeg (Steel God Jeeg)
Lovely Angel (ラブリーエンジェル)(1995)
Maboroshi Panty (The Legendary Panty Mask) 
Majokko Tickle
Machine Saurer (マシンザウラー) 
Maro (まろ)(1972) 
Mazinger Z (マジンガーＺ)(1972) - aired on U.S. television in the 1980s under the title *TranZor Z
Mazinkaiser (マジンカイザー)
Nagai Go 40-toshi no Kiseki (永井豪40年のキセキ)(2007)
Panji-chan (パンジーちゃん)(1969) 
Pro-Wres No Hoshi Astekaizer (プロレスの星 アステカイザー) 
Rambo Sensei (1988) 
Sengun (戦群)(2000)
Susa-no-O (凄ノ王, Suna no Ou)(1980)
Shin Devilman (新・デビルマン)(1981) 
Shin Violence Jack (新バイオレンスジャック)(2005) 
Shuten Douji (手天童子)(1977) 
Tenkuu Shiku (天空之狗)(2004)
UFO Robot Grendizer (UFOロボ グレンダイザー)(1975)
Venger Robo 
Violence Jack (バイオレンス ジャック)(1974) 
X Bomber (Xボンバー) (AKA: Star Fleet)
Yashin Ryger (獣神ライガー)(1989) 
Wild Cardz
Zubaban (ズバ蛮)(1972)


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## Luciferxxxxx (Jan 28, 2008)

*GOSHO AOYAMA*
*青山 剛昌 *​
*Aoyama-sensei* was born in Daiei (Town), Tottori (Province) in June, 1963. “*Aoyama Gosho*” is his real name. His home is located in front of the Daiei Town Plaza where his home owns a Bike Repair shop and a Grocery store. His favourite food is rice with curry.

*Aoyama-sensei *has been talented in drawing ever since he was a child. When he was in the first grade, his painting, the “Yukiai War”, won a competition and was displayed in the Tottori Daimaru Department Store. He studied at a local high school (Ikuei High) and then went to Nihon University College of Art in Tokyo. During his university years, in winter of 1986, in his freshman year, *Aoyama-sensei* entered a Manga (comic) contest and won. This was a stepping-stone for his career as an artist (Mangaka) and author, as well as a turning point for him in his life. 

*Aoyama-sensei*'sfirst maiden work was a manga called “*Chotto Mattete* (Wait a Minute) which was published in the weekly magazine “*Shounen Sunday*” in winter of ‘87. Afterwards, “*Magic Katio*” made its debut on the same magazine. In the beginning of the 90s, another story done by *Aoyama-sensei *called, “*Yaiba*” came out, which released up to twenty-four volumes. This manga won the *Shogakukan* Manga Contest in ‘92. Other works he released in tankouban included "*Magic Kaito*," "*Third Baseman No.4*," "*Aoyama Gosho Short Stories*," and the all famous "*Detective Conan*."

As for “*Detective Conan*”, which currently is being release weekly on *Shounen Sunday*, it is one of the most popular and best selling mangas in Japan. As for the author of this popular manga, *Aoyama-sensei* has to think rigorously to create stories, especially when it comes to the solutions for his cases. Let’s all enjoy *Detective Conan* which were ingeniously created by the hard-working *Aoyama-sensei*.

On May 5th 2005, *Aoyama-sensei* marries *Minami Takayama* who, coincidentally, is the voice actor of *Conan Edogawa*; one *Aoyama-sensei*’s famous anime series: *Detective Conan*.

