is a Japanese

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 u ...

artist that usually works as the illustrator in collaboration with a writer. He is best known for ''

Crying Freeman is a Japanese manga series written by Kazuo Koike and illustrated by Ryoichi Ikegami. ''Crying Freeman'' follows a Japanese assassin hypnotized and trained by the Chinese mafia (called the "108 Dragons") to serve as its agent and covered in ...

'' (1986–1988), written by

Kazuo Koike was a prolific Japanese manga writer ( gensakusha), novelist, screenwriter, lyricist and entrepreneur. He is best known for his violent, artful ''seinen'' manga, notably ''Lone Wolf and Cub'' (with Goseki Kojima, 1970–6), '' Lady Snowblood'' ...

, and ''

Heat In thermodynamics, heat is defined as the form of energy crossing the boundary of a thermodynamic system by virtue of a temperature difference across the boundary. A thermodynamic system does not ''contain'' heat. Nevertheless, the term is al ...

'' (1999–2004), written by

Buronson , known by the pen names and , is a Japanese manga writer. Making his debut in 1972, he first found success with the hardboiled detective manga series ''Doberman Deka'' (1975–1979) alongside illustrator Shinji Hiramatsu. He is best-known for ...

. The latter won the 2001

Shogakukan Manga Award The is one of Japan's major manga awards, and is sponsored by Shogakukan, Shogakukan Publishing. It has been awarded annually for serialized manga and features candidates from a number of publishers. It is the oldest manga award in Japan, being ...

for general manga.

Yoshihide Fujiwara is a Japanese manga artist. Fujiwara first came to attention by winning the 1984 Shogakukan New Artist Award for '' Maris''. He worked as Ryoichi Ikegami is a Japanese manga artist that usually works as the illustrator in collaboration wit ...

is a former assistant of Ikegami's.

Career

After graduating from junior high school, Ikegami moved to Osaka and drew manga while working as a billboard sign painter, debuting at the age of 17 writing rental comics. Urasawa Naoki no Manben: Ikegami Ryoichi (S3E1, 2016),

NHK Educational TV , abbreviated on-screen as NHK E, is the second television service of NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation). It is a sister service of NHK General TV, showing programs of a more educational, documentaries, cultural, children's or intellectual n ...

In 1966, he published a story called in the

gekiga , literally "dramatic pictures", is a style of Japanese comics aimed at adult audiences and marked by a more cinematic art style and more mature themes. ''Gekiga'' was the predominant style of adult comics in Japan in the 1960s and 1970s. It is ...

magazine ''

Garo Garo may refer to: People and languages * Garo people, a tribal people in India ** Garo language, the language spoken by the Garo tribe Places * Kingdom of Garo, a former kingdom in southern Ethiopia * Garo, Colorado * Garo Hills, part of the Ga ...

'' that caught the eye of fellow ''Garo'' contributor,

Shigeru Mizuki was a Japanese manga artist and historian, best known for his manga series ''GeGeGe no Kitarō''. Born in a hospital in Osaka and raised in the city of Sakaiminato, Tottori, he later moved to Chōfu, Tokyo where he remained until his death. ...

, who offered him a job as his assistant. Ikegami accepted and moved to Tokyo where he worked as Mizuki's assistant for two and a half years. From a young age Ikegami had admired

Takao Saito was a Japanese manga artist, although he rejected the term and considered his work gekiga. He was best known for '' Golgo 13'', which has been serialized in ''Big Comic'' since 1968, making it the oldest manga still in publication. ''Golgo ...

and

Yoshiharu Tsuge is a Japanese cartoonist and essayist. He was active in comics between 1955 and 1987. His works range from tales of ordinary life to dream-like surrealism, and often show his interest in traveling about Japan. He has garnered the most atte ...

, so he was delighted to work with Tsuge as Mizuki's assistant. Ikegami is also a fan of American comics, particularly

Neal Adams Neal Adams (June 15, 1941 – April 28, 2022) was an American comic book artist. He was the co-founder of the graphic design studio Continuity Associates, and was a creators-rights advocate who helped secure a pension and recognition for Supe ...

. Ikegami has worked on several popular series, such as ''

Mai, the Psychic Girl is a Japanese manga series written by Kazuya Kudō and illustrated by Ryoichi Ikegami. It was serialized in Shogakukan's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' from March 1985 to April 1986, with its chapters collected in six ' ...

'' with writer

Kazuya Kudo is a masculine Japanese given name. Possible writings Kazuya can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *一八, "one, eight" *一矢, "one, arrow" *一也, "one, to be" *一夜, "one, night" *和也, "harmony, to be" *和矢, ...

, ''

'', with writer

, as well as ''

Sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a saf ...

'' and ''

'' with writer

Sho Fumimura , known by the pen names and , is a Japanese manga writer. Making his debut in 1972, he first found success with the hardboiled detective manga series ''Doberman Deka'' (1975–1979) alongside illustrator Shinji Hiramatsu. He is best-known f ...

