Name Naoki Urasawa Nationality Japanese Role Manga artist | Period 1981–present Education Meisei University Subject Seinen manga | |
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Born Naoki Urasawa浦沢 直樹 2 January 1960 (age 64) Fuchu, Tokyo, Japan ( 1960-01-02 ) Notable works 20th Century BoysMonsterPluto Notable awards Shogakukan Manga Award, Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize Books Monster - Vol 1: The Perfect E, Pineapple Army, Master Keaton Vol 1, 21st Century Boys, Monster deluxe Similar People Takashi Nagasaki, Tetsuya Komuro, Osamu Tezuka, Takehiko Inoue, Kazuhiro Fujita | ||
Occupation Manga artist, musician | ||
Naoki urasawa s monster manga review
Naoki Urasawa (浦沢 直樹, Urasawa Naoki, born January 2, 1960 in Fuchū, Tokyo) is a Japanese manga artist and occasional musician. He has been called one of the artists that changed the history of manga, and has received the Shogakukan Manga Award three times, the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize twice, and the Kodansha Manga Award once.
Contents
- Naoki urasawa s monster manga review
- Naoki Urasawa Manben Art Book Review
- Early life
- Career
- Style
- Music
- Serials
- Other manga
- Awards
- References
Naoki Urasawa, Manben Art Book Review
Early life
Urasawa cited Osamu Tezuka as one of his heroes, being particularly fond of his work Phoenix. "The Greatest Robot on Earth" and "The Artificial Sun" arcs of Tezuka's Astro Boy were his first experiences with manga at four or five years old. Urasawa graduated from Meisei University with a degree in economics. He made his professional manga debut with Return in 1981.
Career
Three of his series have been adapted into anime: Yawara! (1986–1993), Master Keaton (1988–1994), and Monster (1994–2001). One of his more notable works, 20th Century Boys (2000–2006), was made into a three-part live-action movie series, which were released in 2008 and 2009.
In 2008, Urasawa took a guest teaching post at Nagoya Zokei University, where he taught "Modern Expression Course: Manga Classes" two to three times a year, although the class met every month. Initially planned for only five students, Urasawa agreed to expand it to fifteen in an effort to create more "real artists." Also in 2008, the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, Junot Diaz praised Monster, adding that "Urasawa is a national treasure in Japan." Oricon held a poll on the Mangaka that Changed the History of Manga in 2010, mangaka being the Japanese word for a manga artist, and Urasawa came in tenth.
As a guest at the 2012 Japan Expo in France, Urasawa talked about how he entered the manga industry, gave a live drawing demonstration, and performed two songs as a musician, and joined rock band Hemenway on stage the following day. Urasawa and Takashi Nagasaki, whom he's previously worked with on Monster, Pluto and Billy Bat, began writing a sequel to Master Keaton in 2012 titled Master Keaton Remaster. When asked why he went back to a series after so many years, Urasawa stated it was because with the original series he had a hard time making the story he wanted due to contractual obligation, and because people affected by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami said they had enjoyed the series, so he wanted to do something for them. In August 2013, Urasawa created his first "monster manga" titled "Kaijū Ōkoku" ("Monster Kingdom"), a 41-page one-shot published in Big Comic. Urasawa created a short manga about 1960s British rock band the Beatles time-traveling to 2016. Released in June 2016 on the website of Tokyo radio station InterFM897, it coincides with the TV program KKBOX Here comes The Beatles and celebrates the 50th anniversary of the band's visit to Japan.
Urasawa is the host of the NHK Educational TV documentary series Urasawa Naoki no Manben (浦沢直樹の漫勉, "Naoki Urasawa's Manga Exertions"), which focuses on a different manga artist each episode and explores their individual styles. It began as a one-off special in 2014, a first season was launched in September 2015, a second in March 2016, a third in September 2016, and a fourth in March 2017.
Style
Fusanosuke Natsume said that prior to entering university, Urasawa's style showed influence from Shinji Nagashima and Osamu Tezuka's 1970s work. But claimed that in 1979 it became aligned with that of Katsuhiro Otomo. Although Urasawa's works like Yawara! had light entertainment with cute young girls, Natsume says Urasawa developed his own personal style with Monster. Which he says is realistic, or directorially based, with cinematic panel layouts similar to Otomo and gekiga artists. Natsume also noted that many of his characters resemble famous movie stars.
Urasawa has frequently collaborated with manga editor and author Takashi Nagasaki, to the point where Nagasaki is called his "producer". The two met when Nagasaki was made Urasawa's editor upon his debut. Although the two continue to collaborate even after Nagasaki became freelance, they rarely socialize outside of work.
Music
As a hobby Urasawa is also the vocalist and guitarist of a rock band. He started playing guitar in junior high school inspired by folk rock singer-songwriters Takuro Yoshida and Bob Dylan.
Under the stage name "Bob Lennon", he wrote and performed the song "Kenji no Uta" ("Kenji's Song)" that was on a CD included in the 2002 first pressing of volume 11 of 20th Century Boys. He released his debut single "Tsuki ga Tottemo..." (月がとっても…) on June 4, 2008, and his debut album Hanseiki no Otoko (半世紀の男, "Half Century Man") in 2009. In 2012 he performed a Japanese cover of Bob Dylan's "Girl from the North Country" and "Guta lala suda lala" from his series 20th Century Boys at the Japan Expo, and the following day he joined rock band Hemenway on stage.
Urasawa 's second album, Mannon (漫音) which he wrote and produced himself, was released in 2016.