is a Japanese
manga artist that usually works as the illustrator in collaboration with a writer. He first gained international attention for ''
Hikaru no Go
is a Japanese manga series based on the board game Go, written by Yumi Hotta and illustrated by Takeshi Obata. The production of the series' Go games was supervised by Go professional Yukari Umezawa. It was serialized in Shueisha's ''Week ...
'' (1998–2003) with
Yumi Hotta
is a Japanese manga artist.
Hotta is best known as the author of the best-selling manga and anime series '' Hikaru no Go'', which is widely credited for the late 90s-2000s boom of the game of go in Japan. The idea behind Hikaru no Go began wh ...
, but is better known for ''
Death Note'' (2003–2006) and ''
Bakuman
is a Japanese manga series written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata, the same creative team responsible for ''Death Note''. It was serialized in Shueisha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from August 2 ...
'' (2008–2012) with
Tsugumi Ohba
is the pen name of a Japanese manga writer, best known for authoring the ''Death Note'' manga series with illustrator Takeshi Obata from 2003 to 2006, which has 30 million collected volumes in circulation. The duo's second series, '' Bakuman. ...
. Obata has mentored several well-known manga artists, including
Nobuhiro Watsuki
, better known by his pen name , is a Japanese manga artist. He is best known for his samurai-themed series '' Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story'' (1994–1999), which has over 70 million copies in circulation and a sequel he is c ...
of ''
Rurouni Kenshin
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Nobuhiro Watsuki. The story begins during the 11th year of the Meiji period in Japan (1878) and follows a former assassin from the Bakumatsu, known as Hitokiri Battosai. After his wor ...
'' fame, ''
Black Cat'' creator
Kentaro Yabuki
is a Japanese manga artist, best known for his series ''Black Cat'' (2000–2004) and for illustrating ''To Love Ru'' (2006–2009) and '' To Love Ru Darkness'' (2010–2017) alongside author Saki Hasemi. Currently, Yabuki writes and illustrat ...
, and ''
Eyeshield 21
is a Japanese manga series written by Riichiro Inagaki and illustrated by Yusuke Murata. The series tells the story of Sena Kobayakawa, an introverted boy who joins an American football club as a secretary, but after being coerced by quart ...
'' artist
Yusuke Murata
is a Japanese manga artist and animator, best known for illustrating One (manga artist), One's ''One-Punch Man'', serialized in the ''Weekly Young Jump'' online version.
Murata's other major work is his illustration of the American football man ...
.
Career
Takeshi Obata chose to be a
manga artist because he always loved drawing. As a child he re-read
Shotaro Ishinomori
was a Japanese manga artist who became an influential figure in manga, anime, and , creating several immensely popular long-running series such as '' Cyborg 009,'' the ''Super Sentai'' series (later adapted into the ''Power Rangers'' series), ...
's ''
Cyborg 009
is a Japanese science fiction manga created by Shotaro Ishinomori. It was serialized in many different Japanese magazines, including '' Monthly Shōnen King'', ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'', '' Shōnen Big Comic'', ''COM'', ' ...
'' over and over.
His first published manga was in Higashi-Yamanoshita Elementary's
school newspaper
A student publication is a media outlet such as a newspaper, magazine, television show, or radio station produced by students at an educational institution. These publications typically cover local and school-related news, but they may also repor ...
when he was in the third grade. It was about a hero who turned into a disposable
pocket warmer when in trouble. Obata originally became noticed in 1985 when he took a prize in the
Tezuka Award
The is a semi-annual manga award offered by the Japanese publisher Shueisha since 1971, under the auspices of its ''Weekly Shonen Jump'' magazine. It awarded new manga artists in the Story Manga category. Its counterpart award, Akatsuka Award, a ...
for his
one-shot ''500 Kōnen no Shinwa''.
Joining the ''
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 ...
'' staff, he mentored under
Makoto Niwano before starting his first major series, writing and drawing ''Cyborg Jii-chan G'' in 1989. After this series, Obata began collaborating with other writers.
''
Karakurizōshi Ayatsuri Sakon
is a Japanese manga series written by Masaru Miyazaki (under the alias Sharakumaro) and illustrated by Takeshi Obata. It was serialized in the Shueisha magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from May 1995 to January 1996. The chapters were collec ...
'', with author Sharakumaro, became his first work to be adapted into an
anime
is hand-drawn and 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 Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...
. He then created ''
Hikaru no Go
is a Japanese manga series based on the board game Go, written by Yumi Hotta and illustrated by Takeshi Obata. The production of the series' Go games was supervised by Go professional Yukari Umezawa. It was serialized in Shueisha's ''Week ...
'' with
Yumi Hotta
is a Japanese manga artist.
Hotta is best known as the author of the best-selling manga and anime series '' Hikaru no Go'', which is widely credited for the late 90s-2000s boom of the game of go in Japan. The idea behind Hikaru no Go began wh ...
, which received the
Shogakukan Manga Award
The is one of Japan's major manga awards, and is sponsored by 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 given since ...
in 1999
and the
Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2003. With 25 million collected volumes in circulation, it was adapted into an anime and became his first work to be released in North America.
