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 ...

. His major work ''

Trigun is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yasuhiro Nightow. ''Trigun'' was first serialized in Tokuma Shoten's Shōnen manga, ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Monthly Shōnen Captain'' from April 1995 to January 1997, when the mag ...

'' was adapted into an anime series and film. He also designed the characters for the video game and anime series ''

Gungrave is a 2002 third-person shooter video game developed and published by Red Entertainment (Sega in North America and Activision in Europe) for the PlayStation 2. ''Gungrave'' follows its main character through a variety of stages on a path of rev ...

'', and has been working on the manga ''

Blood Blockade Battlefront is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yasuhiro Nightow. It revolves around a young photographer named Leonardo Watch, who obtains 'the All Seeing Eyes of the Gods' at the cost of his sister's eyesight. After the incident, ...

''.

Biography

Nightow was born in Yokohama, and moved to

Yokosuka is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city has a population of 409,478, and a population density of . The total area is . Yokosuka is the 11th most populous city in the Greater Tokyo Area, and the 12th in the Kantō region. The city ...

when he was in elementary school, and spent his junior high and high school years in

Shizuoka Shizuoka can refer to: * Shizuoka Prefecture, a Japanese prefecture * Shizuoka (city), the capital city of Shizuoka Prefecture * Shizuoka Airport * Shizuoka Domain, the name from 1868 to 1871 for Sunpu Domain, a predecessor of Shizuoka Prefecture ...

. His first exposure to comics was through Fujio Akatsuka's ''

Tensai Bakabon is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Fujio Akatsuka, which began publication on April 9, 1967, in ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine''. It is about the misadventures of a dim-witted boy (Bakabon) and his idiotic father, the latte ...

'', and he was also influenced by the comics of

Leiji Matsumoto is a Japanese mangaka, creator of several anime and manga series. His wife Miyako Maki is also a manga artist. Early life Matsumoto was the middle child of a family of seven brothers, and, in his early childhood, Matsumoto was given a 35m ...

such as ''Yamato'', ''Harlock'' and ''999''. He also was drawn to the work done in

Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics (manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hit ...

's ''

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, ...

'' which included artists

Rumiko Takahashi is a Japanese manga artist. With a career of several commercially successful works, beginning with ''Urusei Yatsura'' in 1978, Takahashi is one of Japan's best-known and wealthiest manga artists. Her works are popular worldwide, where they have ...

and

Fujihiko Hosono is a Japanese manga artist. Hosono was born in Ōta, Tokyo. In 1979, he made his debut with ''Crusher Joe'' while he was a student at Keio University. Around the same time, he joined the as an animator. He has had stories published in the mang ...

. Regarding "new wave" artists, he liked

Katsuhiro Otomo is a Japanese manga artist, screenwriter, animator and film director. He is best known as the creator of '' Akira'', in terms of both the original 1982 manga series and the 1988 animated film adaptation. He was decorated a ''Chevalier'' of th ...

from ''Sayonara Nippon'', and Fumiko Takano. He studied social science and then majored in media studies at Housei University. While there, he drew manga as a hobby, and made some ''

dojinshi , also romanized as ', is the Japanese term for self-published print works, such as magazines, manga, and novels. Part of a wider category of '' doujin'' (self-published) works, ''doujinshi'' are often derivative of existing works and created b ...

''. After graduation, he worked

Sekisui House is one of Japan's largest homebuilders. It was founded on August 1, 1960 and is headquartered in Osaka. In 2009, Sekisui House expanded into Australia and Russia before expanding into China and the United States the following year. The company ...

where he sold apartments. After three and a half years, he quit his job to draw full-time. His first one-shot manga was based on the popular

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

franchise '' Samurai Spirits''. He had also developed a story titled ''Call XXXX'' which was published in ''Super Jump'' magazine. With the help of a publisher friend, he submitted a ''Trigun'' story for the February 1995 issue of the

Tokuma Shoten is a publisher in Japan, headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. The company was established in 1954 by Yasuyoshi Tokuma in Minato, Tokyo. The company’s product portfolio includes music publishing, video game publishing, movies, anime, magazines, m ...

magazine ''Shōnen Captain'', and began regular

serialization In computing, serialization (or serialisation) is the process of translating a data structure or object state into a format that can be stored (e.g. files in secondary storage devices, data buffers in primary storage devices) or transmitted (e ...

two months later in April. However, ''Shōnen Captain'' was canceled early in 1997, and when Nightow was approached by the magazine '' Young King Ours'', published by

Shōnen Gahōsha is a Japanese publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printe ...

, they were interested in him beginning a new work. Nightow though, was troubled by the idea of leaving Trigun incomplete, and requested to be allowed to finish the series."When Young King Ours invited me to do some work for them, they were hoping for a new piece, but I was troubled by leaving Trigun unfinished. I told them I wouldn't feel like I had done my work unless I finished it, plus I was attached to it, and I asked them if they'd let me finish it." interview with Nightow in the September 2000 Manga no Mori newsletter
translated by sumire
The publishers were sympathetic, and the manga resumed in 1998 as . The story jumps forward two years with the start of ''Maximum''. Despite this, Nightow has stated"Nightow stated that there is no difference in the story between the two titles, and the only reason for the change is because of the switch of publishing house.
summary of discussion panel with Nightow
at

Anime Expo Anime Expo, abbreviated AX, is an American anime convention held in Los Angeles, California and organized by the non-profit Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA). The convention is traditionally held annually on the first we ...

2000, in

Anaheim, California Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most p ...

. that the new title was purely down to the change of publishers. ''Trigun Maximum'' ran until 2007 and generated 14 tankōbon volumes. The ''Trigun'' series was adapted into an anime series by Madhouse and had a limited broadcast run in 1998. It received an English adaptation which aired on Cartoon Network. Its popularity in the United States resulted in creation of a feature film '' Trigun: Badlands Rumble'' in 2010. Nightow created the characters and story for the

Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...

Red Entertainment is a video game developer and video game publisher, publisher based in Japan. Originally founded in 1976 as (though it did not begin doing business until 1985), it was reorganized and succeeded by a new company on December 4, 2000, under its cu ...

third-person shooter Third-person shooter (TPS) is a subgenre of 3D shooter games in which the gameplay consists primarily of shooting. It is closely related to first-person shooters, but with the player character visible on-screen during play. While 2D shoot 'em ...

video game series ''

''. The series also received an anime adaptation. In 2009, Nightow started a new manga series ''

'', which was serialized 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 ...

'' various magazines from ''Jump SQ.19'' to ''Jump SQ. Crown''. The series follows the adventures of a photographer who acquires supernatural visions and gets involved in an organization to fight monsters and terrorists.

Works

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nightow, Yasuhiro 1967 births Living people Converts to Christianity People from Yokohama Japanese Christians Manga artists from Kanagawa Prefecture Trigun Hosei University alumni