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 ...

. He first gained success with his comedy series '' Seikimatsu Leader den Takeshi!'' (1997–2002), but is better known for ''

Toriko is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro. It follows the adventures of Toriko, a Gourmet Hunter, as he searches for rare, diverse foods to complete a full-course meal. On his journey, he is accompanied ...

'' which was serialized from 2008 to 2016 and has over 25 million copies in circulation. He ranked 14th on Nikkei Entertainment's list of the most successful manga artists between 2010 and 2011.

Career

Shimabukuro was born in

Naha, Okinawa is the capital city of Okinawa Prefecture, the southernmost prefecture of Japan. As of 1 June 2019, the city has an estimated population of 317,405 and a population density of 7,939 persons per km2 (20,562 persons per sq. mi.). The total area i ...

, and made his debut as a professional artist in 1996, in ''

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 r ...

''. His first serial, '' Seikimatsu Leader den Takeshi!'' (1997–2002), earned him the

Akatsuka Award The is the name of a semi-annual award presented to mangaka by the Japanese publisher Shueisha. The award has been given since 1974 and it aims to reward new manga artist in the comedy manga category. Its counterpart award, Tezuka Award, awards ne ...

for best new manga writer and the 2001

Shogakukan Manga Award The is one of Japan's major 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 J ...

for children's manga. In 2002, he was arrested and convicted of violating

child prostitution Child prostitution is prostitution involving a child, and it is a form of commercial sexual exploitation of children. The term normally refers to prostitution of a minor, or person under the legal age of consent. In most jurisdictions, child pr ...

laws, including paying a 16-year-old girl ¥80,000 to have sex. As a result of the arrest, ''Seikimatsu Leader Den Takeshi!'' was cancelled by ''Weekly Shōnen Jump''. Shimabukuro was sentenced to two years in prison. However, the sentence was suspended for four years. In 2004, Shimabukuro returned to manga with a sports comedy, ''Ring'', which continued for 3 volumes (24 chapters) in '' Super Jump'' magazine. He then temporarily resumed serialization of ''Seikimatsu Leader den Takeshi!'' in ''Super Jump'' in 2005. Shimabukuro returned to work for ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' in 2008 with ''

''. It became one of the magazine's top sellers, with over 25 million copies in circulation, and was nominated for the 2nd

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 ...

award in 2009. ''Toriko'' was 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 ...

television series by

Toei Animation () is a Japanese animation studio primarily controlled by its namesake Toei Company. It has produced numerous series, including '' Sally the Witch,'' '' GeGeGe no Kitarō,'' '' Mazinger Z'', '' Galaxy Express 999'', '' Cutie Honey'', '' Dr. Sl ...

that aired from 2011–2014 before the manga ended in November 2016. The manga was released in North America by

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 ...

and the anime by

Funimation Crunchyroll, LLC, previously known as Funimation from 1994 to 2022, is an American entertainment company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony as a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex that specializ ...

. Shimabukuro is friends with

Eiichiro Oda is a Japanese manga artist and the creator of the series ''One Piece'' (1997–present). With more than 516.5 million ''tankōbon'' copies in circulation worldwide, ''One Piece'' is both the best-selling manga in history and the best-se ...

, author of ''

One Piece ''One Piece'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized in Shueisha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' since July 1997, with its individual chapte ...

.'' In 2011, the two created the ''Toriko'' and ''One Piece'' crossover one-shot ''Taste of the Devil Fruit''. Shimabukuro stated that he came up with the bulk of the story while Oda gave suggestions. Shimabukuro published two one-shots in April 2017; ''Warai no Ōji Penpenpen'' for ''

Saikyō Jump is a Japanese monthly ''shōnen'' manga magazine published by Shueisha. The magazine was started on December 3, 2010 with three completely original titles and seven spin-off manga from series in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' and ''V Jump''. Originally ...

'' on April 1 and ''Chingiri'' in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' on April 24. He then contributed two more one-shots to the September 2017 issue of ''

Grand Jump is a Japanese semi-monthly seinen manga magazine published by Shueisha under their '' Jump'' line of magazines. Launched in November 2011 as a merging of ''Business Jump'' and ''Super Jump'', it carried over nine series from the former and thr ...

''; ''Jijī 100%'' and ''Halftime''. In April 2018, Shimabukuro released a one-shot called '' Build King'' in ''Weekly Shonen Jump''. In November 2020, the one-shot became a serial in the same magazine. In December, Shimabukuro revealed that he has switched to digital production of manga. ''Build King'' ended in an April 2021 issue, but its third and final ''

tankōbon is the Japanese term for a book that is not part of an anthology or corpus. In modern Japanese, the term is most often used in reference to individual volumes of a manga series: most series first appear as individual chapters in a weekly or m ...

'' will feature additional content.

Works

* *''Ring'' (2004–2005; ''Super Jump'') * **''Toriko Gaiden'' (2009) ** – with

* * * * *'' Build King'' (2020–2021, ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'')

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shimabukuro, Mitsutoshi 1975 births Living people Manga artists from Okinawa Prefecture People from Naha