Table of Contents

Career
Death and legacy
Selected works
References
External links

Shotaro Ishinomori

NameShotaro Ishinomori
Image
Birth NameShotaro Onodera
Birth Date1938-01-25
Birth PlaceTome, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan
Death PlaceBunkyō, Tokyo, Japan
OccupationManga artist
Period1954–1998
GenreScience fiction
Notableworks
AwardsTezuka Osamu Cultural Prize (1998)
Websitehttps://ishimoripro.com/

, né , was a Japanese manga artist, cartoonist, writer and director. Known as the "King of Manga" (漫画の帝王 (Manga no Teiō) or 漫画の王様 (Manga no Ōsama)), he is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential manga artists of all time. Outside of manga he is also one of the most prolific creators in the history of anime, , and Japanese superhero fiction, creating several immensely popular long-running series such as Cyborg 009, the Super Sentai series (later adapted into the Power Rangers series which Ishinomori has also been credited for co-creating), and the Kamen Rider series. He was twice awarded by the Shogakukan Manga Awards, in 1968 for Sabu to Ichi Torimono Hikae and in 1988 for Hotel and Manga Nihon Keizai Nyumon.

He was also known as prior to 1986, when he changed his family name to Ishinomori by adding the character in katakana.

Career

In December 1954, Ishinomori published his first work, Nikyuu Tenshi, in Manga Shōnen. In 1956, he moved to Tokyo and became an assistant to Osamu Tezuka. During his time working under Tezuka, Ishinomori worked on Astro Boy and Alakazam the Great. In 1960, Ishinomori published Flying Phantom Ship, which was later turned into an animated feature film in 1969.

Cyborg 009, created in 1964, became the first superpowered hero team created in Japan, featuring nine cybernetic warriors. The success of the superhero TV series Kamen Rider, produced by Toei Company in 1971, led to the birth of the "transforming" (henshin) superhero (human-sized superheroes who transform by doing a pose, and use martial arts to fight henchmen and the weekly monster), and resulted in many sequel shows to this day.

Ishinomori then created many similar superhero dramas, which were once again all produced by Toei or in Sarutobi Ecchan's case Toei Animation, including Android Kikaider, Kikaider 01, Henshin Ninja Arashi, Inazuman, Robotto Keiji, Himitsu Sentai Gorenger (the first Super Sentai series), Kaiketsu Zubat, Akumaizer 3, Sarutobi Ecchan, the Toei Fushigi Comedy Series, and countless others. He created popular children's shows, such as Hoshi no Ko Chobin (Chobin, Child of the Stars, 1974, a co-production with Studio Zero which was a major success on Italian television) and Ganbare!! Robokon.

In 1963, he founded the anime company Studio Zero. From 1967 to 1970, the manga 009-1 was serialized in the Futabasha publication Weekly Manga Action. It was written and illustrated by Ishinomori. There was a television drama of it in 1969 and eventually an anime in 2006.

Ishinomori's art is reminiscent of that of his mentor, Osamu Tezuka. The true story of his first meeting with Tezuka was illustrated in a short four-page tale drawn up as supplementary material for the 1970s Astro Boy manga reprints. In 1954, Ishinomori submitted his first official work, Nikyu Tenshi, to a contest seeking new talent in the magazine, Manga Shōnen. Tezuka was impressed by his drawings and sent a telegraph to Ishinomori, asking him to work as his assistant with Astro Boy. In the American release, this story can be seen in Volume 15, along with Ishinomori's earliest work on the "Electro" story arc. After graduating from high school in 1956 Ishinomori moved to Tokiwa-so with Tezuka, and lived there until the end of 1961.

Ishinomori illustrated a comic adaptation of the Super NES video game The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, which was produced for the American publication Nintendo Power. The comic consisted of 12 chapters, which were serialized from January 1992 (Volume 32) to December 1992 (Volume 43). The comic was republished as a graphic novel collection in 1993, and, as of 2015, is back in print through Viz Media. He has been credited for some work with the Power Rangers, including videos, video games, the 1996 video of a Mighty Morphin Power Rangers World Tour Live on Stage event and the Power Rangers Zeo, Power Rangers Turbo and Power Rangers in Space tv series.

At the end of 1997, Kazuhiko Shimamoto, a young and up-and-coming manga artist was contacted by an increasingly ill Ishinomori and asked if he would do a continuation, though more along the lines of a remake, of his 100-page, one-shot manga from 1970, Skull Man, the manga that became the basis for Kamen Rider. Ishinomori, who had been one of Shimamoto's boyhood heroes, faxed him copies of the proposed story and plot notes. Shimamoto was astounded that he had been chosen to work on his idol's final, great work.