*WORKS*:

*Wait a Minute (ちょっとまってて, Chotto Mattete) (1987) *
Aoyama's first manga story, published in Shonen Sunday. It's about a boy genius named Yutaka Takai, whose time machine jetpack sends his love interest through time for two years. 
*Yaiba (1990-1993) *
Tells the adventures of the young samurai Yaiba Kurogane. It won a 1992 Shogakukan Manga Award and was adapted into a 51-episode anime series. 
*3rd Base 4th (4番サード, Yonban Sādo) (1993)* 
A 1-volume baseball manga. It tells the story of a boy named Shigeo Nagashima, a mediocre baseball player on his high school team. One day, he buys a magical bat from a sporting goods store that allows him to hit every pitch. However, he has to pay the mysterious store for each pitch he hits. 
*Magic Kaito (まじっく快斗, Majikku Kaito) (1988-2007) *
A 4-volume manga series (The fourth volume was released in February 2007, 13 years after the third volume) which tells the comical adventures of Kaitou Kid, a gentleman thief who often uses his skills in magic and disguise in every robbery he commits. Although the manga series is on pause, Kaitou Kid still appears regularly in Detective Conan, another manga series by Aoyama. 
*Gosho Aoyama's Collection of Short Stories* 
-Various short works written over the years: 
-Play It Again (プレイ イット アゲイン, Play It Again) 
-Excalibur (えくすかりばぁ, Excalibur) 
-Santa Claus in the summer (夏のサンタクロース, Natsu no Santa Claus) 
-The detective George's job (Detective George's little little & great operations -(探偵ジョージのミニミニ大作戦, Tantei Jooji no minimini daisakusen) 
-Wait a Minute (ちょっとまってて, Chotto Mattete) 
-Shonen Sunday 19(talk) show "The wandering red butterfly" (サンデー19show さまよえる赤い蝶, Sunday 19(to-ku) show samayoeru akai chou) 
*Detective Conan or Case Closed (名探偵コナン, Meitantei Konan) - (1994-ongoing) *
Aoyama's most well-known creation, it tells the story of a genius high school detective who one day is turned into a young boy by mysterious men. While trying to track down these men, he often encounters complicated mysteries, most of which only he can solve. 
*Tell Me A Lie (～私にウソをついて～, ~Watashi ni Uso wo Tsuite) - (2007) *
This is a one-shot manga about a girl named Terumi Arai (新井輝海, Arai Terumi), who can read people's minds when she looks them in the eyes


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## Muk (Jan 29, 2008)

*Norihiro YAGI*


*Family name (in kanji):*      八木 
*Given name (in kanji):*      教広 
*In the news 1 times:*      2006-11-01 - 

Yagi was born 1968 in , Japan. He started making manga in 1990.
 Norihiro Yagi is a successful , having won the _32nd Akatsuka Award_ for his very first work, _Undeadman_. _Undeadman_ appeared in  and has had two sequels. Yagi's first serialized manga was his comedy-genre _Angel Densetsu_, which appeared in Monthly Shonen Jump from 1992 to 2000. His most recent work, _Claymore_, has been running in the magazine since 2001.
 Yagi's favorite things to do in his spare time is listen to  music, play video games, drive, and perform . Yagi's favorite Japanese comedic duo is .

Manga

 - Comedy, 15 volumes, from 1992 to 2000.
Claymore - Heroic Fantasy, 13 volumes in progress.


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## tipom (Jan 30, 2008)

*Nobuyuki Fukumoto*

(福本伸行, Fukumoto Nobuyuki, born 1958-12-10).
Fukumoto is well known for his very distinctive art style, highly suspenseful storytelling and the psychological depth of his characters, as well as plastering the soundword Zawa zawa all over his stories. Zawa zawa is a signature background noise, used to express an uneasy atmosphere.

Works

-Tobaku Mokushiroku Kaiji(3 series, 13 volumes each), serialized in Young Magazine
(1996-?). About: Gambling

-Akagi(20 volumes currently), serialized in Mahjong Weekly
(1992-?). About: Mahjong

-Ten(Prequel to Akagi). About: Mahjong

-Saikyou Densetsu Kurosawa 

-Buraiden Gai

Only Akagi and Kaiji have been adapted into an anime


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## Luciferxxxxx (Jan 30, 2008)

*MASAKAZU KATSURA*
*桂 正和*​
Masakazu Katsura was born on December 10, 1962 in the prefecture from Fukui, Japan. 

