Naoki Urasawa

Urasawa's second album, Mannon (漫音 ) which he wrote and produced himself, was released in 2016. Urasawa wrote a demo for a song titled "Kanashiki LA Tengoku" (悲しきLA天国 ) and sent it to musician Mike Viola, who finished the track and invited Urasawa to Los Angeles to play on it. The people playing on the song are Urasawa, Viola, drummer Jim Keltner, and Mitsuru Kuramoto. It is included on the album The Best of Mike Viola which was released on January 22, 2020 with the performance credited to Monaka.

Urasawa was a 2019 nominee for entry into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame. In January 2020, Urasawa was chosen to create one of the official promotion posters for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Urasawa began Renzoku Manga Shōsetsu Asadora! ("Serial Manga Novel Asadora!") in Big Comic Spirits on October 6, 2018. He also designed the official character of the 2019 Osaka Women's Marathon. On January 23, 2019, Japan House Los Angeles presented the first North American exhibit of Urasawa's work, titled "This is MANGA – the Art of NAOKI URASAWA". The exhibit ran until March 28, 2019, and featured more than 400 original drawings and storyboards. Urasawa participated in an artist discussion and book signing on opening day. The exhibit moved to Japan House London from June 5 to July 28, also attended by the artist.

For most of his career, Urasawa has written two different series simultaneously. Urasawa frequently collaborates with manga editor and author Takashi Nagasaki, to the point where Nagasaki has been called his "producer." The two met when Nagasaki was made Urasawa's editor upon his debut. Although the two continue to collaborate even after Nagasaki became freelance, they rarely socialize outside of work. With the exception of 2018's ongoing Renzoku Manga Shōsetsu Asadora!, none of Urasawa's manga have ever been legally available in digital formats. The author stated that he prefers physical books.

Urasawa created a short three-page manga about 1960s British rock band the Beatles time-traveling to 2016. Released in June 2016 on the website of Tokyo radio station InterFM897, it coincides with the TV program KKBOX Here comes The Beatles and celebrates the 50th anniversary of the band's visit to Japan. On April 9, 2017, Urasawa began co-hosting a radio program with actor and comedian Junji Takada. Junji and Naoki (純次と直樹 ) airs Sundays at 5pm on Nippon Cultural Broadcasting and features both men talking about their lives, professions, and favorite hobbies. That year Urasawa also began the limited series Mujirushi: The Sign of Dreams in a collaboration with France's Louvre Museum. It began in Big Comic Original in October 2017 and ended on February 20, 2018.

He also does not determine the page or panel layouts in advance. Having drawn manga for over five decades, he just follows his instincts, explaining "When I start to structure a story narratively, the question of tempo — developing a character moment-to-moment and then jumping to a two-page spread — how do you determine where that happens? It's like breathing to me — I know when it feels right."

In August 2013, Urasawa created his first "monster manga" titled "Monster Kingdom", a 41-page one-shot published in Big Comic. Urasawa is the host of the NHK Educational TV documentary series Urasawa Naoki no Manben (浦沢直樹の漫勉 , "Naoki Urasawa's Manga Exertions") , which focuses on a different manga artist each episode and explores their individual styles. It began as a one-off special in 2014, a first season was launched in September 2015, a second in March 2016, a third in September 2016, and a fourth in March 2017.

Urasawa began writing a sequel to Master Keaton in 2012 titled Master Keaton Remaster. When asked why he went back to a series after so many years, Urasawa stated it was because with the original series he had a hard time making the story he wanted due to contractual obligation, and because people affected by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami said they had enjoyed the series, so he wanted to do something for them. Beginning in the March 2012 issue of Big Comic Original it finished in 2014 and was collected into a single volume. As a guest at the 2012 Japan Expo in France, Urasawa talked about how he entered the manga industry, gave a live drawing demonstration, and performed two songs as a musician, and joined rock band Hemenway on stage the following day.

Oricon held a poll on the Mangaka that Changed the History of Manga in 2010, mangaka being the Japanese word for a manga artist, and Urasawa came in tenth. Urasawa created a picture book in 2011, illustrating Kosuke Hamada's story Red Oni Cries.

Under the stage name "Bob Lennon", he wrote and performed the song "Kenji no Uta" ("Kenji's Song)", which was released on a CD included in the 2002 first pressing of volume 11 of 20th Century Boys. He released his debut single "Tsuki ga Tottemo..." (月がとっても… ) on June 4, 2008, and his debut album Hanseiki no Otoko (半世紀の男 , "Half Century Man") in 2009. In 2012 he performed a Japanese cover of Bob Dylan's "Girl from the North Country" and "Guta lala suda lala" from his series 20th Century Boys at the Japan Expo, and the following day he joined rock band Hemenway on stage.

