Famous Mangakas

Long acknowledged as Japan's preeminent animator and director, Hayao Miyazaki remained a cult figure to American devotees of "manga" (Japanese comic books) and "anime" (Japanese animated features) until the 1999 US release one of his undisputed masterworks, "Princess Mononoke" (1997). Acquired by Miramax and redubbed into English using a script by Neil Gaiman and the vocal talents of actors such as Claire Danes and Billy Crudup, "Princess Mononoke" introduced the richly crafted animation and superb storytelling to mainstream audiences. The film was deemed too violent for young children used to

Osamu Tezuka was a producer, writer, director, and actor who was known for producing "Metropolis," "Oh-Oku: The Women of the Inner Palace," and "Cleopatra, Queen of Sex."

Hiromu Arakawa is a writer who is known for writing "Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood," and "Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos."

Yuu Watase (渡瀬 悠宇, Watase Yuu, born March 5, 1970, in Kishiwada, Osaka) is a Japanese shōjo manga artist. Watase received the Shogakukan Manga Award for shōjo for Ceres, Celestial Legend in 1997. Watase debuted at the age of eighteen with the short story "Pajama de Ojama" ("An Intrusion in Pajamas"), and has since created more than 80 compiled volumes of short stories and continuing series. In October 2008, Watase began their first shōnen serialization, Arata: The Legend in Weekly Shōnen Sunday. Their name is romanized as "Yû Watase" in earlier printings of Viz Media's publications of Fushigi

Akira Toriyama (April 5, 1955 – March 1, 2024) was a Japanese manga artist and character designer. He first achieved mainstream recognition for creating the popular manga series Dr. Slump, before going on to create Dragon Ball (his most famous work) and acting as a character designer for several popular video games such as the Dragon Quest series, Chrono Trigger, and Blue Dragon. Toriyama is regarded as one of the authors who changed the history of manga, as his works are highly influential and popular, particularly Dragon Ball, which many manga artists cite as a source of inspiration.

Aki Shimizu is a manga artist who hails from Ōmuta, Fukuoka. She contributed the art for Blood Sucker: Legend of Zipangu, Graduale der Wolken, and adapted a manga version of Suikoden III based on Konami's video game. In 2003, she began Qwan, an original story of her own.

Gosho Aoyama (青山 剛昌, Aoyama Gōshō, born June 21, 1963) is a Japanese manga artist best known as the creator of the manga series Detective Conan (known in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom as Case Closed). As of 2017, his various manga series have a combined 200 million copies in print worldwide.

Renaissance man of anime, Mamoru Oshii is respected around the world for his fantastic and philosophical storytelling and stylistic flair. As a young man, the future writer/director/animator was a fan of the filmmaking greats like Fellini, Godard, and Tarkovsky. After he graduating from Tokyo Gakugei University in 1976, he was hired as an artist at Tatsunoko Productions. There he worked on the "Urusei Yatsura" TV series, and went on to direct two "Urusei Yatsura" films in the early 1980s. Soon he worked on the very first original video animation (OVA), called "Dallos"; these are series made sp

Fujio Akatsuka (赤塚 不二夫, Akatsuka Fujio, September 14, 1935 – August 2, 2008) was a pioneer Japanese artist of comical manga known as the Gag Manga King. His name at birth is 赤塚 藤雄, whose Japanese pronunciation is the same as 赤塚 不二夫. He was born in Rehe, Manchuria, the son of a Japanese military police officer. After World War II, he grew up in Niigata Prefecture and Nara Prefecture. When he was 19, he moved to Tokyo. While working at a chemical factory, he drew many manga. After that, Tokiwa-so accepted him. He started his career as a shōjo artist, but in 1958, his Nama-chan (ナマちゃん) became a h

Satoshi Kon (今 敏, Kon Satoshi, October 12, 1963 – August 24, 2010) was a Japanese film director, animator, screenwriter and manga artist from Sapporo, Hokkaidō and a member of the Japanese Animation Creators Association (JAniCA). He was a graduate of the Graphic Design department of the Musashino Art University.