After seeing a friend congratulated on his drawings, he decided to go in to manga, even though he had no idea how big the market actually was. He was just hoping to make a small name for himself. Katsura won the Osamu Tezuka manga contest a few years later. He had entered because he heard there was a hi-fi stereo system for first prize. 

Thus, he started out directly as a manga author (in general, most begin as assistants) and he did some short stories. Although he knew his first series (called Wingman) wasn't great, the 13 manga were adapted into a TV series and gave him some noteriety. 

After that, Katsura took a leave of absense and was admitted to a hospital. During that time, he changed his style and as he was rehabilitating, his drawings took on a much greater refinement. He did a couple of short stories and tried to start up a couple of longer manga. But, the public didn't really appreciate them, and they folded quickly. (Vander and Present from Lemon). 

In 1989, he came out with 2 collections of his short stories which included a story called Video Girl. It is this idea that launched a new series in Shounen Jump called Video Girl Ai that finally gave him the recognition as a major mangaka that he deserved. His drawings evolved during Video Girl Ai into the look which has stayed to this day. After Video Girl came a short sequel which didn't really pan out called Video Girl Len. Nontheless, with 15 volumes and a 6 episode anime OAV series, Video Girl Ai was a big success and put him above most other manga artists at the time. 
By this point, his style was becoming more distinct and graphic. He decided to push into a more science fiction direction after doing character designs for Iria: Zeiram the Animation. This influenced his next project in 1994, a very commercial product called DNA2. 

The pretty girls and Sci-Fi caught the public eye for a bit, but it faded quickly and died out after only 5 tenkoubons of manga. Strangely, a 15 episode anime of the series has been one of the biggest adaptions of his work so far.

Trying to revitalise his career in 1995, Katsura tried an almost Batman-like parody called Shadow Lady that unfortunately came off as a bit simplistic and only lasted 3 tenkoubons. 
In 1997, Katsura and Studio K2R released a romantic comedy called I"s in Weekly Shounen Jump. The series ran for 15 volumes and has become quite popular with his fans. 

Finally, in early 2001 Katsura has returned with a short story about a vampire with healing powers called Dr. Chambari. 

*Katsura Manga Timeline:*

1981- Wing (first manga)
1982- Transfer Student, Transform! (contest winner)
1983- Wingman (13 Volumes)
1985- Vander
1985- Voguman
1986- Pantenon
1987- Present From Lemon
1989- New of New
1989- Video Girl Ai (15 Volumes)
1992- Shadow Lady (Short Story)
1993- Video Girl Novel
1993- Woman In The Man (Short Story)
1994- DNA2 (5 Volumes)
1994- Zetman (8 Volumes, Ongoing)
1995- Shadow Lady (3 Volumes)
1996- M (Short Story)
1997- I"s (15 Volumes)
2001- Dr. Chambalee (Short Story)
 
*Interesting Stuff:*

Masakazu Katsura is crazy about Batman, and you can usually find its influence throughout his work (Youta goes to the movies in Video Girl Ai and sees Batman; the costumes in DNA2 and Shadow Lady are heavily influenced by Batman; Itsuki in I"s has worked on props for a new Batman movie that strangely resembles Batman and Robin.) 
On top of that, Katsura is in a fun sort of competition with the manga artist Kia Asamiya (Steam Detectives) to collect the neatest and best Batman stuff and be the biggest Batman fan of all. 

He is a huge fan of the singer Noriko Sakai. They worked together on the soundtrack to the Video Girl Ai anime. In fact, Katsura actually sings three songs on the Video Girl Ai Soundtracks! Track 3 on the first soundtrack (Tomorrow Is Tomorrow), Track 6 and Track 10 on the second soundtrack (Puddle of the Heart and Unseen Dream). 

He has a great love for athletic shoes and has a massive collection of them which he uses for reference. Many characters in his manga have surprisingly expensive or outlandish footwear. 

