is a Japanese manga artist, known for the manga series ''

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Koyoharu Gotouge. It follows teenage Tanjiro Kamado, who strives to become a demon slayer after his family was slaughtered and his younger sister, Nezuko Kamado, Nezuko, turned into a ...

'' (2016–2020). As of February 2021, the manga had over 150 million copies in circulation (including digital copies), making it the ninth best-selling manga series of all time. Gotouge was included as "Phenoms" in ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

''s annual list of

100 Most Influential People ''Time'' 100 (often stylized as ''TIME'' 100) is an annual listicle of the 100 most influential people in the world, assembled by the American news magazine ''Time''. First published in 1999 as the result of a debate among American academics, po ...

, becoming the first manga artist to receive the achievement.

Early life

Gotouge was born in

Fukuoka Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Fukuoka Prefecture has a population of 5,109,323 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,986 Square kilometre, km2 (1,925 sq mi). Fukuoka Prefecture borders S ...

, Japan, on May 5, 1989. The author uses a pen name to maintain anonymity.

Career

In 2013, Gotouge debuted in the 70th Jump Treasure Newcomer Manga Awards with the one-shot work . Three more one-shots followed: , published in ''

Jump Next! Jumping is a form of locomotion or movement in which an organism or non-living (e.g., robotic) mechanical system propels itself through the air along a ballistic trajectory. Jump or Jumping also may refer to: Places * Jump, Kentucky or Jump S ...

'' in 2014; , published 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 ...

'' in 2014; and , published in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' in 2015. After ''Haeniwa no Zigzag'' failed to be a serialized series, Tatsuhiko Katayama (Gotouge's first editor) suggested to start a series with an "easy-to-understand theme". Gotouge's debut work ''Kagarigari'' would serve as a basis for ''

''. The series was published in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from February 15, 2016, to May 18, 2020. It became a success, with over 150 million copies in circulation (including digital copies) as of February 2021, making it one of the best-selling manga series of all time. In February 2021, Gotouge commented that their next project would be a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

story.

Influences

Gotouge has mentioned

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 ''

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 ...

;'' Masashi Kishimoto's ''

Naruto ''Naruto'' is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. It tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, a young ninja who seeks recognition from his peers and dreams of becoming the Hokage, the leader of his village. T ...

;''

Tite Kubo , known professionally as , is a Japanese manga artist and character designer. He is best known for his manga series '' Bleach'' (2001–2016), which had over 130 million copies in circulation as of 2022. Biography Kubo was born on June 26, 197 ...

's '' Bleach;'' and

Hideaki Sorachi is the pen name of a Japanese manga artist, most well-known for his manga ''Gin Tama,'' which began serialization in 2003 and ended in 2019. He has also written numerous one-shots, including ''Dandelion'', of which he has won the Tenkaichi Hono ...

's ''

Gintama is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hideaki Sorachi. It was serialized in Shueisha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from December 2003 to September 2018, later in ''Jump Giga'' from December 2 ...

'' as influences on their work.

Awards and honors

In 2020, Gotouge received the 2nd Kodansha's Noma Publishing Culture Award, which honors those who have contributed to "reinventing publishing". Gotouge received the award due to the franchise's sales, which boosted the entire publishing industry from 2019 to 2020. In the same year, Gotouge also won the award for best screenplay/original story at the Tokyo Anime Award Festival. In February 2021, Gotouge was included as "Phenoms" in ''

''s annual list of

, making them the first manga artist to receive the achievement. In March 2021, Gotouge won the Newcomer Award in the media fine arts category of the 2020 Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Fine Arts Recommendation Awards. In 2021, Gotouge received the Special Prize of the 25th annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize. In 2021, Gotouge won the Comic division's grand prize of the 50th Japan Cartoonists Association Awards.

Works

* (2013) — One-shot * (2014) — One-shot published in

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 ...

's ''Jump Next!'' * (2014) — One-shot published in Shueisha's ''

'' * (2015) — One-shot published in Shueisha's ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' * (2016–2020) — Serialized in Shueisha's ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'', collected in 23 ''

tankōbon is the Japanese term for a book that is not part of an anthology or corpus. In modern Japanese, the term is most often used in reference to individual volumes of a manga series: most series first appear as individual chapters in a weekly or ...

'' volumes * (2019) — Collected volume of Gotouge's four one-shots published by Shueisha

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gotouge, Koyoharu 1989 births Living people Manga artists from Fukuoka Prefecture Winner of Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize (Special Award) 21st-century pseudonymous writers