Takashi Nakamura (中村 たかし (formerly なかむら たかし), Nakamura Takashi, born September 12, 1955 in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan) is an accomplished Japanese animator and anime director. He is also a founding member of the Japan Animation Creators Association (JAniCA) labor group.Nakamura's 2001 film A Tree of Palme was an official selection of the Berlin Film Festival. His work on Golden Warrior Gold Lightan inspired fellow animator Koji Morimoto.

Kazuo Koike (小池 一夫, Koike Kazuo, May 8, 1936 – April 17, 2019) was a prolific Japanese manga writer (gensakusha), novelist and entrepreneur.

Kazuhiko Katō (Japanese: 加藤一彦, Hepburn: Katō Kazuhiko, May 26, 1937 – April 11, 2019), known by the pen name Monkey Punch (モンキー・パンチ, Monkī Panchi), was a Japanese manga artist, best known for his series Lupin III. In April 2005 he became the professor of Manga Animation at Otemae University, in their Faculty of Media and Arts, and was a visiting professor at Tokyo University of Technology in May 2010. He was born in Hamanaka, Hokkaido, and resided in Sakura, Chiba until his death in 2019. He received the Inkpot Award in 1981 and a special Tokyo Anime Award in 2015.

Takeshi Obata (小畑 健, Obata Takeshi, born February 11, 1969) is a Japanese manga artist that usually works as the illustrator in collaboration with a writer. He first gained international attention for Hikaru no Go (1998–2003) with Yumi Hotta, but is better known for Death Note (2003–2006) and Bakuman (2008–2012) with Tsugumi Ohba. Obata has mentored several well-known manga artists, including Nobuhiro Watsuki of Rurouni Kenshin fame, Black Cat creator Kentaro Yabuki, and Eyeshield 21 artist Yusuke Murata.

Masashi Kishimoto wrote "Boruto: Naruto the Movie," "Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie," and "Naruto the Movie: Blood Prison."

Takehiko Inoue (井上 雄彦, Inoue Takehiko) is a Japanese manga artist. He is best known for the basketball series *Slam Dunk* (1990–1996), which sold as one of the best-selling manga series in history, and the samurai manga *Vagabond*. Many of his works focus on basketball, as Inoue himself is a huge fan of the sport. His works sold in North America through Viz Media include *Slam Dunk*, *Vagabond*, and *Real*. Gutsoon! Entertainment translated *Slam Dunk* earlier. In 2012, Inoue received the Cultural Prize at the Asia Cosmopolitan Awards.

Mitsuteru Yokoyama (横山 光輝, Yokoyama Mitsuteru, June 18, 1934 – April 15, 2004) was a Japanese manga artist. He was born in Suma Ward, Kobe City, Hyōgo Prefecture. His name originally spelled Mitsuteru (光照). His works include Tetsujin 28-go, Giant Robo, Akakage, Babel II, Sally the Witch, and Princess Comet. He also adapted Chinese classics like Water Margin and Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

Katsuhiro Otomo is a writer, director, and actor. He created "Metropolis," "Akira," and "Steamboy."

Jun Maeda (麻枝 准, Maeda Jun, born January 3, 1975) is a Japanese writer and co-founder of the visual novel brand Key under VisualArt's. He pioneered the visual novel medium, mostly nakige. Maeda contributed as a scenario writer, lyricist, and musical composer for the company's games. His style drew influence from James Herbert Brennan and Haruki Murakami's novels.

Leiji Matsumoto (松本零士, Matsumoto Reiji, born Akira Matsumoto 松本晟, January 25, 1938, in Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan) created many anime and manga series. His wife, Miyako Maki, is also a manga artist.

