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 ...

. His first series, ''

Attack on Titan is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hajime Isayama. It is set in a world where humanity is forced to live in cities surrounded by three enormous walls that protect them from gigantic man-eating humanoids referred to as ...

'' (2009–2021), became one of the best-selling manga series of all time with 110 million copies in circulation as of September 2022.

Biography

Isayama was born in Ōyama, Ōita Prefecture, Japan, which is now part of Hita. He was attending Hita Rinko Senior High School when he began submitting manga works to contests. After graduating, he matriculated in the manga design program of the arts department at Kyushu Designer Gakuen. In 2006, he applied for the Magazine Grand Prix known as MGP promoted by

Kodansha is a Japanese privately-held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha is the largest Japanese publishing company, and it produces the manga magazines ''Nakayoshi'', ''Afternoon'', ''Evening'', ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' an ...

Ltd. and a short version of ''Attack on Titan'' (''Shingeki no Kyojin'') was given the "Fine Work" award. At age twenty, he moved to Tokyo and worked at an Internet café in order to pursue a career in writing manga. This one-shot would later be included with the first Blu-ray of the anime adaptation. Originally, he offered his work to the '' Weekly Shōnen Jump'' department at Shueisha, where he was advised to modify his style and story to be more suitable for ''Weekly Shōnen Jump''. He declined and decided instead to take it to the '' Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' department at Kodansha Ltd. In 2008, he applied for the 80th ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' Freshman Manga Award, where his work ''Heart Break One'' was given the Special Encouragement Award. His other work, ''Orz'', was chosen as a selected work in the same contest the following year. In 2009, his first serial work, ''

'', started in the monthly '' Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine''. It won the '' Shōnen'' category of the 35th

Kodansha Manga Award is an annual award for serialized manga published in the previous year, the event is sponsored by the publisher Kodansha. It is currently awarded in three categories: '' shōnen'', '' shōjo'', and general. The awards began in 1977, initially w ...

in 2011, and was nominated for both the 4th annual Manga Taishō award and the 16th annual

Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize Named after Osamu Tezuka, the is a yearly manga prize awarded to manga artists or their works that follow the Osamu Tezuka manga approach founded and sponsored by Asahi Shimbun. The prize has been awarded since 1997, in Tokyo, Japan. Current ...

. ''Attack on Titan'' is released in English by Kodansha USA and has inspired five spin-off manga series, three light novel series, a televised anime adaptation, several visual novels and video games, and a two part live-action film. The resort Bungo Oyama Hibiki no Sato in his hometown of Ōyama, ran a free exhibit displaying copies of Isayama's manuscripts for the manga in 2013. A special ''Attack on Titan'' event was held in Hita on November 1, 2014, with Isayama and approximately 2,500 spectators attending. The following day, Isayama gave a speech at the Patria Hita cultural hall and was named the Tourism Ambassador of Hita by the city's mayor Keisuke Harada. In December 2018, he announced in his blog that he had gotten married earlier that year.

Works

Awards

References

External links

Hajime Isayama official blog
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Isayama, Hajime 1986 births Living people Manga artists from Ōita Prefecture People from Ōita Prefecture Attack on Titan