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 bef ...

, known for several works of

manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is ...

, including ''

Wing-Man is a Japanese science fiction manga series written and illustrated by Masakazu Katsura. It was serialized in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1983 to 1985, with the chapters collected into 13 ''tankōbon'' volumes by Shueisha. Synopsis ''W ...

'', ''

Shadow Lady ''Shadow Lady'' (stylized as ''SHADOW LADY'') is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masakazu Katsura. A first full-colored version was published in Shueisha's '' V Jump'' from 1992 to 1993. A one-shot chapter was published i ...

'', ''

DNA² is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masakazu Katsura. It was serialized in Shueisha's ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' magazine between August 1993 and July 1994, spanning 42 chapters collected in a total of five ''tankōbon'' volum ...

'', '' Video Girl Ai'', '' I"s'', and '' Zetman''. He has also worked as

character designer In visual arts, a model sheet, also known as a character board, character sheet, character study or simply a study, is a document used to help standardize the appearance, poses, and gestures of a character in arts such as animation, comics, and ...

for '' Iria: Zeiram the Animation'', ''

Tiger & Bunny ''Tiger & Bunny'' (stylized as ''TIGER & BUNNY'') is a 2011 Japanese anime superhero television series produced by Sunrise and directed by Keiichi Sato. The screenplay was written by Masafumi Nishida with original character design by ...

'' and '' Garo -Guren no Tsuki-'', as well as the video game '' Astral Chain.''

Career

Masakazu Katsura was born in the prefecture of Fukui in Japan. The turning point in his life was an illness for which he was bedridden, during which time he taught himself a different way to draw. Katsura entered the manga industry in his second or third year of high school, when he entered a work for the Tezuka Award to win the prize money. However, he says he did not grow up reading manga, instead he read novels and watched movies. '' Video Girl Ai'' was made into an

original video animation , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA ...

and has been released in North America. A live-action movie was also made of the story. The five-volume series ''

'' was adapted into a television anime series and concluded with a short OVA, both were also released in North America. '' I"s'' was adapted into two OVA series: one two-episode side story, and one six-episode summary of the manga. Katsura also performed as a vocalist on the songs "Tomorrow Will Be Tomorrow" and "Unseen Dream" from the two soundtracks for the ''Video Girl Ai'' OVA. In 2008, he collaborated with

Akira Toriyama is a Japanese manga artist and character designer. He first achieved mainstream recognition for his highly successful manga series '' Dr. Slump'', before going on to create '' Dragon Ball'' (his best-known work) and acting as a character des ...

, his good friend and creator of ''

Dragon Ball is a Japanese media franchise created by Akira Toriyama in 1984. The Dragon Ball (manga), initial manga, written and illustrated by Toriyama, was serialized in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1984 to 1995, with the 519 individual chapters colle ...

'' and ''

Dr. Slump is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama. It was serialized in Shueisha's anthology magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1980 to 1984, with the chapters collected into 18 ''tankōbon'' volumes. The series fol ...

'', for the ''

Jump SQ , 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 t ...

'' one-shot '' Sachie-chan Good!!''. The two became friends in the early 1980s, having been introduced by their mutual editor

Kazuhiko Torishima is a Japanese publishing executive and former manga magazine editor, who is currently serving as an advisor to Hakusensha. He formerly worked at Shueisha, where he began as an editor in 1976, before becoming a senior managing director (CEO), a ...

, and have even parodied each other in their own manga. Toriyama credits Katsura with coming up with the idea to have two characters "fuse" together in ''Dragon Ball'', leading to the Fusion technique. However, Katsura says this is only a rumor; while he did in fact suggest it to him, he knows that Toriyama was not listening and claims Toriyama later thought it up on his own. They worked together again in 2009, for the three-chapter one-shot '' Jiya'' in ''Weekly Young Jump''. Also in 2008, Katsura did a design illustration of the

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...

costume for

Bandai is a Japanese multinational toy manufacturer and distributor headquartered in Taitō, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Toys & Collectables America and Bandai UK, are respectively headquartered in Irvine, California and Richmond ...

's "Movie Realization" action figure line, basing it on the costume used in the film ''

The Dark Knight ''The Dark Knight'' is a 2008 superhero film directed by Christopher Nolan from a screenplay he co-wrote with his brother Jonathan. Based on the DC Comics superhero, Batman, it is the sequel to ''Batman Begins'' (2005) and the second insta ...

''.

Works

;Manga * ''

'' (1983–1985) * * * '' Zetman'' (4 one-shots from 1989 to 1994, serialized 2002–2014) * :Includes '' Video Girl Ai'' and ''

Video Girl Len ''Video Girl Ai'', known in Japan as simply , is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masakazu Katsura. It was serialized in Shueisha's ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from December 1989 to April 1992. It was followed by a short se ...

'' * ''

'' (1992–1993, 1995–1996) * * ''M'' (1996) * '' I"s'' (1997–1999) * ''Dr Chambalee'' (2000) * * ;Other works * '' Iria: Zeiram the Animation'' (

OVA , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA s ...

, character designs, 1994) * '' Love & Destroy'' (video game, character designs, 1999) * ''Bitch's Life'' (3 pages, 2001) * ''

'' (anime, character designs, 2011) * '' Garo: Crimson Moon'' (anime, character designs, 2015) *''

The Girl in Twilight , is a multimedia franchise celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Animax channel. An anime television series ran from October 1 to December 17, 2018. The project also includes a free-to-play mobile game that was launched on October 15, 2018 ...

'' (multimedia franchise, character designs, 2018) *'' Astral Chain'' (video game, character design, 2019)

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Katsura, Masazaku 1962 births Anime character designers Living people Manga artists from Fukui Prefecture