Satoshi Urushihara (うるし原 智志, Urushihara Satoshi, born February 9, 1966), the "Master of Breasts," is a Japanese manga artist and illustrator. His work inspired anime such as Plastic Little and Legend of Lemnear. His art appears in the Langrisser and Growlanser tactical role-playing video games.

Usamaru Furuya (古屋 兎丸, Furuya Usamaru, born January 25, 1968, in Tokyo, Japan) is a manga artist. He graduated from Tama Art University, majoring in oil painting. He developed an interest in sculpting and Butoh dance.

Francesco Bellissimo (ベリッシモ・フランチェスコ, Berisshimo Furanchesuko) was born in Rome on January 3, 1979. He is an Italian celebrity chef, businessman, sommelier dell'Olio, actor, and martial artist. He holds the rank of 3rd dan black belt in Kyokushin karate. Bellissimo lives and works in Japan, where he is nicknamed Italia no Taneuma ("Italian Stallion"). He serves as president of the Italian Cooking Association in Japan. He writes for various Japanese cooking magazines and books.

Akira Suzuki (すずき あきら, Suzuki Akira), who also uses the pseudonym Doitsu Suzuki (鈴木 ドイツ), is a Japanese author, director, and editor of film, anime, and manga. He was born in Sapporo, Hokkaidō. He worked on projects like AIKa R-16: Virgin Mission, Ranma ½, and Maze. He directed the movie Ranma ½: Ni Hao My Concubine.

Naoko Takeuchi (武内 直子, Takeuchi Naoko, born March 15, 1967) is a Japanese manga artist. She created the popular manga series Sailor Moon. She won the 1993 Kodansha Manga Award for Sailor Moon.

Masami Kurumada (車田 正美, Kurumada Masami, born December 6, 1953) is a Japanese manga artist and writer. He specializes in fighting manga featuring bishōnen and magical boy. He founded the manga studio Kurumada Productions or Kurumadapro. He created popular works like Ring ni Kakero, Fūma no Kojirō, Saint Seiya, and B't X. His male protagonists reflect the archetype of true men, showing strong masculine qualities.

Shirou Masamune (士郎 正宗, Shirō Masamune, born November 23, 1961) is the fixed pen name of manga artist Masanori Ota (太田正典, Ōta Masanori). The pseudonym comes from the legendary sword-smith Masamune. Shirow is famous for Ghost in the Shell. This manga spawned three theatrical anime movies, two TV series, an OVA, a live action movie, and several video games. He also created erotic art.

Chiyomi Hashiguchi (橋口 千代美, Hashiguchi Chiyomi, née Nakayama (中山), January 19, 1967 – May 10, 1998) is a Japanese manga artist. She used the pen name Nekojiru (ねこぢる). Her definitive work is Nekojiru Udon, which debuted in Garo in June 1990. Before her death by suicide, the main characters Nyāko and Nyatta were selected for Tokyo Electric promotional campaigns, but the project was cancelled after her death.

Akira Yasuda (安田 朗, Yasuda Akira) was born July 21, 1964. He is a Japanese animator, character designer, game designer, and mecha designer. He works under the pen name "Akiman". Yasuda joined Capcom in 1985. He worked on many Capcom games, taking design roles for the Final Fight series and Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (including updates) as Akiman. Yasuda also worked on anime production, including ∀ Gundam, Overman King Gainer, and Code Geass. He went to the United States to work on

Asao Takamori (高森 朝, Takamori Asao, September 4, 1936 – January 21, 1987) was a Japanese author, manga writer, and film producer, also known under the pseudonym Ikki Kajiwara (梶原 一騎, Kajiwara Ikki). His real name is Asaki Takamori (高森 朝樹, Takamori Asaki). The pseudonym was used since he was writing for a rival magazine at the time. Having multiple names would prevent overlap within the two magazines. He is known for fighting and sports themes, with images of heroic young men with the occasional fine details as he moves from one topic to another. He considered Tiger Mask and Star of the Giants

Hiroshi Takahashi (高橋 ヒロシ, Takahashi Hiroshi, born 12 December 1965) is a Japanese manga artist.

