Naoki Urasawa
Birth : 1960-01-02,
History
Naoki Urasawa is a Japanese manga artist and musician. He has been drawing manga since he was four years old, and for most of his professional career has created two series simultaneously. The stories to many of these were co-written in collaboration with his former editor, Takashi Nagasaki. Urasawa has been called one of the artists that changed the history of manga and has won numerous awards, including the Shogakukan Manga Award three times, the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize twice, and the Kodansha Manga Award once. By December 2021, his various works had over 140 million copies in circulation worldwide.
Art Direction
Kazuyoshi Saitо made an offer to collaborate with Naoki Urasawa, with whom he has a close relationship, after he saw Urasawa's rough drawing of a boy who strummed a broom like a guitar. The image matched what Saitо completely had in mind for his song "Boy." Urasawa created a storyboard, and completed an animation on his own for the first time. Urasawa also illustrated the song's album cover.
Director
Kazuyoshi Saitо made an offer to collaborate with Naoki Urasawa, with whom he has a close relationship, after he saw Urasawa's rough drawing of a boy who strummed a broom like a guitar. The image matched what Saitо completely had in mind for his song "Boy." Urasawa created a storyboard, and completed an animation on his own for the first time. Urasawa also illustrated the song's album cover.
Character Designer
Jiantan is a young boy who has to leave Xi'an after the death of his mother to go deep into the Tibetan prairies to start living with the father he barely remembers. His dad, LaGeBa, is a busy doctor who decided to depart from the city and reside in Tibet where he is the essential physician of the poor community he lives in. To help his father, Jiantan has to learn how to herd sheep. While trying to learn his new responsibility, he is saved by a stray gold-colored Tibetan Mastiff. Both Jiantan and the big dog help each other as they try to adjust to this new environment.
Writer
The final showdown, and the final reveal. who is Friend? How can he be stopped?
Writer
Set 15 years after "Twentieth Century Boys," Kanna (Airi Taira) reunites with several main characters from the first film in an attempt to stop Friend's increasing influence over the world and continued plans to eliminate humanity, as detailed in the New Book of Prophecy.
Writer
In 1969, Kenji, an elementary school kid and his friends built a secret base during their summer holidays. They fantasized that they had to fight villains who were out to conquer the world and wrote them in the Book of Prophecies. Years later in 1997, Kenji becomes a convenience store manager and leads a regular life after giving up his dreams to become a rock star. His boring life is suddenly turned upside down when his old classmate dies mysteriously and an entire family in the neighbourhood disappears. At the same time, a religious cult and its mysterious leader, Friend emerges and a strange chain of events duplicating exactly the events described in the Book of Prophecies follow. Is this the beginning of the end of the world? Who is Friend?
Screenplay
In 1969, Kenji, an elementary school kid and his friends built a secret base during their summer holidays. They fantasized that they had to fight villains who were out to conquer the world and wrote them in the Book of Prophecies. Years later in 1997, Kenji becomes a convenience store manager and leads a regular life after giving up his dreams to become a rock star. His boring life is suddenly turned upside down when his old classmate dies mysteriously and an entire family in the neighbourhood disappears. At the same time, a religious cult and its mysterious leader, Friend emerges and a strange chain of events duplicating exactly the events described in the Book of Prophecies follow. Is this the beginning of the end of the world? Who is Friend?
Writer
After her parents' death, Umino Miyuki was forced to give up a promising future in tennis to take care of her three younger siblings. Her elder brother, in a plan to become rich, disappears, leaving a 250 million debt on his sister's shoulders. Two debt collectors seek her out for payment and inform her that she will be forced to work as a bath hostess at a bath house if she cannot come up with the money. Miyuki makes up her mind to become a professional tennis player in order to win the prize money. She seeks for help from the son of a famous tennis family, Ootori Keiichiro, who was also her senior in middle school and fellow tennis player. Will Miyuki be able to become a pro and pay off the debt?
Comic Book
After her parents' death, Umino Miyuki was forced to give up a promising future in tennis to take care of her three younger siblings. Her elder brother, in a plan to become rich, disappears, leaving a 250 million debt on his sister's shoulders. Two debt collectors seek her out for payment and inform her that she will be forced to work as a bath hostess at a bath house if she cannot come up with the money. Miyuki makes up her mind to become a professional tennis player in order to win the prize money. She seeks for help from the son of a famous tennis family, Ootori Keiichiro, who was also her senior in middle school and fellow tennis player. Will Miyuki be able to become a pro and pay off the debt?
Self
Filmed in Japan, this program looks beyond the stereotypes to objectively examine the history of manga, how manga are drawn, and manga's influence on Japanese life as illustrated by cosplay bars, where people dress up as their favorite characters; manga kissa, 24/7 manga cafes; and Comicket, the twice-annual comics market that draws hundreds of thousands of visitors. The program also introduces viewers to a cross-section of mangaka icons: Vagabond creator Takehiko Inoue; Naoki Urasawa, author of The Pushman and Other Stories; Jiro Taniguchi; Yoshihiro Tatsumi; and Kan Takahama.
Writer
Yawara Inokuma competes for Japan in the Atlanta Olympic Games as she meets with several familiar faces throughout the tournament.
Creator
Yawara Inokuma competes for Japan in the Atlanta Olympic Games as she meets with several familiar faces throughout the tournament.
Writer
Yawara helps a group of timid grade school kids overcome their fears and compete in a judo competition.
Creator
Yawara helps a group of timid grade school kids overcome their fears and compete in a judo competition.
Writer
Yawara Inokuma is a girl who aspires to an ordinary life but due to her innate talent is forced to practice judo by her authoritarian grandfather, Jigorou Inokuma, with the aim of achieving the championship in Japan and the gold medal in the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games. Because of the pressure from her grandfather she has a generally bad attitude about judo, avoiding it as much as she can. However, over time she comes to understand why her grandfather loves judo and appreciates it more.
Comic Book
Yawara Inokuma is a girl who aspires to an ordinary life but due to her innate talent is forced to practice judo by her authoritarian grandfather, Jigorou Inokuma, with the aim of achieving the championship in Japan and the gold medal in the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games. Because of the pressure from her grandfather she has a generally bad attitude about judo, avoiding it as much as she can. However, over time she comes to understand why her grandfather loves judo and appreciates it more.