While working on 20th Century Boys, Urasawa began adapting "The Greatest Robot on Earth" story arc of Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy into the series Pluto. It was serialized in Big Comic Original from September 9, 2003 to April 5, 2009 and collected into 8 volumes. It earned him his second Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize. In 2008, Urasawa began working for Kodansha, serializing Billy Bat in Weekly Morning. It ran from October 16, 2008 to August 18, 2016 and was collected into 20 volumes. Also in 2008, Urasawa took a guest teaching post at Nagoya Zokei University, where he taught "Modern Expression Course: Manga Classes" two to three times a year, although the class met every month. Initially planned for only five students, he agreed to expand it to fifteen in an effort to create more "real artists."

Following Master Keaton' s end, Urasawa began Monster in Big Comic Original in December 1994. It earned him the 1999 Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize, and his second Shogakukan Manga Award in the General category in 2001. It ended in December 2001, was collected into 18 volumes, and adapted into an anime television series in 2004. Junot Díaz, Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winner, praised Monster and proclaimed "Urasawa is a national treasure in Japan." With Happy!' s ending, Urasawa began 20th Century Boys in Big Comic Spirits in 1999. It earned him the 2001 Kodansha Manga Award in the General category, and his third Shogakukan Manga Award in the General category in 2002. It ended in 2006 and was collected into 22 volumes. The story briefly continued as 21st Century Boys in 2007, which was collected into two volumes. 20th Century Boys was adapted into three live-action films, which were released in 2008 and 2009.

When Pineapple Army ended, Urasawa began Master Keaton for Big Comic Original in November 1988. He illustrated it, while Hokusei Katsushika wrote it. It ended in August 1994 and was collected into 18 volumes. An anime television adaptation began in 1998, before finishing as an original video animation in 2000. Likewise when Yawara! ended, Urasawa began another solo series in Big Comic Spirits. Happy! ran from 1993 until 1999 and was collected into 23 volumes. It was adapted into two live-action television films in 2006.

Urasawa's first major work was illustrating the action series Pineapple Army (1985–1988), which was written by Kazuya Kudo. The first serial that he wrote and illustrated himself, and his first major success, was the sports manga Yawara! (1986–1993). He then illustrated the adventure series Master Keaton (1988–1994), which was written by Hokusei Katsushika and Takashi Nagasaki, and created the sports manga Happy! (1993–1999). The thriller Monster (1994–2001) was his first to receive international acclaim and success, which continued with the science fiction mystery 20th Century Boys (1999–2006). Following the acclaimed Pluto (2003–2009), which is a re-imagining of Astro Boy by Osamu Tezuka, one of his biggest influences, he created the mystery series Billy Bat (2008–2016). After two short series, a sequel to Master Keaton and Mujirushi: The Sign of Dreams, Urasawa began his currently ongoing Renzoku Manga Shōsetsu Asadora! in 2018.

After working as an assistant, Urasawa made his professional debut in 1983 with "Beta!" before creating the short serialized work Dancing Policeman the following year. He began his first major serialized work, Pineapple Army, in 1985 in the semimonthly Big Comic Original. He was the illustrator of the series, while Kazuya Kudo was its writer. It ended in 1988 and was collected into eight tankōbon volumes. While working on Pineapple Army, Urasawa began Yawara! in the weekly Big Comic Spirits in 1986 which he wrote and illustrated himself. It earned him the 1989 Shogakukan Manga Award in the General category. That same year it was adapted into a live-action film and an anime television series. It ended in 1993 and was collected into 29 volumes.

When Urasawa visited Shogakukan to apply for a business job, he decided to bring some manga he had drawn out of curiosity. An editor from Weekly Shōnen Sunday did not give him the time of day, but the head editor of Big Comic Original happened to walk by and felt the work was better suited for Big Comic Spirits, and took Urasawa to their editorial department. He ended up submitting manga for their 1982 New Manga Artist Award, which his unpublished work "Return" won. It was only then that he thought about becoming a professional manga artist.

Fusanosuke Natsume said that prior to entering university, Urasawa's style showed influence from Shinji Nagashima and Osamu Tezuka's 1970s work, but went on to claim that in 1979 it became aligned with that of Katsuhiro Otomo. When talking in 1997 about the future of manga, Urasawa opined that "Tezuka created the form that exists today, then caricatures appeared next, and comics changed again when Katsuhiro Otomo came on the scene. I don't think there's any room left for further changes." Although Urasawa's works like Yawara! had light entertainment with cute young girls, Natsume says Urasawa developed his own personal style with Monster, which he described as realistic, or directorially based, with cinematic panel layouts similar to Otomo and gekiga artists. Natsume also noted that many of his characters resemble famous movie stars. Urasawa himself described his approach to manga as similar to storyboarding a movie, and acknowledged his work as adult-oriented, stating that even as a child he never liked manga aimed at children. However, he noted that he and Otomo both prefer to have their work called manga and not gekiga.

Naoki Urasawa (Japanese: 浦沢 直樹 , Hepburn: Urasawa Naoki, born January 2, 1960) is a Japanese manga artist and musician. He has been drawing manga since he was four years old, and for most of his career has created two series simultaneously. Urasawa has been called one of the artists that changed the history of manga, and has received the Shogakukan Manga Award three times, the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize twice, and the Kodansha Manga Award once. By 2016, his various works had over 126 million copies in circulation.