Takeshi obata biography template

Japanese manga artist (born )

Takeshi Obata (小畑 健, Obata Takeshi, born February 11, ) 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 (–) with Yumi Hotta, but is better known for Death Note (–) and Bakuman (–) 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.

Career

Takeshi Obata chose to be a manga artist because he always loved drawing. As a child he re-read Shotaro Ishinomori's Cyborg over and over.^[1] His first published manga was in Higashi-Yamanoshita Elementary's school newspaper when he was in the third grade. It was about a hero who turned into a disposable pocket warmer when in trouble.^[2] Obata originally became noticed in when he took a prize in the Tezuka Award for his one-shot Kōnen no Shinwa.^[3] Joining the Weekly Shōnen Jump staff, he mentored under Makoto Niwano before starting his first major series, writing and drawing Cyborg Jii-chan G in After this series, Obata began collaborating with other writers.

Sakon, the Ventriloquist, with author Sharakumaro, became his first work to be adapted into an anime. He then created Hikaru no Go with Yumi Hotta, which received the Shogakukan Manga Award^[4] and the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize. With 25 million collected volumes in circulation,^[5] it was adapted into an anime and became his first work to be released in North America.

In he teamed up with Tsugumi Ohba to create Death Note. It became his biggest hit to date, with 30 million copies in circulation,^[6] an anime adaptation, five live-action films, two live-action TV drama and a musical. Obata served as the artist of Blue Dragon Ral Grad, a manga adaptation of the fantasy video game Blue Dragon, from December to July

In the fall of , he drew the short story "Hello Baby" with writer Masanori Morita, which appeared in Jump Square.^[7] This was followed a year later by "Urōboe Uroboros!" with Nisio Isin, who authored the Death Note Another Note: The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases novel.^[8]

He then reunited with Tsugumi Ohba for Bakuman., which ran from August to April It was Shueisha's first manga to be released online in multiple languages before becoming available in print outside Japan and had over 15 million copies in publication as of May ^[9][10] In , he drew a manga adaptation of All You Need Is Kill with Ryōsuke Takeuchi, basing the character designs on Yoshitoshi ABe's original cover to the novel.^[11] He reunited with Nisio Isin for the one-shot "RKD-EK9", that ran in the December issue of Jump Square.^[12]

Obata followed this by working with Nobuaki Enoki to relaunch Enoki's School Judgment: Gakkyu Hotei digital one-shot as a serial in the first issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump for ^[13] However, the magazine stopped publishing it after the year's 24th issue and the series finished in the digital Shōnen Jump+ on May ^[14][15] It was serialized in English in the digital Weekly Shonen Jump.^[16]

From to , Obata created another series with Ohba called Platinum End. Starting in the December issue of Jump Square on November 4, , the manga ended on January 4, ^[17] The series had over million copies in circulation by December , and an anime adaptation began airing on television in October ^[18] In October , Obata teamed up with novelist Akinari Asakura to start the owarai-themed manga series Show-ha Shoten! in the November issue of Jump Square.^[19]

In addition to his manga work, Obata has also done character design work for the video game Castlevania Judgment,^[20] as well as illustrating several light novels. He provided character designs for Madhouse's anime adaptations of Osamu Dazai's No Longer Human and Natsume Sōseki's Kokoro, which are parts of the Aoi Bungaku series.^[21] He drew manga manuscripts seen in the live-action film adaptation of Bakuman that were later published in the Eiga Bakuman. Takeshi Obata Illustration Works book.^[22][23] He also designed a new CGI character for the Death Note: Light Up the New World live-action film.^[24] On May 3, , Viz Media published Obata's art book Blanc et Noir in North America.^[25]

Personal life

On September 6, , Obata was arrested for illegal possession of an &#;cm knife when he was pulled over in Musashino, Tokyo for driving with his car's headlights off at am. The artist claimed he kept the knife in his car for when he goes camping.^[26][27]

Works

Manga

Art books

• Aya - Hikaru no Go Illustration Collection (彩―ヒカルの碁イラスト集) (April )
• Blanc et Noir (May 31, )
• Eiga Bakuman. Takeshi Obata Illustration Works (映画バクマン。 小畑健イラストワークス) (October 2, )

Awards and nominations

References

External links