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 ...

, known for ''

Blade of the Immortal is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiroaki Samura. The series is set in Japan during the mid- Tokugawa Shogunate period and follows the cursed samurai Manji, who has to kill 1,000 evil men in order to regain his mortal ...

'', as well as several other short works. He has also done various illustrations for magazines and

ero guro is an artistic genre that puts its focus on eroticism, sexual corruption, and decadence.Silverberg, Miriam Rom. "By Way of a Preface: Defining ''Erotic Grotesque Nonsense''". Galley copy of the preface for ''Erotic Grotesque Nonsense: The Mass C ...

work.

Education

Samura says that he always wanted to be a

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. However, unlike most manga artists, he attended art school for a time and has a

classical art Ancient Greek art stands out among that of other ancient cultures for its development of naturalistic but idealized depictions of the human body, in which largely nude male figures were generally the focus of innovation. The rate of stylistic d ...

education. He disliked

oil painting Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...

and prefers to work in black and white. He says that he disliked oil painting from the start because of the smell of the paint and employed someone to help himself cheat to get through the course, which he is quite open about in interviews.Hiroaki Samura Interview for Quick Japan 38 (August 2001)
/ref> He never completed the course because he got picked up by ''

Afternoon Afternoon is the time after solar noon. It is the time when the sun is descending from its peak in the sky to somewhat before its terminus at the horizon in the west. In human life, it occupies roughly the latter half of the standard work and s ...

'' before he graduated to do ''

''.

Works

Manga

* (1993 – 2012; serialized in ''

Monthly Afternoon is a Japanese monthly ''seinen'' manga anthology published by Kodansha under the ''Afternoon'' line of magazines. The first issue was released with a cover date of January 25, 1986. ''Afternoon'' has spawned many successful manga series such as ...

'') * (2002; published by ''Afternoon KC'') ** (2000; published in ''Afternoon Season Special Edition'') ** (2000; published in ''Afternoon Season Special Edition'') * (2005 – 2007; serialized in ''Manga Erotics F'') * (2009; published by ''Afternoon KC'') ** (2004; published in ''Monthly Afternoon'') ** (2009; published in ''Monthly Afternoon'') ** (2005 – 2006; serialized in ''QuickJapan'') ** (2006; published in ''Monthly Afternoon'') ** (2008; published in ''

Monthly Comic Flapper is a monthly Japanese seinen manga magazine, published on the 5th each month by Media Factory since November 5, 1999 as a successor to ''Comic Alpha''. The magazine celebrated its 100th issue on February 5, 2008 (March issue 2008). On July 13, ...

'') ** (2006; published in '' Kindai Mahjong Original'') ** (2003;

dōjinshi , 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 ...

) * (2008 – 2011; serialized in ''

good! Afternoon is a Japanese seinen manga magazine anthology published by Kodansha. Initially published bimonthly, it switched to a monthly publication schedule starting with the 25th issue in late 2012. Each issue typically has around twenty-five stories by va ...

'') * (2010 – ongoing; serialized in ''Rakuen Le Paradis'') * (2011 – ongoing; serialized in ''Nemesis'') *, ''Harukaze no Snegurochka'' (2013 — 2014; serialized in ''Manga Erotics F''; 18th

Japan Media Arts Festival The Japan Media Arts Festival is an annual festival held since 1997 by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs. The festival begins with an open competition and culminates with the awarding of several prizes and an exhibition. Based on judging by ...

Excellence Award) * (July 25, 2014 — ongoing; serialized in ''Monthly Afternoon')

Dōjinshi

Illustrations

*, an illustration series of adult themed pencil drawings (extreme violence and sexual material). The illustrations were published from 1998 to 2006. The series jumped from one publication to the next and featured in both erotic and pornographic '

tankōbon is the Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or cultur ...

'' such as "Tokyo H" and "

Manga Erotics F was a bimonthly manga magazine by Ohta Publishing is a Japanese publishing company. With a number of controversial books that disturbed the Japanese society and its erotic manga comics, the company has established itself like a source of provoc ...

", youth and art magazines such as "QuickJapan" and "Comickers", before finally being collected in an artbook. *Cover art for the Japanese version of ''

Blood Will Tell ''Blood Will Tell: Tezuka Osamu's Dororo'', released as in Japan, is a 2004 PlayStation 2 game released by Sega. It is based on the Japanese manga series ''Dororo'', which was created by Osamu Tezuka. It concerns a hero named Hyakkimaru, who ...

'', a video game based on

Osamu Tezuka Osamu Tezuka (, born , ''Tezuka Osamu''; – 9 February 1989) was a Japanese manga artist, cartoonist, and animator. Born in Osaka Prefecture, his prolific output, pioneering techniques, and innovative redefinitions of genres earned him such ...

's ''

Dororo is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by the manga artist Osamu Tezuka. Tezuka's childhood memory of his friends pronouncing as ''dororo'' inspired the title of the series. ''Dororo'' was first serialized in Shogakukan's ''W ...

''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Samura, Hiroaki 1970 births Manga artists from Chiba Prefecture Japanese graphic novelists Living people