was a Japanese illustrator,

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 v ...

, and model maker born in

Tochio, Niigata was a city located in Niigata Prefecture, Japan. The city was founded on June 1, 1954. As of 2003, the city had an estimated population of 23,855 and the density of 116.41 persons per km². The total area was 204.92 km². On January 1, 2 ...

. He is well known for character designs in the

Kamen Rider The , also known as ''Masked Rider Series'' (until Decade), is a Japanese superhero media franchise consisting of tokusatsu television programs, films, manga, and anime, created by manga artist Shotaro Ishinomori. ''Kamen Rider'' media generall ...

entries ''

Kamen Rider Blade , is a Japanese media, Japanese tokusatsu superhero television series. It is the fourteenth installment in the Kamen Rider Series. It aired on TV Asahi from January 25, 2004 to January 23, 2005. It is a joint collaboration between Ishimori Product ...

'', ''

Kamen Rider Kabuto is a Japanese tokusatsu superhero television series. It is the sixteenth installment in the popular Kamen Rider Series of tokusatsu programs. It is a joint collaboration between Ishimori Productions and Toei. The series was broadcast on TV Asahi ...

'', and ''

Kamen Rider Den-O is the seventeenth installment in the popular Kamen Rider Series of tokusatsu programs. It is a joint collaboration between Ishimori Productions and Toei. It premiered January 28, 2007 on TV Asahi, and concluded airing on January 20, 2008. Its le ...

'' and the creatures called " Horrors" in the ''

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 ...

'' series. Much of his early work as a designer and sculptor was featured in his

Hobby Japan is a Japanese publishing company known for publishing and releasing books, magazines, light novels, games, and collectibles. Founded in 1969, the company owns and distributes such publications as the eponymous ''Hobby Japan'' magazine, as well ...

magazine column titled "Creature Core", which featured at least one of his sculptures in each monthly issue and was later collected as a hardcover book of the same name. In addition to original designs, this column also included sculptures based on characters from

Inazuman is a television series starring a mutant fictional character of the same name created by Shotaro Ishinomori. The first television series ran from October 2, 1973 to March 26, 1974 with a total of 25 episodes. A second season named aired in 197 ...

, Guyver,

Phantom of the Paradise ''Phantom of the Paradise'' is a 1974 American rock musical comedy horror film written and directed by Brian De Palma and scored by and starring Paul Williams. In the film, a naïve young singer-songwriter (played by William Finley) is tricked ...

Hellraiser ''Hellraiser'' is a 1987 British supernatural horror film written and directed by Clive Barker, and produced by Christopher Figg, based on Barker's 1986 novella ''The Hellbound Heart''. The film marked Barker's directorial debut. Its plot invol ...

, Hellraiser III, and others. As part of his work for Hobby Japan, Nirasawa did character designs and cover art for the video games Beast Warriors and A-Rank Thunder Tanjouhen, and illustrations for Japanese

RPGs RPG may refer to: Military * Rocket-propelled grenade, a shoulder-launched anti-tank weapon **''Ruchnoi Protivotankoviy Granatomyot'' (Russian: ''Ручной Противотанковый Гранатомёт''), hand-held anti-tank grenade launc ...

, including illustrations of

Michael Moorcock Michael John Moorcock (born 18 December 1939) is an English writer, best-known for science fiction and fantasy, who has published a number of well-received literary novels as well as comic thrillers, graphic novels and non-fiction. He has work ...

's Elric for the Japanese edition of

Stormbringer Stormbringer is a magic sword featured in a number of fantasy stories by the author Michael Moorcock. It is described as a huge, black sword covered with strange runes, created by the forces of Chaos with its own will. It is wielded by the doo ...

. In 2009, he was brought onto the productions of ''

Kamen Rider Decade is the title of the first installment of the 2009 editions of the long-running Kamen Rider Series of tokusatsu dramas. ''Decade'', as its title suggests, is the tenth of the Heisei Rider special anniversary Series, having begun with ''Kamen Rider ...

'', the Cho-Den-O series, and ''

Kamen Rider G is the title of the first installment of the 2009 editions of the long-running Kamen Rider Series of tokusatsu dramas. ''Decade'', as its title suggests, is the tenth of the Heisei Rider special anniversary Series, having begun with ''Kamen Rider ...

