is a Japanese

manga artist A is a comic artist who writes and/or illustrates manga. As of 2006, about 3,000 professional manga artists were working in Japan. Most manga artists study at an art college or manga school or take on an apprenticeship with another artist be ...

, best known as the creator of the multicultural hit, ''

Shaman King is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiroyuki Takei. It follows the adventures of Yoh Asakura as he attempts to hone his shaman skills to become the Shaman King by winning the Shaman Fight. Takei chose shamanism as the ma ...

''.

Career

Hiroyuki Takei started drawing manga with writer EXIAD on SD Département Store Series which they created for a fanzine. Early in his career, he became the assistant to

Tamakichi Sakura , also known as ,
" ''

Kōji Kiriyama is a Japanese manga artist, best known for the ''Ninku'' series which was serialized in Shueisha's ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' manga magazine between 1993 and 1995, and was adapted into an anime series and film. A second manga titled ran from 2005 ...

(''

Ninku is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kōji Kiriyama. It was serialized in Shueisha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from June 1993 to September 1995, with is chapters collected in nine ''tankōbon'' v ...

''). At that time, he also submitted his first yomikiri Dragdoll Group to the

Tezuka Award The is a semi-annual manga award offered by the Japanese publisher Shueisha since 1971, under the auspices of its ''Weekly Shonen Jump'' magazine. It awarded new manga artists in the Story Manga category. Its counterpart award, Akatsuka Award, a ...

but was rejected. In 1994, Takei submitted his short story ''Anna the Itako'' to the 48th Tezuka Award and won the honorable mention. He was later introduced to

Nobuhiro Watsuki , better known by his pen name , is a Japanese manga artist. He is best known for his samurai-themed series '' Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story'' (1994–1999), which has over 70 million copies in circulation and a sequel he is cur ...

and became his assistant along with

Eiichiro Oda is a Japanese manga artist and the creator of the series ''One Piece'' (1997–present). With more than 516.5 million ''tankōbon'' copies in circulation worldwide, ''One Piece'' is both the best-selling manga in history and the best-se ...

on ''

Rurouni Kenshin is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Nobuhiro Watsuki. The story begins during the 11th year of the Meiji period in Japan (1878) and follows a former assassin from the Bakumatsu, known as Hitokiri Battosai. After his work ...

''. Takei published his short story ''Death Zero'' in ''

Weekly Shōnen Jump is a weekly ''shōnen'' manga anthology published in Japan by Shueisha under the ''Jump'' line of magazines. The manga series within the magazine consist of many action scenes and a fair amount of comedy. The chapters of the series that run ...

'' winter special and ''

Butsu Zone is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiroyuki Takei. It was serialized in Shueisha's ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from March to August 1997, with its chapters collected in three ''tankōbon'' volumes. "Buddha Zone" is the concept b ...

'' in the summer special of 1996. A reworked version of ''

'' became his first manga series published in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' of 1997. Takei's longest-running series, ''

'' began serialization in Shueisha's ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' in 1998, though was forced to conclude in 2004. In 2007, Takei returned three years after the conclusion of ''Shaman King'' with a new ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' series, entitled '' Jumbor Barutronica''. Set in the distant future, construction workers pilot

mecha In science fiction, or mechs are giant robots or machines controlled by people, typically depicted as humanoid walking vehicles. The term was first used in Japanese (language), Japanese after shortening the English loanword or , but the mean ...

. One of them is killed and his memories are implanted in his clone, a thirty-year-old man in a five-year-old superpowered construction tool body. The series was canceled after ten issues and released in one volume. During the

Jump Festa is an annual party or exposition in Japan, all about manga and anime, sponsored by Shueisha, publisher of the various ''Jump'' anthologies which are Weekly Shōnen Jump, Jump Square, V Jump, Saikyō Jump and Shōnen Jump+. The exposition was sta ...

2008, Shueisha announced a kanzenban reprint of ''Shaman King''. This release reprinted the entire series in 27 volumes complete with new covers while concluding the never-before-published "true ending." On March 4, 2008, Japanese publisher

Shūeisha (lit. "Gathering of Intellect Publishing Co., Ltd.") is a Japanese company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The company was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The foll ...

announced that Takei would be collaborating on '' Karakuri Dôji Ultimo'' with American comic creator

Stan Lee Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber ; December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018) was an American comic book writer, editor, publisher, and producer. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called Timely Publications which ...

. The project launched with the new ''Jump SQ.II'' (Jump Square Second) spinoff manga magazine on April 18, 2008. The announcement of the partnership was made in the April issue of ''

Jump Square , also written as , is a Japanese monthly '' shōnen'' manga magazine. Published by Shueisha, the magazine premiered on November 2, 2007 as a replacement for '' Monthly Shōnen Jump'', another manga anthology that Shueisha discontinued in June of ...

'' magazine. As of 2010, Takei is working on two monthly series ''Jumbor'', written by and ''Karakuri Dôji Ultimo'' with Stan Lee. On February 15, 2017, when answering a fan's question, Hiroyuki Takei revealed on his official Twitter that he received an offer for an anime remake of his representative work ''Shaman King'', but had to turn it down because they were not able to use the first anime's voice actors and soundtrack music. In June 2020, a new anime television series was announced, which aired from April 1, 2021 to April 21, 2022 and featured several returning cast members from the 2001 anime series in both the Japanese and the English dub.