Masakazu Katsura (桂 正和, Katsura Masakazu, born December 10, 1962) is a Japanese manga artist, known for several works of manga, including Wing-Man, Shadow Lady, DNA², Video Girl Ai, I"s, and Zetman. He has also worked as character designer for Iria: Zeiram the Animation, Tiger & Bunny and Garo -Guren no Tsuki-.

Eiichiro Oda (Japanese: 尾田 栄一郎, Hepburn: Oda Eiichirō, born January 1, 1975) is a Japanese manga artist, who is best known for his manga series One Piece (1997–present). With more than 450 million tankobon copies in circulation worldwide, One Piece is the best-selling manga and the best-selling comic series of all time, making Oda one of the best-selling fiction authors. The series' popularity resulted in Oda being named one of the manga artists that changed the history of manga.

Shotaro Ishinomori (石ノ森 章太郎, Ishinomori Shōtarō, 25 January 1938 – 28 January 1998) was a Japanese manga artist who became an influential figure in manga, anime, and tokusatsu, creating several immensely popular long-running series such as Cyborg 009, the Super Sentai series (later adapted into the Power Rangers series), and the Kamen Rider Series. He was twice awarded by the Shogakukan Manga Award, in 1968 for Sabu to Ichi Torimono Hikae and in 1988 for Hotel and Manga Nihon Keizai Nyumon. He was born and named Shotaro Onodera (小野寺 章太郎, Onodera Shōtarō) in Tome, Miyagi, and was also known as

Kiyoshi Nagai (永井潔, Nagai Kiyoshi, born September 6, 1945, in Wajima, Ishikawa), better known by the pen name Go Nagai (永井 豪, Nagai Gō), is a Japanese manga artist and a prolific author of science fiction, fantasy, horror and erotica. He made his professional debut in 1967 with Meakashi Polikichi, but is best known for creating Cutie Honey, Devilman, and Mazinger Z. He also pioneered the ecchi genre with Harenchi Gakuen. He is credited with creating the Super Robot genre and for designing the first mecha robots piloted by a user from within a cockpit with Mazinger Z. In 2005, he became a Chara

Nobuyuki Anzai (安西 信行, Anzai Nobuyuki, born August 19, 1972) is a Japanese manga artist Best known for creating Flame of Recca and MÄR. He was an assistant of Kazuhiro Fujita. He made his debut as a manga artist after he received an honorable mention in Shinjin Comic Taisho (Shogakukan Beginners Editions) with a oneshot called Ken 2 Strenger.

Naoko Hayashiba (林葉 直子, Hayashiba Naoko, born on January 24, 1968), who is also known by the pen name Masaru Katori (かとり まさる, Katori Masaru), is a Japanese writer and manga author from Fukuoka. She had a successful career as professional shogi player (Makoto Nakahara) but quit during a sex scandal with another professional player in 1995. Since then, she has focused on writing and TV work. She has written two novel series, Tondemo Police and Kiss Dakeja Iya, and the manga Shion no Ō. In 2010, after a 15-year absence, she returned to shogi.

Yōichi Takahashi (高橋 陽一, Takahashi Yōichi, born July 28, 1960) is a Japanese cartoonist and manga artist, best known for his work Captain Tsubasa. Takahashi has published art books, manga, novels, and guides, most of which are about Captain Tsubasa. He is also known for his soccer series, Hungry Heart: Wild Striker. Yoichi Takahashi visited FC Barcelona, Ozora Tsubasa's Spanish football club in the manga, on 17 January 2016 as a guest of the club.In 2018. Takahashi received the Honorary Citizen Award from Katsushika for his contributions to the city through his manga.