Studio K2R is actually a weird short form of his name (K=Ka, 2=tsu R=ra). 

The team behind the Video Girl Ai anime is chock full of big credits, including Director Mazuho Nishikubo (Heavenly Shurato and Miyuki), Character Designer Takayuki Goto (Blue Seed, Orange Road 2nd Movie and Please Save My Earth) and Megumi Hayashibara as the voice of Ai-chan (female Ranma from Ranma1/2, Pai from 3x3 Eyes and Nuku Nuku from Cat Girl Nuku Nuku).

*The Masakazu Katsura Interview From 4C*​


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## Luciferxxxxx (Jan 30, 2008)

*YOSHIYUKI SADAMOTO *
*貞本 義行*
*Birth Date*: January 29, 1962
*Birth Place*: Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan​
He is a Japanese character designer, mangaka, and one of the founding members of the *GAINAX* anime studio. His first assignment as character designer in *GAINAX* was for *Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise*, released in 1987. He also worked as animator in *Gunbuster* and *Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water*, and he came back to this specialty for the first episode of *Diebuster* (also known as *Gunbuster 2* or *Top wo Nerae! 2*). He is also the character designer of the best known *GAiNAX* anime series, *Neon Genesis Evangelion*, as well as the author of its manga adaptation (which is also *Sadamoto*'s first full-length manga work).

In addition to his work on *Evangelion*, *Sadamoto* did character designs for *Nadia*, *FLCL*, *.hack//Sign*, *Diebuster* and *The Girl Who Leapt Through Time*. His first artbook is entitled *Alpha*, and presents a collection of illustrations by *Sadamoto* that were made before *Evangelion* (including *Nadia *and *The Wings of Honneamise*).

In 2003, *Viz* published a collection of his works, entitled *Der Mond* (German for "*The Moon*"). Other artbooks that include some of *Sadamoto*'s works are *Die Sterne* (German for "The Stars") and *Groundwork of FLCL*.

*Sadamoto* is also the author of a short manga named *Route 20* that was derived from an aborted anime project. He was also author of two short novels, *Dirty Work* and *System of Romance*. He is currently serving as co-creator and character designer for the *.hack* game franchise.

*Sadamoto* also worked as an artist for the cover of *Eric Clapton*'s album *Pilgrim*.

According to *Yasuo Otsuka*, who guided *Sadamoto* as a newcomer, there are only three persons whom he regarded as more skillful than himself that he has met in his whole career. One of them is *Yoshiyuki Sadamoto*. The other two are *Sadao Tsukioka* who became a visual creator, and award-winning director *Hayao Miyazaki*.

When *Otsuka* met the three men, he seems to have felt that he was taking off his hat to them at once. However, he thinks that only *Miyazaki *completely mastered a genuinely superior animation technique at present. He guesses, "Aa too excellent person might despair in the group work".

*Sadamoto *concentrates on comics and on illustration work, and hardly does directly animation-related work outside character design and supervision.

*Works*:

