Naoki Urasawa

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Actually, nobody mentioned Rikdo Koshi, yet. Come on, guys, Foggle would be disappointed in you.

[Foggle]

Actually, nobody mentioned Rikdo Koshi, yet. Come on, guys, Foggle would be disappointed in you.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Slipped my mind, but I was going to. I wonder if there's a possibility of this including Light Novel authors, too . . .

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I doubt it. Despite both being popular mediums for anime adaptations, being a mangaka and being a light novel author are very different professions, and are seen as such by both people into either one of them as well as by fans of either medium.

It'd be like if a show that looks into the lives of various movie directors all of a sudden did an episode about a TV-exclusive episode director. It just doesn't fit in with the theme.

[gunswordfist]

I thumbs up whenever someone says Foggle is disappointing as well!

[Spark Of Spirit]

Spotlight article!

Some choice quotes:

Like many who find their way into the manga industry, Urasawa knew he wanted to be a mangaka from a young age. As early as five years old, he was drawing and copying the work of Osamu Tezuka, who, along with the french artist Moebius, would become his greatest artistic influences.

It was almost by chance that he ultimately got into the industry, an editor asking him to work with them after seeing some of Urasawa's art. It was less than a year later that Urasawa, at the age of 21, was first published.

In addition to his artistic influences in Tezuka and Moebius, two individuals have played a major part in Urasawa's success over the course of his career. The first is Takashi Nagasaki, referred to as his collaborator, editor, and "Urasawa's brain" in turn, he has been credited on Urasawa's work since Monster and been present even longer to aid in the creative process.

Bob Dylan's music motivated Urasawa during the lowest point in his career, driving him to continue diligently working on Happy! even when the manga recieved tremendous criticism.

Yawara! was so popular that, when the Japanese Ryoko Tamura won the silver medal in Women's Judo at the Barcelona Olympics, she was widely referred to as "Yawara-chan".

The authorship of the Master Keaton was recently called into question when Urasawa, originally credited as the artist, claimed the author, Hajime Kimura—writing under the pseudonym Hokusei Katsushika—had stopped working on the series and left Urasawa to both write and illustrate the manga.

Urasawa has described 20th Century Boys as somewhat autobiographical, with Kenji acting as his avatar in the series. The rebelliousness of Kenji's rock persona against a world headed toward disaster reflect Urasawa's personal disappointment in stagnant modern era compared with the cultural revolution he experienced as a child in the Post-War Era.

While his assistants assist him with many aspects of his illustrative work, he works primarily on gesture and faces. He obsesses over creating the perfect expressions, attempting to convey a variety of emotions are ultimately enigmatic. His explanation for this decision is simply that expressions should not be simple because people are not simple.

Despite all his sucess, Urasawa shows no signs of slowing down, aspiring to one day make a work equal to that of Osamu Tezuka's masterpiece Pheonix.

But by all means read it for yourself. He's had quite the career so far. They really try to oversell Happy, though. It's never been popular and will probably always remain his least popular work.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Billy Bat has entered its last arc.

It might be time to begin reading, or restarting, soon.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Found his episode with Kazuhiro Fujita.

Would have been nice if someone like Crunchyroll would have picked it up, though.

[LumRanmaYasha]

I'm reminded that I still have to watch these. Gotta get on that this weekend. Especially the Higashimura, Asano, Saito, Hagio, and Fujita episodes.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Just noticed that the video lists spoilers for Ushio & Tora and minor ones for Karakuri Circus, so beware when watching! I think I might save this for when U&T anime finishes.

[Spark Of Spirit]

He's got a new series on the way in 2017.

I'm not sure why Kodansha hasn't announced Billy Bat for release yet. It's a bit absurd, really. This makes me hope his next series is not with Kodansha.

EDIT: Next time I should read the whole article. His next series is with Shogakukan again. This means Viz can license his new series. It doesn't help Billy Bat out much, though.

[Spark Of Spirit]

His new series is called Mujirushi and is starting on October 20th.

Meanwhile, still waiting on news of a 20CB re-release or a Billy Bat license for NA.

[VLordGTZ]

His new series is called Mujirushi and is starting on October 20th.

Meanwhile, still waiting on news of a 20CB re-release or a Billy Bat license for NA.

I'm starting to think a big reason why Billy Bat still hasn't been licensed by Kodansha USA is that it doesn't have a digital release in Japan, and their current release model revolves around digital.  That being said, it shouldn't stop Vertical or Seven Seas from getting it (which I'm sure they'd jump on).  Viz is done with Master Keaton, so their shouldn't be any "one new series at a time" rule preventing Billy Bat from coming over here.

[VLordGTZ]

Well speak of the devil, Viz is doing a new release of 20th Century Boys!

[Spark Of Spirit]

Was just about to post this! Hot dog!

This is exactly what I was hoping for.