In 2003 he teamed up with
Tsugumi Ohba
is the pen name of a Japanese manga writer, best known for authoring the ''Death Note'' manga series with illustrator Takeshi Obata from 2003 to 2006, which has 30 million collected volumes in circulation. The duo's second series, '' Bakuman. ...
to create ''
Death Note''. It became his biggest hit to date, with 30 million copies in circulation, an anime adaptation, five live-action films, two live-action TV drama and a musical. Obata served as the artist of ''
Blue Dragon Ral Grad'', a manga adaptation of the fantasy video game ''
Blue Dragon'', from December 2006 to July 2007.
In the fall of 2007, he drew the short story "Hello Baby" with writer
Masanori Morita, which appeared in ''
Jump Square
, 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 ...
''. This was followed a year later by "Urōboe Uroboros!" with
Nisio Isin
, stylized as NISIOISIN to emphasize the palindrome, is a pseudonymous Japanese novelist, manga author, and screenplay writer.
Nisio debuted in 2002 with the novel ''The Beheading Cycle'' (the first in his '' Zaregoto'' series), which earned hi ...
, who authored the ''
Death Note Another Note: The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases'' novel.
He then reunited with Tsugumi Ohba for ''
Bakuman.'', which ran from August 2008 to April 2012. It was Shueisha's first manga to be released online in multiple languages before becoming available in print outside Japan and had over 15 million copies in publication as of May 2014. In 2014, he drew a manga adaptation of ''
All You Need Is Kill
''All You Need Is Kill'' is a Japanese science fiction light novel by Hiroshi Sakurazaka with illustrations by Yoshitoshi Abe. The book was published in Japanese by Shueisha under their Super Dash Bunko imprint in December 2004, and was late ...
'' with Ryōsuke Takeuchi, basing the character designs on
Yoshitoshi ABe
is a Japanese graphic artist who works predominantly in anime and manga. He first gained fame in his work on the avant-garde anime ''Serial Experiments Lain''. He is also responsible for the concept and character design for the series '' NieA_7' ...
's original cover to the novel. He reunited with Nisio Isin for the one-shot "RKD-EK9", that ran in the December 2014 issue of ''Jump Square''.
Obata followed this by working with Nobuaki Enoki to relaunch Enoki's ''
School Judgment: Gakkyu Hotei'' digital one-shot as a serial in the first issue of ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' for 2015. However, the magazine stopped publishing it after the year's 24th issue and the series finished in the digital ''
Shōnen Jump+
is a Japanese online magazine for manga created by Shueisha, spin-off from its '' Jump'' line of magazines. Launched on September 22, 2014, the magazine operates as a free mobile app and website. The magazine serializes original titles and titl ...
'' on May 27. It was serialized in English in the digital ''
Weekly Shonen Jump Weekly, The Weekly, or variations, may refer to:
News media
* ''Weekly'' (news magazine), an English-language national news magazine published in Mauritius
*Weekly newspaper, any newspaper published on a weekly schedule
*Alternative newspaper, als ...
''.
From 2015 to 2021, Obata created another series with Ohba called ''
Platinum End
is a Japanese manga series written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata. It was serialized in Shueisha's ''Jump Square'' monthly magazine from November 2015 to January 2021, with its chapters collected in 14 ''tankōbon'' volumes ...
''. Starting in the December 2015 issue of ''Jump Square'' on November 4, 2015, the manga ended on January 4, 2021. The series had over 4.5 million copies in circulation by December 2020, and an anime adaptation began airing on television in October 2021. In October 2021, Obata teamed up with novelist Akinari Asakura to start the ''
owarai
is a broad word used to describe Japanese comedy as seen on television. The word ''owarai'' is the honorific form of the word ''warai'' (by adding o- prefix), meaning "a laugh" or "a smile". ''Owarai'' is most common on Japanese variety show ...
''-themed manga series ''
Show-ha Shoten!
is a Japanese manga series written by Akinari Asakura and illustrated by Takeshi Obata. It follows high school students Azemichi Shijimi and Taiyo Higashikata as they aim to become the best comedy duo in Japan. ''Show-ha Shoten!'' has been se ...
'' in the November issue of ''Jump Square''.
In addition to his manga work, Obata has also done character design work for the video game ''
Castlevania Judgment'', as well as illustrating several
light novels
A light novel (, Hepburn: ''raito noberu'') is a style of young adult novel primarily targeting high school and middle school students. The term "light novel" is a '' wasei-eigo'', or a Japanese term formed from words in the English languag ...
. He provided character designs for
Madhouse's anime adaptations of
Osamu Dazai
was a Japanese author. A number of his most popular works, such as ''The Setting Sun'' (''Shayō'') and ''No Longer Human'' (''Ningen Shikkaku''), are considered modern-day classics.
His influences include Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Murasaki Shiki ...
's ''
No Longer Human
is a 1948 Japanese novel by Osamu Dazai. It is considered Dazai's masterpiece and ranks as the second-best selling novel ever in Japan, behind Natsume Sōseki's ''Kokoro''. The literal translation of the title, discussed by Donald Keene in hi ...