.hack//Legend Of The Twilight (TV) : Original Character Design (sketches))
.hack//Liminality (OAV) : Director Of Character Design, Soundtrack Supervision
.hack//Roots (TV) : Original Character Design
.hack//SIGN (TV) : Original Concept, Original Character Design, Character Design, Soundtrack Supervision
Angel's Egg (movie) : Key Animation
Comic Gunbuster (manga) : Original Character Design
Cutie Honey (live-action movie) : Character Design
Daicon films (special) : Animation
*Dirty Work (manga/oneshot) : Story, Art*
Evangelion: 1.0 You Are [Not] Alone (movie) : Character Design
F (TV) : Key Animation
FLCL (OAV) : Original Character Design, Visual Concept
Gunbuster (OAV) : Animation Character Design
Gunbuster 2 (OAV) : Character Design, Animation director (Ep. 1)
Gunbuster vs Diebuster Aim for the Top! The GATTAI!! Movie : Original Character Design (Diebuster)
Murasaki Shikibu Genji Monogatari (movie) : Key Animation
Nadia - Secret of Blue Water (TV) : Character Design
Nadia of the Mysterious Seas (movie) : Character Design
*Neon Genesis Evangelion (manga) : Story & Art*
Neon Genesis Evangelion (live-action movie) : Original Costume Design
Neon Genesis Evangelion (TV) : Character Design
Neon Genesis Evangelion: Angelic Days (manga) : Original Character Design
Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth (movie) : Character Design, Design Director
Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion (movie) : Character Design, Design Director, Layout Coordination
R20 - Ginga Kūkō (movie) : Director, Screenplay, Character Design
*Route 20 (manga) : Story, Art*
*System of Romance (manga/oneshot) : Story, Art*
Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann (TV) : Key Animation (Ep 27)
The Girl Who Leapt through Time (movie) : Character Design
The Melody of Oblivion (TV) : Mechanical Concept ("Iber Machine" Concept)
The Wings of Honneamise (movie) : Character Design, Animation director
*Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo -Tokikake- (manga) : Original Character Design*


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## Luciferxxxxx (Jan 30, 2008)

*YOSHITOSHI ABE*
*安倍 吉俊*
*Birth Date*: August 3, 1971
*E-Mail*: abworks@mac.com (Japanese)
*Website*: 1 (Japanese)
​
he is a Japanese graphic artist who works predominantly in anime and manga. He received his Master of Fine Arts from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music.

His works have an edgy style due to, among other things, his not using a ruler while drawing as is usual for most anime-style art. He first gained fame in his work on the avant-garde anime *Serial Experiments Lain*. He is also responsible for the concept and character design for the series *NieA under 7*. He is the creator of the doujinshi *Haibane Renmei* which was then adapted into an anime.

He is a colleague and friend of *Chiaki J. Konaka*, with whom he collaborated on the series *Serial Experiments Lain *and *Texhnolyze*.

He usually uses the Romaji form of his name instead of the kanji, with the "B" in "ABe" capitalized, as a reminder of his early works, for which he used the pen name "AB".

*Works*:

*Anime*

Serial Experiments Lain (1998) (character design) 
NieA_7 (2000) (character design, scenario) 
Haibane Renmei (2002) (most of the production elements, particularly original story, character design and scenario) 
Texhnolyze (2003) (character design) 
Welcome to the N.H.K. (2006) (illustrations for the original novel)

*Video Games*

Wachenr?der (1998)

*Printed works*

*Dōjinshi *
Furumachi (August, 1996)
Shooting Star (December, 1996) 
White Rain (July, 1997) 
Sui-Rin (August, 1998) 
Charcoal Feather Federation (Haibane Renmei) (December, 1998) 
T.Prevue Version 0.9 (August, 1999) 
Faces (December, 1999) 
K.S.M.E (July, 2000) 
Sketches (December, 2000) 
NieA Under 7 - Under (August, 2001) 
Haibane Renmei - The Haibanes of Old Home (Ch.1) (August, 2001) 
Haibane Renmei - The Haibanes of Old Home (Ch.2) (December, 2001) 
Haibane Renmei - Haibane Lifestyle Diary (August, 2002) 
Haibane Renmei - The Haibanes of Old Home (Extra) (December, 2002) 
Ryuu Tai (July, 2003) 
Not Found (December, 2003) 
Haibane Renmei - Kyakuhonshuu - Volume 1 (August, 2004) 
Haibane Renmei - Kyakuhonshuu - Volume 2 (December, 2004) 
Haibane Renmei - Kyakuhonshuu - Volume 3 (December, 2004) 
Miscellaneous (December, 2004) 
GRID. (August, 2005) 
Haibane Renmei - Kyakuhonshuu - Volume 4 (December, 2005) 
Haibane Renmei - Kyakuhonshuu - Volume 5 (December, 2005) 
Yakkyoku no Pochiyamasan (December, 2005) 
Haibane Renmei - Kyakuhonshuu - Volume 6 (August, 2006) 
Yakkyoku no Pochiyamasan 2.0 (August, 2006)