'' in designing the Paradoxa Undead, the Alligator Imagin, the villains Goludora and Shilubara, and the Phylloxera Worm, respectively. He later provided the designs of the original villains of the

Super Sentai is a Japanese superhero team metaseries and media franchise consisting of television series and films produced by Toei Company, and Bandai, and aired by TV Asahi ("Sentai" is the Japanese word for "task force" or "fighting squadron"). The sho ...

Series's 2011 entry ''

Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger is Toei Company's 35th entry in its long-running Super Sentai metaseries of Japanese tokusatsu television series following ''Tensou Sentai Goseiger''. It follows a Pirate motif and premiered on TV Asahi on February 13, 2011, joining ''Kamen Ride ...

''. His designs for the various Tokusatsu productions are published in ''UNDEAD GREEN BLOOD'', ''GITAI'', ''SAY YOUR WISH'', and ''ZANGYACK WORKS LOG''.

Art style

Two common themes in Nirasawa's design are asymmetry, with characters having lopsided forms or multiple limbs; and anatomical imagery, with many designs having skeletal elements and/or extensive muscular detail. His nonhuman characters often originate from a combination of animal and human features, particularly including insectoid features. His human characters are often voluptuous women, either semi-nude or wearing armor.

Works

* A-Rank Thunder Tanjouhen (Cover art) * Beast Warriors (cover art) *

Soulcalibur is a weapon-based fighting video game franchise by Bandai Namco Entertainment. There are seven main installments of video games and various media spin-offs, including music albums and a series of manga books. The first game in the series, '' ...

(Concept art) * BlowOut (Concept art) *

Space Truckers ''Space Truckers'' is a 1996 comic science fiction film directed by Stuart Gordon and starring Dennis Hopper, Stephen Dorff, Debi Mazar and Charles Dance. It was filmed at Ardmore Studios, County Wicklow, Ireland. The story concerns John Canyon ...

(Concept art) * Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (Set design) *

Enemy Zero is a 1996 horror-themed adventure video game for the Sega Saturn, developed by Warp and directed by Kenji Eno. Players assume the role of an astronaut who awakens from cryogenic sleep to find her spaceship overrun by invisible creatures who ar ...

(creature designer) * Volfoss (creature designer) * Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (Phantom design) * Guilstien *

(

Undead The undead are beings in mythology, legend, or fiction that are deceased but behave as if alive. Most commonly the term refers to corporeal forms of formerly-alive humans, such as mummies, vampires, and zombies, who have been reanimated by super ...

design) * Godzilla: Final Wars (

Gigan is a kaiju from Toho's ''Godzilla'' franchise who first appeared in ''Godzilla vs. Gigan''. Gigan is a space monster resembling a species of reptile who was turned into a cyborg by the Nebulans. Gigan sports a huge buzzsaw in its frontal abdomi ...

and Xilien design) *

The Great Yokai War is a 2005 Japanese fantasy film directed by Takashi Miike, produced by Kadokawa Pictures and distributed by Shochiku. The film stars Ryunosuke Kamiki, Hiroyuki Miyasako, Chiaki Kuriyama, and Mai Takahashi. The film focuses largely on creatures ...

* Golden Knight Garo series (creature design) *

(

Worm Worms are many different distantly related bilateral animals that typically have a long cylindrical tube-like body, no limbs, and no eyes (though not always). Worms vary in size from microscopic to over in length for marine polychaete wor ...

design) *

(

Imagin is the seventeenth installment in the popular Kamen Rider Series of tokusatsu programs. It is a joint collaboration between Ishimori Productions and Toei. It premiered January 28, 2007 on TV Asahi, and concluded airing on January 20, 2008. Its le ...

design) *

(creature design) *

(creature design) * Iron Man: Rise of Technovore (Technovore design) * Monster Hunter: Frontier G (Genome and Divol armor design) *

Shin Megami Tensei IV is a Japanese post-apocalyptic role-playing video game developed by Atlus for the Nintendo 3DS. It is part of the ''Shin Megami Tensei'' series, the central series of the ''Megami Tensei'' franchise, though no direct story connection exists to ...

(creature design) * Amon: The Darkside of The Devilman (creature design)

References

External links

*
Yasushi Nirasawa Undead WorksYasushi Nirasawa Worm WorksYasushi Nirasawa Imagin Works
1963 births Japanese illustrators People from Niigata Prefecture 2016 deaths {{Japan-artist-stub