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 ...

well known for his work including unique and original gambling ideas, deep psychological analyses of characters, and distinct artstyle.

Yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media, by request of the police, call them , while the ''yakuza'' call themselves . The English equivalent for the term ...

and gambling are recurring themes in his manga. In English-speaking countries, he is known best as the author of '' Akagi'', a

mahjong Mahjong or mah-jongg (English pronunciation: ) is a tile-based game that was developed in the 19th century in China and has spread throughout the world since the early 20th century. It is commonly played by four players (with some three-play ...

-related manga. In 1998, he won the

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 ...

for '' Gambling Apocalypse: Kaiji''. An

onomatopoeia Onomatopoeia is the process of creating a word that phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. Such a word itself is also called an onomatopoeia. Common onomatopoeias include animal noises such as ''oink'', ''m ...

"zawa" (), meaning an uneasy atmosphere, appears frequently in his comics and is considered Fukumoto's trademark.

Career

Fukumoto was born in Kanagawa Prefecture and grew up reading ''

Perman is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by the manga artist duo Fujiko Fujio about a clumsy boy, Mitsuo Suwa, who is chosen to apprentice to a powerful superhero to save the world along with other superheroes. The manga series ...

'' and other

shōnen manga is an editorial category of Japanese comics targeting an audience of adolescent boys. It is, along with manga (targeting adolescent girls and young women), manga (targeting young adult and adult men), and manga (targeting adult women), ...

as a child, as well as studying

karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the ...

and

kickboxing Kickboxing is a combat sports, combat sport focused on kicking and punch (strike), punching. The combat takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouthguards, shorts, and bare feet to favour the use of kicks. Kickboxing is pract ...

due to wanting to get stronger. In high school, he went on to study architecture, and in his own words, he was "a dazed student, neither good nor a delinquent." After graduating, Fukumoto got a job as a site foreman at a construction company, but found the work boring and decided to become a manga artist to try and get a big break in life.''Wani no Hatsukoi'' (Morning KC), ,

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 ...

During this time, when he pitched a

kendo is a modern Japanese martial art, descended from kenjutsu (one of the old Japanese martial arts, swordsmanship), that uses bamboo swords (shinai) as well as protective armor (bōgu). Today, it is widely practiced within Japan and has spread ...

manga to

, he was advised to work as an assistant to gain some experience first. He began working under , who was looking for assistants at the time, and quit the construction company after only three months of employment, with the reasoning that if he worked there long enough and obtained qualifications, he would not be able to quit. Despite being hired as an assistant, he was unable to draw skillfully, and was assigned solely to work odd jobs such as cooking. After about a year and a half, Kazama, who was worried about Fukumoto, told him that he was too rough and that he might be better suited to be a truck driver. As a result, Fukumoto quit his job as an assistant after about a year and a half. In 1980, he made his debut with ''Yoroshiku! Junjō Daishō'', published in ''

Monthly Shōnen Champion is a Japanese manga anthology. It is published by Akita Shoten since March 1970. Manga artists and series * Daijiro Morohoshi **''Mudmen'' *Hideo Azuma **'' Chibi Mama-chan'' **'' Kakuto Family'' **'' Yadorigi-kun'' *Hideyuki Yonehara **'' Choc ...

''. Since then, his work had not achieved large-scale success for a while, so he worked part-time at places like ''

champon , also known as ''Chanpon'', is a noodle dish that is a regional cuisine of Nagasaki, Japan. There are different versions in Japan, Korea and China. The dish was inspired by Chinese cuisine. ''Champon'' is made by frying pork, seafood and v ...

'' restaurants to earn a living while submitting his entries to

Tetsuya Chiba is a Japanese manga artist famous for his sports stories. Chiba's works include ''Ashita no Joe'', his best known work, and ''Notari Matsutarō''. Many of his early titles are still in print due to continued popularity. Life He was born in Ch ...

Awards in the meantime. In 1983, his work ''Wani no Hatsukoi'' won the Outstanding Newcomer Award at the Tetsuya Chiba Awards. Despite having a good part-time job and earning a good amount of money, he chose to make do with manga alone, and quit at 24 years old. One of the pseudonyms he used at the time was . During his debut, he mainly drew human drama stories, but in the 1980s, the Japanese economy was booming and gambling-themed manga was thriving, so he began drawing gambling manga because it was easier to get work in that field. At the end of the 1980s, his

gambling manga '' Ten'' began serialization in ''Kindai Mahjong Gold''. It became Fukumoto's first popular work and established him as a well-known manga artist. In 1996, Fukumoto began serializing '' Kaiji'' in ''

Weekly Young Magazine is a Japanese weekly anthology magazine published in Tokyo each Monday by Kodansha. The magazine was started on June 23, 1980 and is targeted at the adult male ( ''seinen'') demographic. It was published bimonthly (under the title ), on the seco ...