*Artbooks* 
Serial Experiments Lain - An Omnipresence in the Wired (May, 1999) 
Essence (May, 2001) *Released in the US* 
NieA Under 7 - Scrap (July, 2001) 
Haibane Renmei - In the Town of Guri, in the Garden of Charcoal Feathers (December, 2003) 
yoshitoshi ABe lain illustrations - ab# rebuild an omnipresence in the wired (Japan: December 2005; US: April 2006) 
Gaisokyu (August, 2007)

*Manga* 
Contribution to Afternoon (April 1994) 
NieA Under 7 (Vol. 1) (June, 2001) 
NieA Under 7 (Vol. 2) (August, 2001) 
Wasteland (Chapters 9, Ongoing)

*Contributions* 
Mutekei Fire - Tarame Paradise Doujins 
Mutekei Fire - Great Pictorial Guide of Uki-Uki in the World Doujins 
Mutekei Fire - Tokimeki Shitsumon Bako Doujins 
Range Murata - Flat 
Range Murata - Rule - Fa Documenta 003 
Range Murata - Robot - Volume 01 
Range Murata - Robot - Volume 02 
Range Murata - Robot - Volume 03 
Range Murata - Robot - Volume 04 
Range Murata - Robot - Volume 05 
Range Murata - Robot - Volume 06 
Foo Swee Chin - Muzz Doujins 1-2 
Akai Kiba (Red Fang) - Volumes 1-4 
Hell Girl, episode 13 - sketches and wallpaint

*Cover Illustrations *
Kami no Keifu Novels 1-3 
Welcome to the N.H.K. 
Negative Happy Chainsaw Edge 
Chojin Keikaku (bunko edition only) 
Slip Manga Collection 
All You Need is Kill

*Misc.* 
"AB Note" yoshitoshi ABe Sketchbook (GoFa 2003) 
"GoFa Portfolio Collection A" 20 A4 Prints (sold by GoFa at AX2003 - 100 made) 
"GoFa Portfolio Collection B" 20 A4 Prints (Sold by GoFa at AX2003 - 100 made)


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## Luciferxxxxx (Feb 2, 2008)

*ASADA HIROYUKI*
*上條淳士*​

*Birthday*: February 15th, 1968
*Country*: Yokohama, Japan
*Height*: 165cm *Weight*: 52kg
*Blood Type*: A
*Favorite food*: Japanese "Katsu-Don"
*Hateful food*: A Green Pepper
*Favorite liquor*: Gin, Whisky and Water
*Favorite Color*: Black, Dusky Red
*Favorite Writer*: "Saneatsu Mushanokouji","Osamu Dazai", "Chuuya Nakahara"(A Writer of Japanese Literature.)

He made his debut in 1986. Acquired a fan with "*Mint*", "*Renka*" by degrees, and popularity improved with "*I'll*" at a stretch. Charm a reader by a flowing elegant drawn line and static description. Other than personal activity, do a unit with *Shou Tashima* (Best Works:"*Psycho*") and *Takeshi Obata* (Best works:"*Hikaru no Go*","*Death Note*"), creation activity with "*Aquarius 3*".

*Works*:

"Mint" - 2 volumes - 1991-1992
"Renka" - 1 volume - 1994-1995 - Jump Original
"I'll" - 14 volumes - 1996-2004 - Monthly Shounen Jump
"I'll/Crazy Kouzu BC" - 2000 "I'll" Special Edition
"Hone no Saki" - 2000 A collection of pictures.
"Tegami Bachi" - 2006-Ongoing - Monthly Shounen Jump


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## Arcanis (Oct 13, 2008)

*Dr. Osamu Tezuka *
(手塚 治虫, Tezuka Osamu)​
Born on November 3, 1928 in Toyonaka, Osaka, Japan. Died on February 9, 1989.

