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 ...

, animator, and

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 after shortening the English loanword or , but the meaning in Japanese is ...

and character designer. Born in Maizuru, Kyoto Prefecture, he is noted for his work with

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

studio

Sunrise Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon and its accompanying atmospheric effects. Terminology A ...

. He is married to voice actress Maria Kawamura.

Career

Mamoru Nagano made his professional debut in 1984 working with

Yoshiyuki Tomino is a Japanese mecha anime creator, animator, director, screenwriter, songwriter and novelist best known for creating the ''Gundam'' anime franchise. He was born in Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture, and studied at Nihon University's College of Ar ...

on the TV series '' Heavy Metal L-Gaim''. ''Fool for the City'', his first manga, came out in 1985 but it was 1986 that brought ''

The Five Star Stories is a mecha manga series created by Mamoru Nagano, building on his work on the anime series '' Heavy Metal L-Gaim''. The story takes place cluster of four major planetary systems. Amaterasu, the immortal emperor of the Grees Kingdom on the pl ...

'', which is still in production today. Nagano founded Toys Press, Inc. to publish much of his work. His work in ''Heavy Metal L-Gaim'' introducing mecha with armor plates that appeared to fit loosely over an internal skeleton. These detailed and somewhat plausible designs sparked a fresh wave of designs in mecha anime. From there, Nagano went on to design elegant and graceful mecha for his manga ''The Five Star Stories'' that displayed elongated lines, delicate curves and a degree of decoration and detail that appealed to the imaginations of a generation of mecha fans. Nagano can be called an innovator in the field of mecha design. He has also contributed to the mecha designs of '' Zeta Gundam''. Among his contributions were the Rick Dias and Hyaku Shiki. Nagano is also the co-author (along with Kunihiko Ikuhara) and illustrator of ''

Schell Bullet is a series by Kunihiko Ikuhara. It is composed of a two-volume novel by Ikuhara with artwork by Mamoru Nagano, and , a concept album composed by Tenpei Sato with vocals from Ikuhara and Maria Kawamura. Synopsis As a result of gene manipulati ...

'', a novel in two volumes. Later, he has worked on the anime '' Gothicmade'' with studio Automatic Flowers as the producer, director, chief writer, character and mechanical designer for the series. Nagano is a very versatile man and has been a professional artist, manga writer, musician and fashion designer. Some of his art books show him dressed up as Minako Aino from ''

Sailor Moon is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. It was originally serialized in Kodansha's ''shōjo'' manga magazine ''Nakayoshi'' from 1991 to 1997; the 52 individual chapters were published in 18 volumes. The se ...

'' for

cosplay Cosplay, a portmanteau of "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character. Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture ...

Works

Manga

*''Fool For the City'' - Story and art *''

'' – Story and art

Anime

*''All That Gundam'' – Mechanical design *''

Brain Powered is a Japanese anime television series created by Sunrise. The series is set on a future, decimated Earth after the discovery of a mysterious, alien spacecraft dubbed "Orphan". A group of researchers scour the planet for Orphan's disc plates ...

'' – Mecha design *''

Delpower X Bakuhatsu Miracle Genki! is a 1986 mecha original video animation. The story is of a Japanese teenage girl and a powered armor suit. Plot Teenager Hanegi Manami leaves to go to school, just as a helicopter delivers a powered armor for her grandfather. Known as Del Po ...

'' – Character design *''

'' – Original manga *'' Gundam Evolve'' – Mechanical design *'' Gothicmade'' – Director, screenplay, storyboard, original creator, character design, key animation, layout, photography *'' Heavy Metal L-Gaim'' – Character design *'' Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam'' – Design

Video games

*'' Tekken 3'' –

Anna Williams Anna Williams may refer to: * Anna Williams (poet) (1706–1783), writer and friend of Samuel Johnson * Anna Maria Williams (1839–1929), New Zealand teacher and school principal * Anna Wessels Williams (1863–1954), pioneering female doctor a ...

's costume design *'' Tekken Tag Tournament'' – Anna Williams's costume design *''

Tekken 5 is a fighting game developed and published by Namco for the arcades in 2004, and for the PlayStation 2 in 2005. It is the fifth main and sixth installment, in the '' Tekken'' series, marking the tenth anniversary of the series. The game is set ...

'' – Anna Williams's extra costume design *'' Tekken 6'' – Anna Williams and Asuka Kazama's costume design

References

External links

Toyspress Mamoru Nagano Lavoratory
(bad link: February 14, 2017) * * * 1960 births Anime character designers Japanese animators Japanese animated film directors Japanese film directors Living people Mechanical designers (mecha) Manga artists from Kyoto Prefecture Sunrise (company) people People from Maizuru {{Anime-bio-stub