Shimamoto had already been involved in the revival of one of Ishinomori's other earlier works (including Kamen Rider) but little did he dream that, as only one of many whom Ishinomori had inspired, he would be chosen for the final collaboration and resurrection of Skull Man. It was also adapted into an anime in 2007.

Death and legacy

Ishinomori died of lymphoma and heart failure on 28 January 1998, just three days after his 60th birthday. His final work was the superhero TV series, Voicelugger, televised in 1999. In 2000, the Kamen Rider series was revived with Kamen Rider Kuuga. All of the series made in the Heisei era onwards credit Ishinomori as the creator. In 2001, Ishinomori Manga Museum named in his honor opened in Ishinomaki, Miyagi. Special trains in the Senseki Line were commissioned featuring his artwork generally leading to the museum.

His work posthumously awarded him the Guinness World Record for most comics published by one author, totaling over 128,000 pages across 770 titles across 500 volumes.

His influence, particularly on superhero media, is such that he has often drawn comparisons as being the manga counterpart to both Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

Many manga artists have cited Ishinomori as an influence, including Katsuhiro Otomo, Naoki Urasawa, Go Nagai, Kazuhiko Shimamoto, Keiko Takemiya, Moto Hagio, Taiyo Matsumoto, Tetsuya Chiba and Tetsuo Hara. Takemiya called him the 'flag-bearer of our time'. Hagio cited his influence on her drawing technique, stating that his images were 'truly marvelous'.

One of Tezuka's former assistants, Shigeto Ikehara, stated Ishinomori to be one of the two cartoonists that Tezuka was ever truly jealous of (the other being Otomo). Ikehara stated that while Tezuka felt that he could not draw in a more realistic style than Otomo, with Ishinomori, he felt that he could not beat him with an Ishinomori-style manga.

In a variation of 'The Top 100 Historical Persons in Japan' poll held in 2006, asking for the 'Greatest Geniuses in History', Ishinomori ranked 79th. The only other mangaka on this list were Osamu Tezuka and Fujiko F. Fujio.

Fuku Suzuki portrays a young Ishinomori in Saber + Zenkaiger: Superhero Senki.

Selected works

1954–55«二級天使»Nikyuu Tenshi1
1957–64«竜神沼»Ryuujin Numa / Dragon God Pond1
1960«空飛ぶゆうれい船»Flying Phantom Ship1
1964–81«サイボーグ009»Cyborg 00936
1964–69«さるとびエッちゃん»Sarutobi Ecchan5
1965–66«ミュータント・サブ»Mutant Sabu3
1966–72«佐武と市捕物控»Sabu and Ichi's Detective Memoirs17
1967–74009ノ1009-16
1967–68«幻魔大戦»Genma Wars2
1967–71«ジュン - 章太郎のファンタジーワールド»Shoutaro's Fantasy World Jun2
1969–70«リュウの道»The Road of Ryuu8
1970«スカルマン»The Skull Man1
1971«宮本武蔵»Miyamoto Musashi1
1971«原始少年リュウ»Primitive Boy Ryu3
1971«劇画家畜人ヤプー»Domestic Yapoo1
1971–72«仮面ライダー»Kamen Rider4
1972–73«ロボット刑事»Robot Keiji3
1972–73«変身忍者 嵐»Transforming Ninja Arashi3
1972–74«キカイダー»Kikaider6
1973–74«イナズマン»Inazuman4
1974–75«買厄懸場帖 九頭竜»Baiyaku Kakebachō Kazuryū3
1974–75«星の子チョビン»Chobin the Star Child1
1975–76«秘密戦隊ゴレンジャー»Himitsu Sentai Gorenger2
1976–78«ギルガメッシュ»Gilgamesh6
1977–78«多羅尾伴内 七つの顔をもつ男»The Man With Seven Faces5
1979–81«幻魔大戦 -神話前夜の章»Genma Wars: Eve of Mythology3
1983–84«八百八町表裏 化粧師»808 Ward Inside and Out: Make-Up Artist3
1984–98HotelHotel37
1986«マンガ日本経済入門»Japan Inc.: An Introduction to Japanese Economics2
1986–87«北斎»Hokusai3
1987–88«仮面ライダーBlack»Kamen Rider Black6
1988«人間の條件»The Human Condition4
1989–94«仮面ライダーZO»Kamen Rider ZO1
1992«ゼルダの伝説～神々のトライフォース»The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past1
1994«古事記 (石ノ森章太郎)»Kojiki1
1996–97«シャーロック・ホームズシリーズ»Sherlock Holmes Series10
1997–98«ドッグワールド»Dog World3

References


External links



Category:1938 births
Category:1998 deaths
Category:Anime character designers
Category:Japanese character designers
Category:Deaths from lymphoma in Japan
Category:Manga artists from Miyagi Prefecture
Category:Toei Animation
Category:Winners of the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize (Special Award)
Category:Japanese television show creators