''. The series has become a hit, publishing over 70 volumes and selling over 20 million copies, sealing his popularity as a manga artist. Fukumoto donated 30 million yen to the areas affected by the

Great East Japan Earthquake Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great (born ...

that occurred on March 11, 2011, and has contributed a supportive illustration. He has also visited the affected areas to sign and draw illustrations for the victims. In recent years, he has been involved in making

cameo appearances A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly ei ...

in live-action adaptations of his work, and writing screenplays for the second and third ''Kaiji'' films.

Style

Fukumoto is known as one of the leading gambling manga authors, and his work is defined by detailed psychological descriptions and intense characterizations. Much of his works depict men in extreme games, which range from modifications of existing games to original ones altogether. The number of female characters in his gambling-focused works is extremely low, although they do appear quite commonly in works that mainly deal with human nature. Later, however, he began ''Yami-Mahjong Fighter: Mamiya'', a gambling-focused series with a female protagonist. When drawing, he has a unique penning method of spinning the manuscript paper as he draws. In July 2009, he appeared at the "''

Big Comic Superior is a semimonthly seinen manga magazine published since July 1, 1987 by Shogakukan in Japan. Its target audience is somewhere between the audience for ''Big Comic Original'' and ''Big Comic Spirits''. The magazine has published works by a number ...

Presents: The 6th "

Rieko Saibara is a Japanese manga artist. She made her professional debut in 1988 with , serialized in ''Weekly Young Sunday''. In 1989, she graduated from the Department of Visual Communication Design at Musashino Art University. Saibara has received numer ...

's Life Drawing Skill Showdown"''" event held at Loft Plus One in

Shinjuku is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is a major commercial and administrative centre, housing the northern half of the busiest railway station in the world (Shinjuku Station) and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, the administration ...

, Tokyo, where he drew an illustration of Kaiji in his unique way in front of a large audience and astounded other performers such as Saibara and

Hisashi Eguchi is a Japanese manga artist and one of Japan's most prominent illustrators of female characters. He made his professional manga debut with in the manga anthology ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' in 1977. Other notable works include (adapted into an ani ...

. His favorite gambling activities include mahjong and sic bo, among others. His least favorite is

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...

. He has been playing mahjong since junior high school days, and admitted that though he has rarely lost a game when he was in school, his current level of ability is average. According to him, he has "tournament luck" and has even won mahjong tournaments between mahjong manga artists. He has also participated in professional mahjong matches. He played about two games against Akagi and Kaiji's voice actor

Masato Hagiwara is a Japanese actor, voice actor, narrator and professional mahjong player. Biography When Hagiwara was three years old, his parents divorced and he was taken in by his father. However, his father died when he was in the fourth grade, and was th ...

, who is known as one of the best mahjong players in the entertainment industry, and made Hagiwara say "I don't think I can beat him."

Works

* * * (1977) - Maiden work * (1980, ''

'') - Debut * (1980, ''Monthly Shōnen Champion'') * (1980, ''Monthly Shōnen Champion'') - First serial story * (1982) * (1983, ''Morning'') * (1986, ''

Manga Action is a Japanese seinen manga magazine published by Futabasha. It is currently published twice a month, on the first and third Thursday. The magazine was originally formed as and began publishing weekly from July 7, 1967. It is considered the firs ...

'') * (1986-1995, ''Kindai Mahjong Original'') * (1987-1988, ''Tokusen Mahjong'') * (1989–2002, ''Kindai Mahjong Gold'') * (1990, ''Gekiga Mahjong Jidai'') * (1990, ''

Weekly Shōnen Magazine is a weekly ''shōnen'' manga anthology published on Wednesdays in Japan by Kodansha, first published on March 17, 1959. The magazine is mainly read by an older audience, with a significant portion of its readership falling under the male high ...

'') * (1990–1991, ''Keiba Gold'') * (1991–2018, ''Kindai Mahjong'') * (1992–1996, ''Action Pizazz'') * (1996, ''

Weekly Manga Sunday , also known by the nickname , is a defunct Japanese weekly ''seinen'' manga magazine published by Jitsugyo no Nihon Sha. It started to be published under the name in 1959. On June 5, 2012, it start to be published twice in a month and the "Wee ...

