Nobuhiro Watsuki

In November 2017, police found DVDs with footage of naked girls in their "early" teens in Watsuki's Tokyo office. Tokyo Police raided Watsuki's home as part of an investigation into the purchase of child pornography. The search uncovered DVDs containing videos of naked girls less than 18 years of age. He was referred to prosecutors over possession of child pornography on November 21. The serialization of Rurouni Kenshin: The Hokkaido Arc was put on hiatus after the details of Watsuki's charges were made public. In February 2018, Watsuki was fined ¥200,000. The Hokkaido Arc resumed serialization in June 2018.

Between 2012 and 2013, Watsuki put Embalming on hold to write Rurouni Kenshin: Restoration in Jump SQ. This "reboot" depicts the battles that are featured in the first live-action Rurouni Kenshin film. Its two collected volumes were published in English by Viz Media. It was the first of several returns to the author's most famous series. Rurouni Kenshin: Restoration Act Zero was published in Weekly Shōnen Jump in August 2012 as a prologue to Restoration and included in its first volume. The two-part Rurouni Kenshin: To Rule Flame, which shows how Shishio Makoto met Komagata Yumi and formed the Juppongatana, followed in Jump SQ. in 2014. From August 9–11, 2013, an exhibit of art from Rurouni Kenshin was displayed at Otakon in the United States curated by Watsuki's wife. Watsuki and his wife collaborated on the two-chapter Rurouni Kenshin Side Story: The Ex-Con Ashitaro for the ninth anniversary of Jump SQ. in 2016. The second chapter revealed that the story is a prequel to a new arc of the series; Rurouni Kenshin: The Hokkaido Arc which began in fall 2017.

Watsuki wrote two one-shots for Jump the Revolution!, Embalming -Dead Body and Bride- on November 1, 2005 and Embalming II -Dead Body and Lover- on November 1, 2006, that would become his fourth serial. Embalming -The Another Tale of Frankenstein- began in the debut issue of Jump SQ on November 2, 2007 and concluded on April 4, 2015. Kaworu Kurosaki again assisted him with the story. It draws largely from Mary Shelley's famed 1818 novel Frankenstein and follows a young man named Fury Flatliner, who was turned into a Frankenstein in order to destroy all the others and specifically seeks the one that killed his parents.

His third serialization Buso Renkin, was published in Weekly Shōnen Jump between July 7, 2003 and May 9, 2005, with two special chapters published in Akamaru Jump. Watsuki is married to author Kaworu Kurosaki (黒碕薫 , Kurosaki Kaoru) . She has assisted her husband in writing several of his manga including Buso Renkin, which she later wrote two novelizations of. Watsuki described himself as "pro-dōjinshi" and asked fans to send fan comics. Buso Renkin became his second work to be adapted into an anime. Both the manga and anime were released in English by Viz Media.

In 2001, Watsuki created his second serialized work, the western Gun Blaze West. The story follows Viu Bannes, a young gunfighter on his journey towards Gun Blaze West, the place where the greatest gunmen go to test their strength. It ran in Weekly Shōnen Jump for less-than a year, from January 8 to August 13, 2001. Its three volumes were published in English by Viz.

Watsuki then created three historically-set samurai-themed one-shots; Crescent Moon in the Warring States, and two sharing the title Rurouni: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story. Set in the Sengoku Jidai era of Japan's warring states, Crescent Moon in the Warring States relates the tale of the lone swordsman Hiko Seijūrō. The first Rurouni: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story features Himura Kenshin stopping a crime lord from taking over the Kamiya family dojo. The second sees Kenshin saving a young girl who is being held ransom by fallen samurai. These three works served as the basis for his first serial; Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story, which follows the former hitokiri Himura Kenshin and was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1994 to 1999. It was a major success with over 70 million copies in circulation, and was adapted into an anime television, several animated films, and a trilogy of live-action films. The story Haru ni Sakura, included in the Kenshin Kaden guidebook, details the fates of the main cast of Rurouni Kenshin following its conclusion. In Yahiko no Sakabatō, set five years after the conclusion of Rurouni Kenshin, Myōjin Yahiko must save the daughter of a dojo master from an old foe.

In high school, Watsuki received an honorable mention in the 33rd Tezuka Awards for his 1987 one-shot Teacher Pon, which he wrote under the pen name "Nobuhiro Nishiwaki". Hokuriku Yūrei Kobanashi earned him the Hop Step award. It was included in Hot Step Award Selection volume 6 in 1991. After graduating, Watsuki moved to Tokyo and worked as an assistant to Yōichi Takahashi and Takeshi Obata. Watsuki worked on Obata's Mashin Bōken Tan Lamp-Lamp and Chikara Bito Densetsu, the former's title character would later serve as a model for Sagara Sanosuke.

Nobuhiro Nishiwaki (Japanese: 西脇 伸宏 , Hepburn: Nishiwaki Nobuhiro, born May 26, 1970) , better known by his pen name Nobuhiro Watsuki (和月 伸宏 , Watsuki Nobuhiro) , is a Japanese manga artist. He is best known for his samurai-themed series Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story (1994–1999), which has over 70 million copies in circulation and a sequel he is currently creating titled Rurouni Kenshin: The Hokkaido Arc (2017–present). He has written three more series, the western Gun Blaze West (2001), the supernatural Buso Renkin (2003–2005), and the horror manga Embalming -The Another Tale of Frankenstein- (2007–2015). Watsuki has mentored several well-known manga artists, including One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda, Hiroyuki Takei of Shaman King fame, and Mr. Fullswing author Shinya Suzuki [ja] .