Inspiration

Takei named

Hirohiko Araki is a Japanese manga artist. He is best known for his long-running series ''JoJo's Bizarre Adventure'', which began publication in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' in 1987 and has over 120 million copies in circulation, making it one of the best-selling ...

's series ''

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki. It was originally serialized in Shueisha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1987 to 2004, and was transferred to the monthly ''seinen'' manga ...

'' and ''

Baoh is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki, most famous for his manga ''JoJo's Bizarre Adventure''. Originally serialized in Shueisha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine '' Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1984 to 1985, it was ...

'' as his favorite manga when he was younger. In an interview with ''Shonen Jump'', he also cited ''Taiyo Kosoku'' by

Baru ''Baru'' is an extinct genus of Australian mekosuchine crocodilian. It was semi-aquatic, around 4 m (13 ft) in length. Being semi-aquatic its habitat was around fresh pools of water in wet forests, ambushing their prey, much like moder ...

, ''

Blade of the Immortal is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiroaki Samura. The series is set in Japan during the mid- Tokugawa Shogunate period and follows the cursed samurai Manji, who has to kill 1,000 evil men in order to regain his mortal ...

'' by

Hiroaki Samura is a Japanese manga artist, known for ''Blade of the Immortal'', as well as several other short works. He has also done various illustrations for magazines and ero guro work. Education Samura says that he always wanted to be a manga artist. How ...

, and ''

Hellboy Hellboy is a fictional superhero created by writer-artist Mike Mignola. The character first appeared in ''San Diego Comic-Con Comics'' #2 (August 1993), and has since appeared in various eponymous miniseries, one-shots and intercompany crossovers ...

'' by

Mike Mignola Mike Mignola (; born September 16, 1960) is an American comics artist and writer best known for creating ''Hellboy'' for Dark Horse Comics, part of a shared universe of titles including ''B.P.R.D.'', '' Abe Sapien'', '' Lobster Johnson'', '' Wit ...

as favorites. Takei has also been influenced by

American comic books An American comic book is a thin periodical originating in the United States, on average 32 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publication of ''Action Comics'', ...

Mecha anime Mecha anime and manga, known in Japan as and , are anime and manga that feature robots (mecha) in battle. The genre is broken down into two subcategories; "super robot", featuring super-sized, implausible robots, and "real robot", where robots are ...

and

Osamu Tezuka Osamu Tezuka (, born , ''Tezuka Osamu''; – 9 February 1989) was a Japanese manga artist, cartoonist, and animator. Born in Osaka Prefecture, his prolific output, pioneering techniques, and innovative redefinitions of genres earned him such ...

Works

Serializations

One-shots

Shaman King specials

Fanzines

* *''Jumbor Japon'' (Self-published and sold out at

Comiket , more commonly known as or , is a semiannual ''doujinshi'' convention in Tokyo, Japan. A grassroots market focused on the sale of '' doujin'' (self-published) works, Comiket is a not-for-profit fan convention administered by the volunteer-ru ...

73)

Unreleased

* (Concept/Script:EXIAD) * (Rejected submission for the Tezuka Awards)

Character design

Anna Kyoyama is a fictional character created by manga author Hiroyuki Takei. She appears in '' Shaman King'' as a primary character, while an alternate character with the same name and similar appearance appears in ''Butsu Zone'', and ''Itako no Anna'', a on ...

from ''

'' is the mascot for the police station in the

Aomori Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan in the Tōhoku region. The prefecture's capital, largest city, and namesake is the city of Aomori. Aomori is the northernmost prefecture on Japan's main island, Honshu, and is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the east, ...

. * was a series of toys and a manga created for

Takara Tomy is a Japanese entertainment company that makes children's toys and merchandise. It was created from a merger on March 1st 2006 of two companies: Tomy (founded in 1924 as Tomiyama, changing the name to Tomy in 1963) and long-time rival Tak ...

. Takei was hired as art supervisor and one of his assistants, , drew the manga which ran in ''

V Jump is a Japanese shōnen manga magazine, focusing on new manga as well as video games based on popular manga. The magazine's debut was in 1993 by Shueisha under the ''Jump'' line of magazines. History A prototype magazine called '' Hobby's Jump ...

'' during issue number 8 to 10 in 2006. The series was canceled after 3 chapters and never met the intended 197 pages announced in the first chapter. *Takei did the character design of and his axe True Hash for ''

Phantasy Star Portable 2 is a video game for the PlayStation Portable, produced by Alfa System and published by Sega. It is the sequel to '' Phantasy Star Portable'' and was released for the PlayStation Portable in Japan on December 3, 2009. The North American versio ...

''. *Takei did the character design of '' Garo: The Animation''. *Takei did the original character designs for the original anime series, ''

Shine On! Bakumatsu Bad Boys! is an original Japanese anime television series animated by Geno Studio and produced by Twin Engine. It is directed and written by Tetsuo Hirakawa, with Yasuharu Takanashi composing the music. It aired from July to September 2022 on Tokyo MX ...

''.

Other Works

* Illustrator for the ''

Cardfight!! Vanguard is a Japanese multimedia franchise jointly created by Akira Itō, Satoshi Nakamura, Mitsuhisa Tamura, and Bushiroad president Takaaki Kidani. It currently consists of multiple anime television series, an official trading ...

'' Trading Card Games.

References

External links

Official TwitterHiroyuki Takei - the soul of Shaman King
- Documentary portrait of Hiroyuki Takei {{DEFAULTSORT:Takei, Hiroyuki 1972 births Living people Manga artists from Aomori Prefecture Yomogita, Aomori