. He also wrote and drew '' Spider-Man: The Manga'', a manga version of

Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book '' Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in the ...

and collaborated with

Garon Tsuchiya , also known as and Marginal (in '' Astral Project''), was a Japanese manga writer. In 1986 he completed his first major works in collaboration with Akyo Makata in ''Ahomansu'' and ''Meisouou Boodaa''. Afterwards, Tsuchiya collaborated with dr ...

for the manga ''Box''. In 2001, he won the

for general manga as the artist of ''

''. He became a professor at

Osaka University of Arts is a private arts university located in Kanan, Osaka, Kanan, Minamikawachi District, Osaka, Minamikawachi District, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. The university was founded in 1945 as , changing its name to in 1957, and then to in 1964. The univers ...

in 2005. From 2016 to 2020, he and Sho Fumimura created '' Begin'' in ''

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 ...

''. Ikegami teamed up with writer

Richard Woo Richard Ng Yiu-hon (born 17 December 1939), also known as Richard Woo, is a Hong Kong actor known for playing comedic roles, particularly in Hong Kong films of the 1980s and 1990s. Film and television career Ng has appeared in 80 films to da ...

for ''M no Shirushi -MacArthur Ansatsu Keikaku-'' (2020) for ''Big Comic Superior''. It tells the story of a plot to assassinate

Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American military leader who served as General of the Army for the United States, as well as a field marshal to the Philippine Army. He had served with distinction in World War I, was C ...

. A character called Kēichi Kurata (played by

Masataka Kubota is a Japanese actor. Filmography Films * ''Boku no Hatsukoi o Kimi ni Sasagu'' (2009) * ''Kyōretsu! Mōretsu!! Kodai Shōjo Doguchan Matsuri Special Movie Edition'' (2010), Makoto Sugihara * ''Gachiban Series'' (2010–2014), Yūto Kuronaga * ...

) in the TV-drama ''

GeGeGe no Nyōbō is an autobiography written by Nunoe Mura and published in 2008. It details her life as the wife of the manga artist Shigeru Mizuki, especially their struggles against poverty before he became successful. It has sold over 500,000 copies. In 20 ...

'' is modeled after him. He did a collaboration manga for the anime ''

Girls und Panzer , abbreviated as ''GuP'' or ''Garupan'' , is a Japanese anime franchise created by Actas which depicts a competition between girls' high schools practicing tank warfare as a sport. The series was directed by Tsutomu ...

''.

Selected works

* (1970–1971): Written by Kōsei Ono and Kazumasa Hirai * (1973–1977): Written by

, serialized in general-interest magazine ''

Shūkan Gendai is a general-interest weekly magazine published in Tokyo, Japan. History and profile ''Shūkan Gendai'' was started in 1959. The magazine has its headquarters in Tokyo. It is published by Kodansha, the largest publishing house in Japan, which c ...

'' * (1974–1979): Written by Tetsu Kariya, serialized in ''

Weekly Shōnen Sunday is a weekly ''shōnen'' manga magazine published in Japan by Shogakukan since March 1959. Contrary to its title, ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' issues are released on Wednesdays. ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' has sold over 1.8billion copies since 1986, ...

'' * (1980–1982): Written by Tetsu Kariya, serialized in ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' * (1981–1986): Written by Kazuo Koike * (1985–1986): Written by Kazuya Kudō, serialized in ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' * (1986–1987): Written by Kazuya Kudō * (1986–1988): Written by Kazuo Koike * (1990–1991): Written by Kazuo Koike * (1990–1995): Written by

* (1991–1992): Written by

Oji Hiroi , real name , is an author and video game developer. He co-authored '' Samurai Crusader'' with Ryoichi Ikegami. He also created the '' Far East of Eden'' and ''Sakura Wars'' role-playing video game franchises, and wrote the ''Sakura Wars'' manga. ...

* (1996–1998): Written by Buronson * (1999–2004): Written by Buronson * (2000–2004) * (2004–2011): Written by Buronson * (2013–2015): Written by Buronson * (2015–2016) — Written by

Hideo Yamamoto is a Japanese manga artist. He is best known as the creator of the manga series ''Ichi the Killer'', which was adapted into a live-action film by Takashi Miike in 2001, and ''Homunculus''. Recurring themes in his manga are crime, sexual dev ...

* '' Begin'' (2016–2020): Written by Sho Fumimura * (2020–present): Written by

Riichiro Inagaki is a Japanese mangaka, manga writer from Tokyo. He started his career in 2001 publishing works for Shogakukan's magazine ''Big Comic Spirits''. After three one-shot (comics), one-shots, he moved to Shueisha's ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'', in which he ...

References

External links

Ryoichi Ikegami Official Website
(Japanese)

Jason Thompson's article about the Spider-man manga

The Illustrious Career of Ryoichi Ikegami
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ikegami, Ryoichi 1944 births Inkpot Award winners Living people Manga artists from Fukui Prefecture Gekiga creators