'') * (1996–1999, ''

'') ** (2000–2004, ''Weekly Young Magazine'') ** (2004–2007, ''Weekly Young Magazine'') ** (2009–2012, ''Weekly Young Magazine'') ** (2013–2017, ''Weekly Young Magazine'') ** (2017–present, ''Weekly Young Magazine'') * (1999, ''Pachinko Jidai'') * (2000-2001, ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'') * (2002–2006, ''

Big Comic Original is a Japanese ''seinen'' manga magazine published by Shogakukan, aimed at an older adult and mostly male audience. It is a sister magazine to ''Big Comic'', the biggest difference being that it goes on sale twice a month in the weeks ''Big Comic ...

'') ** (2013–2020, ''Big Comic Original'') * (2007–2009, ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'') ** (2011–2013, ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'') * (2019–present, ''Kindai Mahjong'')

As writer

* (1998, ''

Young Magazine Uppers was a semimonthly seinen manga magazine, published in Japan from April 1, 1998, until October 19, 2004, by Kodansha. List of serialized manga * ''Piano no Mori'' by Makoto Isshiki (1998-2004), (moved to Weekly Morning after the cancellation o ...

'') — Illustrated by

Kaiji Kawaguchi is a Japanese manga artist. He is known for works such as '' The Silent Service'', '' Zipang'', ''A Spirit of the Sun'' and ''Kūbo Ibuki''. Generally, his stories involve Japan and examine the moral choices that people make in extreme situation ...

* (1999, ''Young Magazine Uppers'') — Illustrated by

* (2011, theatrical film) — Screenplay * (2020, theatrical film) — Original story, screenplay

As supervisor

* (2008–2012, ''Kindai Mahjong Original'') - Written by Keiichirō Hara, spin-off of ''Akagi'' ** (2012–2014, ''Kindai Mahjong Original'' → ''Kindai Manga'') - Written by Keiichirō Hara * (2009–2021, ''Kindai Mahjong'') - Written by Jirō Maeda, spin-off of ''Ten'' * (2015–2020, ''Monthly Young Magazine'' → ''Comic Days'') - Written by Tensei Hagiwara, illustrated by Tomohiro Hashimoto and Tomoki Miyoshi, spin-off of ''Kaiji'' * (2017–present, ''Weekly Young Magazine'') - Written by Tensei Hagiwara, illustrated by Motomu Uehara and Kazuya Arai, spin-off of ''Kaiji'' * (2017–present, ''Yawaraka Spirits'') - Written by Kenji Yokoi, illustrated by Motomu Uehara and Kazuya Arai, spin-off of ''

The Legend of the Strongest, Kurosawa! is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Nobuyuki Fukumoto. It was published in Shogakukan's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''Big Comic Original'' from 2002 to 2006. It was followed by a sequel ''Shin Kurosawa:Saikyō Densetsu'', ...

'' * (2021–present, ''

Morning Morning is the period from sunrise to noon. There are no exact times for when morning begins (also true of evening and night) because it can vary according to one's lifestyle and the hours of daylight at each time of year. However, morning strict ...

'') - Written by Tensei Hagiwara, illustrated by Tomoki Miyoshi and Yoshiaki Seto, spin-off of ''Kaiji''

TV/Movie appearances

* (2009, theatrical film) * (2011, theatrical film) * (2017,

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as and known colloquially as , is a television station headquartered in the Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, owned and operated by the subsidiary of listed certified b ...

) - Episodes 9, 10 * (2017,

SKY PerfecTV! is a direct broadcast satellite (DBS) service that provides satellite television, audio programming and interactive television services to households in Japan, owned by parent company SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation The SKY Perfect JSAT Group is ...

) - Episode 2 * (2018,

Nippon Television JOAX-DTV (channel 4), branded as , is the flagship station of the Nippon News Network and the Nippon Television Network System, owned-and-operated by the which is a subsidiary of the certified broadcasting holding company , itself a listed su ...

) - Episode 7 * (2018, TV Tokyo) - Episode 5 * (2020, theatrical film)

Miscellaneous

* (2011,

Takeshobo is a major publisher in Japan. Takeshobo was founded in 1972 by Kyōichirō Noguchi, starting Japan's first Mahjong magazine . Other magazines, such as a magazine dedicated to mahjong-themed manga, as well as a magazine dedicated to yonkoma ma ...

) * (2014, Government Public Relations Online) * (2015) - End card (ep 4) * (2017) - End card (ep 9)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fukumoto, Nobuyuki 1958 births Living people Manga artists from Kanagawa Prefecture People from Yokosuka, Kanagawa Winner of Kodansha Manga Award (General)