Mohiro Kitoh
Mohiro Kitoh ( Japanese 鬼頭 莫 宏 , Kitō Mohiro ; born August 8, 1966 in Aichi Prefecture , Japan ) is a Japanese manga artist . The majority of his works, drawn with a thin pen, in which the characters are depicted in psychological detail, contain elements of fantasy or science fiction .
biography
Early career
In his youth, Mohiro Kitoh, about whose private life little is known, read the manga magazine Ryu , which was published by Tokuma Shoten from 1979 to 1986 and specialized in science fiction manga. After graduating from the Nagoya Institute of Technology , he published his first manga as a professional draftsman under the pseudonym Tomohiro Kitō ( 鬼頭 知 広 , Kitō Tomohiro ) . The as Zansho (translated about "persistent summer heat" ) titled, 28-page short story was published in June 1987 in Shōnen Sunday , one of Japan's manga magazines with the highest circulation. Zansho , for which he won a young talent award from the Shogakukan publishing house, tells of a boy who reunites with his sister, who recently died in an accident. It was not until seven years later that he published his second comic, Sanchōme Kōsaten Denshinbashira no Ue no Kanojo, under another pseudonym, Shinji Kitō ( 鬼頭 真嗣 , Kitō Shinji ) . The 32-page work was to be read in August 1994 in Shōnen Champion magazine, which is aimed at about the same target group as Shōnen Sunday , boys in elementary to middle school age. Sanchōme Kōsaten Denshinbashira no Ue no Kanojo is about a boy who lives on a telephone pole after his death. One day he meets a girl who can see him.
In 1995 he sent the Afternoon magazine, which is aimed at high school and college students, the 31-page short story Vendemiaires right hand ( ヴ ァ ン デ ミ エ ー ル の 右手 , Vandemiēru no Miigite ). In it, a youngster meets Vendemiare, a girl with white wings who is forced to work at a wandering fair. It turns out that Vendemiaire is a living doll. Kitoh won the Afternoon Shiki-shō in the semi-selection category for this story ( 準 入選 , Jun Nyūsen ). In the same year Hiroki Endo , Tsutomu Nihei and Kōichi Kiba were awarded. Seven other stories with similar stylistic devices as Vendemiaire's right hand appeared between 1996 and 1998 in the afternoon , which were then summarized in two anthologies under the title Wings of Vendemiaire . Since Wings of Vendemiaire the draftsman has published his works under his real name.
Breakthrough with Naru Taru
In May 1998, the first chapter of Kitoh's most successful manga series to date, Naru Taru , appeared in the afternoon. The main character is the eleven-year-old Shiina Tamai, who meets a dragon child, a not yet fully grown bone dragon, on an island. Over time, she learns that some children are connected to Bone Dragons and have the destruction of the world in mind. The manga series ended in December 2003 after over 2,500 pages. Naru Taru was also implemented as an anime television series in 2003 and sold in several countries, but not fully released in some countries due to brutal scenes. Although the German translation of the manga series turned out to be a commercial failure, all twelve anthologies and Wings of Vendemiaire were published in German.
SiNNa 1905 was first published on the Internet in 1999. Unusually for Japanese comics, the manga is entirely in color and was also published in print by Biblos in November 1999 .
Alternative projects
From January 2004 the draftsman worked again for the Shogakukan publishing house, while Naru Taru and Wings of Vendemiaire had been published by Kōdansha . His series Bokurano was published monthly in the alternative manga magazine Ikki until June 2009 . The manga is about fifteen children or young people who discover a cave during the holidays and are offered to take part in a "game" to save the earth. The children have to fight individually with the robot Zearth against other robot-like beings and die after the end of their fight. Bokurano comprises around 2,300 pages in eleven anthologies, each of which sold over 100,000 times in Japan, and was implemented as an anime television series in 2007.
In June 2004 the anthology Zansho - Kitō Mohiro Tanpenshū ( 残 暑 - 鬼頭 莫 宏 短 編 集 - ) was published in the label Ikki Comics , in which seven short works by Kitoh are included. In addition to his first works Zansho and Sanchōme Kōsaten Denshinbashira no Ue no Kanojo , the band also includes short stories that he has drawn for Afternoon , Young Magazine and Ikki .
Since 2005 Kitoh has also published Manga Erotics F in the manga magazine , which, like Ikki , focuses on alternative comics. For this magazine he drew the short story series Kakutoshi no Yume, among other things .
Works
- Zansho ( 残 暑 ), 1987
- Sanchōme Kōsaten Denshinbashira no Ue no Kanojo ( 三 丁目 交 差点 電信 柱 の 上 の 彼女 ), 1994
- Wings of Vendemiaire (ヴ ァ ン デ ミ エ ー ル の 翼 , Vandemiēru no Tsubasa ), 1996–1998
- Naru Taru (な る た る ), 1998-2003
- SiNNa 1905 ( 辰 奈 1905 ), 1999
- Kaseiso ni Hana o Motte ( 華 精 荘 に 花 を 持 っ て ), 2000
- A&R , 2002
- Yogoreta Kirena ( よ ご れ た き れ い な ), 2002
- Papa no Uta ( パ パ の 歌 ), 2003
- Bokurano (ぼ く ら の ), 2004–2009
- Pochi no Basho ( ポ チ の 場所 ), 2004
- Kakutoshi no Yume ( 殻 都市 の 夢 ), 2005
- Owari to Hajimari no Mailus ( 終 わ り と 始 ま り の マ イ ル ス , Owari to Hajimari no Mairusu ), since 2006
- Kare no Satsujin Keikaku ( 彼 の 殺人 計画 ), 2008
- Nani ka Mochigatte Masu ka ( な に か も ち が っ て ま す か ), 2009–2015
- Noririn ( の り り ん ), 2009–2015
- Futago no Teikoku ( 双子 の 帝國 ), since 2015
Web links
- Official Website (Japanese)
- Brief biography
- Interview with Mohiro Kitoh (Japanese)
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Kitoh, Mohiro |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | 鬼頭 莫 宏 (Japanese); Kitō Mohiro |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Japanese manga artist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 8, 1966 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Aichi prefecture |