'' and
Natsume Sōseki
, born , was a Japanese novelist. He is best known around the world for his novels ''Kokoro'', ''Botchan'', ''I Am a Cat'', '' Kusamakura'' and his unfinished work '' Light and Darkness''. He was also a scholar of British literature and writer ...
's ''
Kokoro
is a novel by the Japanese author Natsume Sōseki. It was first published in 1914 in serial form in the Japanese newspaper ''Asahi Shimbun''. The title translated literally means "heart". The word contains shades of meaning—notions of the he ...
'', which are parts of the ''
Aoi Bungaku'' series. He drew manga manuscripts seen in the 2015 live-action
film adaptation of ''Bakuman'' that were later published in the ''Eiga Bakuman. Takeshi Obata Illustration Works'' book. He also designed a new
CGI character for the 2016 ''
Death Note: Light Up the New World'' live-action film. On May 3, 2016,
Viz Media
VIZ Media LLC is an American manga publisher, anime distributor and entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ M ...
published Obata's 2006 art book ''Blanc et Noir'' in North America.
Personal life
On September 6, 2006, Obata was arrested for illegal possession of an 8.6 cm knife when he was pulled over in
Musashino, Tokyo for driving with his car's headlights off at 12:30am. The artist claimed he kept the knife in his car for when he goes camping.
Works
Manga
* (1985)
* (1989)
* with Susumu Sendo (1991–1992)
* with Masaru Miyazaki (1992–1993)
* with Sharakumaro (1995–1996)
* with
Yumi Hotta
is a Japanese manga artist.
Hotta is best known as the author of the best-selling manga and anime series '' Hikaru no Go'', which is widely credited for the late 90s-2000s boom of the game of go in Japan. The idea behind Hikaru no Go began wh ...
and supervised by
Yukari Yoshihara
née is a Japanese Go professional.
Biography
Yukari Umezawa was born in Tokyo in 1973, and graduated from Keio University in 1996. She first played Go at the age of 6 and she became a professional Go player in 1996. She then attained the ...
(1998–2003)
* with
Otsuichi (2003)
* with
Tsugumi Ohba
is the pen name of a Japanese manga writer, best known for authoring the ''Death Note'' manga series with illustrator Takeshi Obata from 2003 to 2006, which has 30 million collected volumes in circulation. The duo's second series, '' Bakuman. ...
(2003–2006)
* with Tsuneo Takano (2006–2007)
* ''Hello Baby'' with
Masanori Morita (2007)
* with
Nisio Isin
, stylized as NISIOISIN to emphasize the palindrome, is a pseudonymous Japanese novelist, manga author, and screenplay writer.
Nisio debuted in 2002 with the novel ''The Beheading Cycle'' (the first in his '' Zaregoto'' series), which earned hi ...
(2008)
* with Tsugumi Ohba (2008–2012)
* ''
All You Need Is Kill
''All You Need Is Kill'' is a Japanese science fiction light novel by Hiroshi Sakurazaka with illustrations by Yoshitoshi Abe. The book was published in Japanese by Shueisha under their Super Dash Bunko imprint in December 2004, and was late ...
'' with Ryōsuke Takeuchi (2014)
* ''RKD-EK9'' with Nisio Isin (2014)
* with Nobuaki Enoki (2014–2015)
* with Tsugumi Ohba (2015–2021)
* with Akinari Asakura (2021–present)
Art books
* (April 2002)
* ''Blanc et Noir'' (May 31, 2006)
* (October 2, 2015)
Awards and nominations
* 1985
Tezuka Award
The is a semi-annual manga award offered by the Japanese publisher Shueisha since 1971, under the auspices of its ''Weekly Shonen Jump'' magazine. It awarded new manga artists in the Story Manga category. Its counterpart award, Akatsuka Award, a ...
for "500 Kōnen no Shinwa"
* 2000
Shogakukan Manga Award
The is one of Japan's major manga awards, and is sponsored by 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 given since ...
for ''Hikaru no Go''
* 2003
Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize Creative Award for ''Hikaru no Go''
* 2007 Nominated - Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize Grand Prize for ''Death Note''
* 2008 Nominated -
Angoulême International Comics Festival
The Angoulême International Comics Festival (french: Festival international de la bande dessinée d'Angoulême) is the second largest comics festival in Europe after the Lucca Comics & Games in Italy, and the third biggest in the world after ...
Official Selection for ''Death Note''
* 2008 Nominated -
Eisner Award for Best Penciller/Inker for ''Death Note''
* 2008
Eagle Award for Favourite Manga for ''Death Note''
* 2010 Nominated -
Manga Taishō
The is a Japanese comics award recognizing achievement in manga. It is awarded annually to a manga series published in the previous calendar year of eight or fewer collected volumes in length. The Manga Taishō was founded with the aim of re ...
for ''Bakuman.''
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Obata, Takeshi
1969 births
Japanese illustrators
Living people
Manga artists from Niigata Prefecture
People from Niigata (city)
Winner of Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize (Creative Award)