is the pen name of 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 ...

and writer whose

real name A legal name is the name that identifies a person for legal, administrative and other official purposes. A person's legal birth name generally is the name of the person that was given for the purpose of registration of the birth and which then a ...

and date of birth are unknown. He is best known for his manga series ''

The Promised Neverland is a Japanese manga series written by Kaiu Shirai and illustrated by Posuka Demizu. It was serialized in Shueisha's ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from August 2016 to June 2020, with its chapters collected in twenty ''tankōbon'' volumes. In N ...

''.

Early life

Kaiu Shirai was doing

Kabuki is a classical form of Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily-stylised performances, the often-glamorous costumes worn by performers, and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers. Kabuki is thought to ...

at a young age and then after graduating from university, Shirai gained employment at a normal company, but later resigned. Aiming to become a professional manga artist, he began to submit manuscripts to editors and magazines.

Career history

On 21 June 2015, Kaiu Shirai published his first professional work, a standalone piece called, ''The Location of Ashley-Gate'', in ''

Shōnen Jump+ is a Japanese online magazine for manga created by Shueisha, spin-off from its ''Jump'' line of magazines. Launched on September 22, 2014, the magazine operates as a free mobile app and website. The magazine serializes original titles and titles ...

'', a digital imprint of

Shueisha (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 ...

, with art by Kyousuke Maruyama. Again, in the same magazine, he published his second work, another standalone piece called, ''Poppy's Wish'', in collaboration with artist

Posuka Demizu is a Japanese manga artist, illustrator and designer. She is particularly known for having drawn ''The Promised Neverland''. She debuted as a manga artist with the 2013 CoroCoro Comic series ''Oreca Monster Bouken Retsuden''. A collection of ...

on 18 February 2016. After that, Shirai created a serialized work based on drafts written while he was still an amateur. This work, ''

'', (with art by Posuka Demizu) started its run in the 35th issue of ''

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 ...

'' on 1 August 2016 and finished in the 28th issue of the magazine on 15 June 2020. Along with manga artist Posuka Demizu, Shirai published two one-shots in 2020 and 2021. The first one, ''Spirit Photographer Saburo Kono'' was published in the combined issue No. 36 – No. 37, 2020 of ''Weekly Shōnen Jump''; the second one is titled ''DC3'', published in the same magazine in issue No. 35 of 2021. On 3 September 2021, '' Kaiu Shirai x Posuka Demizu: Beyond The Promised Neverland'' was published, which included works and one-shots in combination with Posuka Demizu. A collaborative exhibition titled ''Miroirs manga meets Chanel'' by Kaiu Shirai, Posuka Demizu and

Chanel Chanel ( , ) is a French high-end luxury fashion house founded in 1910 by Coco Chanel in Paris. Chanel specializes in women's ready-to-wear, luxury goods, and accessories and licenses its name and branding to Luxottica for eyewear. Chanel is ...

was held at Chanel Nexus Hall Ginza,

Chūō, Tokyo is a Special wards of Tokyo, special ward that forms part of the heart of Tokyo, Japan. The ward refers to itself in English as Chūō City. It was formed in 1947 as a merger of Kyōbashi, Tokyo, Kyobashi and Nihonbashi wards following Tokyo C ...

, from 28 April to 4 June 2021. The manga ''Miroirs'', written and illustrated by the duo, was inspired by the Chanel brand. In this exhibition, scenes from ''Miroirs'' are exhibited alongside precious works from Chanel. The manga was published by Shueisha on 30 April 2021. In 2022, Shirai participated as a judge at ''Shōnen Jump+s 7th Stokin Pro Garyokin 2022, to discover new talented manga artists.

Influences

Kaiu Shirai commented that he was influenced by manga artists

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 ...

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 ...

Yoshihiro Togashi is a Japanese manga artist. He began drawing manga at an early age, before being recognized for his talent by publishing company Shueisha while attending college. Togashi has authored several manga series in different genres during the past thr ...

and

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 ...

; Directors

Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dyna ...

, Kouki Mitani, Kentaro Kobayashi and

Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese animator, director, producer, screenwriter, author, and manga artist. A co-founder of Studio Ghibli, he has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and creator of Japanese animated feature films, and is widel ...

; with Kabuki actor Kanzaburo Nakamura XVIII as personalities that influenced him the most.

Works

Manga

* (art by

, serialized in ''

'', 2016–2020).

One-shots

* ''The Location of Ashley-Gate'' (art by Kyousuke Maruyama, ''

'', 2015). * '' Kaiu Shirai x Posuka Demizu: Beyond The Promised Neverland'' (白井カイウ×出水ぽすか短編集, Shirai kaiu × Demizu posuka Tanhenshū) (2021) — Collected volume of Shirai's one-shots published by

. ** ''Poppy's Wish'' (art by Posuka Demizu, ''Shōnen Jump+'', 2016). ** ''Spirit Photographer Saburo Kono'' (art by Posuka Demizu, ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'', Issue No. 36, 2020–Issue No. 37, 2020). ** ''DC3'' (art by Posuka Demizu, ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'', Issue No. 35, 2021). ** ''We Were Born'' (art by Posuka Demizu, ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'', Issue #5–#6, 2021). ** ''Dreams Come True'' (art by Posuka Demizu).

Awards

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shirai, Kaiu Living people Manga writers Year of birth missing (living people)