- Hearing “Takeshi Obata”, what are your impressions even if you haven’t read any of his works?
- If you’ve read any of his works, do you think his old works are better than his new ones?
- What’s your take on art only mangaka? Can they stand up on their own or are they carried by the story written by another mangaka?
- Which Story Mangaka do you think would pair well with Takeshi Obata?
Introduction
Takeshi Obata 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 drawing Death Note and Bakuman.
Obata has mentored several well-known manga artists, including Nobuhiro Watsuki of Rurouni Kenshin, Black Cat creator Kentaro Yabuki, and Eyeshield 21 artist Yusuke Murata.
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Short Bio
He was first noticed in 1985 when he took a prize in the Tezuka Award for his one shot 500 Kōnen no Shinwa.
Joining the Weekly Shōnen Jump staff in 1989, he mentored under Makoto Niwano before starting his first major series, writing and drawing Cyborg Jii-chan G.
He then created Hikaru no Go with Yumi Hotta, which received the Shogakukan Manga Award in 1999 and the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2003.
In 2003 he teamed up with Tsugumi Ohba to create Death Note. It became his biggest hit to date, with 26.5 million copies in circulation, an anime adaptation and three live action films.
He then reunited with Tsugumi Ohba for Bakuman., which ran from August 2008 to April 2012.
In 2014, he drew a manga adaptation of All You Need Is Kill with Ryōsuke Takeuchi.
Author’s Works
Obata’s most notable works (which is also the focus of our discussion) are:
A regular school boy, Hikaru Shindo stumbles upon an old GO board while looking through his grandpa’s old storage room for something worth money. From inside the board came an old spirit named Sai who once dedicated his life to GO.
Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects, and he’s bored out of his mind. But all that changes when he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a rogue Shinigami death god. Any human whose name is written in the notebook will die according to it’s writer’s will.
Mashiro, with his superb drawing skill, is invited by his writing genius classmate Takagi to tread the difficult path of the mangaka. His sights are set on his naive yet earnest joint dream with Miho, who is aiming to become a voice actress.
The world is in a war against an alien race called “Mimics,” who have a mission to eliminate the human race. Keiji Kiriya is a new recruit, which is battling against these “Mimics”. In his first day of deployment, Keiji encounter “Mimics” and killed, but for some inexplicable reason, after every time he dies, he is resurrected and returned back to the day before the battle.
After the death of his parents, a young Mirai Kakehashi is left in the care of his abusive relatives. Since then, he has become gloomy and depressed, leading him to attempt suicide on the evening of his middle school graduation. Mirai, however, is saved by a pure white girl named Nasse who introduces herself as a guardian angel wishing to give him happiness by granting him supernatural powers and a chance to become the new God. In order to earn the position, he must defeat 12 other “God Candidates” within 999 days. Soon, Mirai begins a struggle to survive as a terrifying battle royale erupts between himself and the candidates looking to obtain the most power in the world.
In addition to his numerous manga work, he also done character design work for the video game Castlevania Judgment, as well as illustrating several light novels.
Fun Fact
Obata is rare among shōnen artists, not only for the detail of his drawings, but in his penchant for fashion; the characters he draws often wear stylish clothes and trendy items like the latest fashionable scarf, tie, or handbag.
On September 6, 2006, Obata was arrested for illegal possession of an 8.6 cm knife when he was pulled over in Musashino, Tokyo for driving with his car’s headlights off at 12:30am. The artist claimed he keeps the knife in his car for when he goes camping.
Hello, I’ll try to make at least one mangaka discussion post per week. Let me know in the comments which one you want to see next time.
Any suggestions to make these better are welcome.
Other Mangaka Discussion
Full Disclosure: I copied the post in /r/manga word for word and just added a few stuff like the questions at the top and Platina End. Hopefully it will still be good post for discussion.
I first read Hikaru no Go, and that got me into playing go for a while (although I’m still terrible at even 20 years later). It’s amazing how Obata is able to bring to life something as “passive” (for a lack of better word) as Go. But that I think that’s really what sets him apart from other high caliber mangakas. Look at Death Note, Bakuman, and Showa Shoten that followed. The focus and most exciting scenes often come from “passive” activities — writing in a book, drawing, talking. It’s one thing to make a fight scene look cool and exciting, but I think it takes even more skill to do that with a dull activity.
I don’t know of many story mangakas but after he finishes with Showa Shoten, I want to see him write one that plays games or gambling. I feel many of the popular mangas of those genre can use better art, so I want to see how well Obata can draw one.
For me the god of gambling manga is Fukumuto Nobuyuki, and hes getting old (64 years old). I’ve said this earlier but it’d be interesting to see them pair up.