Heralded by many as the "God of Manga," Tezuka Osamu was one of Japan's most cherished and prolific manga and anime artists. He has been described as the "Japanese Walt Disney," despite his reported disdain for the company. He, perhaps more than any other artist, was responsible for the very characteristic "puppy-dog eyes" which has become a trademark of Japanese animation, though he later admitted being heavily influenced by the works of Walt Disney -- in particular, Bambi. Dr. Tezuka did receive his medical degree from Osaka University in 1946, though he concentrated on his career of choice: the art of manga and animation. His most famous creation is probably 'Tetsuwan Atom', which has a large following internationally as 'AstroBoy'. NBC later aired three of his TV series: AstroBoy, Kimba the White Lion (which many have claimed as Disney's inspiration for The Lion King), and Princess Knight.

His first production company, formed in 1961, 'Mushi Productions', was later replaced by his namesake corporation, 'Tezuka Productions' in 1968. Dr. Tezuka was heavily involved with experimental animation, and had won several international animation awards, including the Grand Prix for Jumping at the 1984 Zagreb International Festival, the Grand Prix for Broken Down Film at the Hiroshima International Animation Festival, and the CIFEJ award for Legend of the Forest at the 1988 Zagreb International Film Festival.

*A cursory list of his works include:*

    * Ma-chan's Diary
    * New Treasure Island
    * Lost World
    * Next World
    * *Jungle Taitei (Jungle Emperor / Kimba the White Lion)*, 1950
    * *Tetsuwan Atom (The Mighty Atom / AstroBoy)*, 1952-1968
    * Princess Knight, 1953
    * Story of a Street Corner, 1962
    * Memory, 1964
    * Mermaid, 1964
    * Ambassador Magma, 1965
    * Drop, 1965
    * W3 (Amazing 3), 1965
    * Pictures at an Exhibition, 1966
    * Dororo, 1967
    * The Phoenix, 1967
    * The Genesis, 1968
    * One Thousand and One Nights, 1969
    * Cleopatra,1970
    * Ode to Kirihito, 1970
    * A History of Birdmen, 1971
    * A Hundred Tales, 1971
    * Ayako, 1972
    * Black Jack, 1973
    * Buddha, 1973
    * MW, 1976
    * Phoenix 2772 (Space Firebird), 1980
    * A Tree in the Sun, 1981
    * Tell Adolph, 1983
    * Jumping, 1984
    * Broken Down Film, 1985
    * Legend of the Forest, 1987
    * Ludwig B., 1987
    * Murasama, 1987
    * Push, 1987
    * Neo Faust, 1988
    * Self-portrait, 1988

In 2003, the mangaka Naoki Urasawa started the manga called *Pluto*, which reimagines the events and characters in Tezuka's Astro Boy story "Chijou saidai no robotto" ("The World's Strongest Robot"), making it into a darker and grittier story in the process. Although still uncompleted as of late 2006, the series has received glowing reviews so far.

The National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo held a public exhibit of Dr. Tezuka's works in 1990 -- the first ever for a "commercial manga artist." April 24, 1994 became a hallmark in manga and anime history: The Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum was opened in his hometown of Takarazuka, in memory of the prolific artist.

*Awards:*

    * 1958 　Shogakukan Manga Award for Manga Seminar on Biology and Bīko-chan
    * 1975　 Bungeishunjū manga Award
    * 1975　 Japan Mangaka Association Award - Special Award
    * 1977　 Kodansha Manga Award for Black Jack and The Three-Eyed One
    * 1983 　Shogakukan Manga Award for Hidamari no Ki
    * 1985　 Hiroshima International Animation Festival for Onboro-Film
    * 1986　 Kodansha Manga Award for Adolf
    * 1989　 Nihon SF Taisho Award - Special Award
    * 1989　 Zuihōsho 3rd class


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Taken from  and Wikipedia.


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