Ai Yazawa (矢沢あい, Yazawa Ai, born March 7, 1967) is a Japanese manga author. Her pen name comes from Japanese singer Eikichi Yazawa, of whom she is a fan. While most of Yazawa's manga is published in Japan by Shueisha, publishers of Ribon and Cookie (Nana was serialized in the latter), series like Paradise Kiss have appeared in non-Shueisha magazines such as Zipper, published by Shodensha.

Kiyohiko Azuma (あずまきよひこ, Azuma Kiyohiko, born May 27, 1968 in Takasago, Hyōgo Prefecture) is a Japanese manga artist. From 1999 to 2002, he released the four-panel manga series Azumanga Daioh, about a group of high school girls, which was adapted into an anime series. In 2003, he started a slice-of-life manga series Yotsuba&!, about the adventures of a five-year-old girl; it is serialized in the monthly magazine Dengeki Daioh. Prior to these series, he worked on a hentai manga called Inma no Ranbu under the pseudonym Jōji Jonokuchi (序ノ口譲二).

Nobuaki Minegishi (Japanese: 嶺岸信明, Hepburn: Minegishi Nobuaki) is a manga artist whose works include Old Boy, Aburemon, Jungle, Tenpai, Hoozuki, Joi Reika, and Maboroshi No Kakero. Minegishi's series Old Boy won the 2007 Eisner Award for Best U.S. Edition of International Material - Japan.

Moto Hagio (萩尾 望都, Hagio Moto) is a manga artist born on May 12, 1949 in Ōmuta, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. She lives in Saitama Prefecture. She is considered a "founding mother" of modern shōjo manga, especially shōnen-ai. She is also a member of the Year 24 Group. She has been described as "the most beloved shōjo manga artist of all time." In addition to being an "industry pioneer", her body of work "shows a maturity, depth and personal vision found only in the finest of creative artists".

Tsutomu Takahashi (高橋 ツトム, Takahashi Tsutomu), born on September 20, 1965 in Tokyo, Japan, is a Japanese manga artist, who is well known for his manga Jiraishin. As of March 2006, he is currently married and has one child. His alias is Ichigo Nekota.

Tsukasa Hojo (北条 司, Hōjō Tsukasa, born on March 5, 1959, in Kokura, Kitakyushu, Japan) is a Japanese manga artist. He studied technical design while still at Kyushu Sangyo University, where he began to draw manga. He worked on several one-shot stories before releasing his serialized works: Cat's Eye, City Hunter and Angel Heart. After the success of Cat's Eye and City Hunter, Hojo went on to work on other series such as Family Compo. His current ongoing series is Angel Heart, a spin–off of City Hunter set in an alternate universe. It has been serialized in the Weekly Comic Bunch since 2001 and

Kazuki Takahashi was a writer who was known for writing "Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Dark Side of Dimensions," "Yu-Gi-Oh!," and "Yu-Gi-Oh!."

Tite Kubo (久保 帯人, Kubo Taito, born June 26, 1977) is a Japanese manga artist. He is best known for his manga series Bleach, which has sold over 120 million copies as of 2018.

Hiro Mashima (真島 ヒロ, Mashima Hiro, born May 3, 1977) is a Japanese manga artist. He gained success with his first serial Rave Master, published in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine from 1999 to 2005. His recently concluded Fairy Tail, published in the same magazine from 2006 to 2017, is experiencing even greater popularity with over 60 million copies in print. Fairy Tail won the Kodansha Manga Award for shōnen manga in 2009, and Mashima was given the Harvey Awards International Spotlight award in 2017 and the Fauve Special Award at the 2018 Angoulême International Comics Festival.

Ryōji Minagawa (皆川 亮二, Minagawa Ryōji, born July 5, 1964) is a Japanese manga artist born in Sumida, Tokyo. He was invited with Spriggan story writer Hiroshi Takashige to go to a comic convention in Portugal in 1996 as a guest of honor due to his work on Spriggan. He worked on other manga comics before he went on to create ARMS with fellow manga artist, Kyoichi Nanatsuki. His first name is sometimes transliterated as Ryouji.