Shōtarō Ishinomori

Shotaro Ishinomori ( Jap.石ノ森章太郎Ishinomori Shotaro * 25. January 1938 in Ishinomori, Miyagi , Japan ; † 28. January 1998 ) was the stage name of the Japanese manga cartoonist Shotaro Onodera (小野寺太郎), also known as Shotaro Ishimori (石森章 太郎) was known. He was often referred to as the "King of Manga " (漫画 の 王 様Manga no Ōsama ) and is considered to be the founder of the Sentai genre. His most famous work is Cyborg 009 .

life and work

Shōtarō Onodera was born in 1938 as the eldest son of six children. He grew up in the village of Ishinomori and attended Sanuma High School. Influenced by the works of the manga artist Osamu Tezuka , he sent some work as a student to the magazine Manga Shōnen , where his first manga was published in 1954. After graduating from high school, he moved to Tokyo to draw professionally under the pseudonym Shōtarō Ishinomori . Since Ishinomori was often incorrectly pronounced as Ishimori , he was soon also known as Shōtarō Ishimori (in 1985 he finally changed the spelling of his family name so that it could be clearly identified as Ishinomori ). In Tokyo, he lived in Tokiwa-so, a multi-storey apartment building that also housed other popular mangaka such as Osamu Tezuka, Fujio Akatsuka and the cartoonist duo Fujiko Fujio .

At first Ishinomori drew mainly manga for girls ( Shōjo ), but it was not successful. From the end of the 1950s he achieved initial successes with Shōnen manga such as Yūrei Fune and Kaitō Harimao . The series Cyborg 009 , which appeared in 1964 , finally brought the breakthrough and became his most famous manga. Cyborg 009 appeared in more than ten different manga magazines (including Shōnen Magazine and COM ) by 1986 and was also implemented in the form of television series and movies (both as anime and with real actors).

In 1966, Ishinomori created another success with Sabu to Ichi Torimonohikae . At that time he drew up to 500 pages of comics a month, a record that no other cartoonist in the world has ever achieved. In 1971 he released Kamen Rider , the implementation of which as a television series with costumed characters and special effects became a great success. Other successful manga emerged with Kikaider , Himitsu Sentai Goranger (the breakthrough for the Sentai genre) and Ganbare! Robocon . Often the protagonist in these series transforms from a normal boy into a superhero.

In the 1980s Ishinomori was no longer limited to shōjo and shōnen manga, but published his works primarily in manga magazines for adult readers ( his ).

From 1986 to 1988 he drew the work Manga Nihon Keizai Nyūmon (マ ン ガ 日本 経 済 入門), which was later summarized in four volumes, a detailed description of the Japanese economic system and thus founded the genre of the factual manga. This story was published worldwide (including as Les secrets de l'économie japonaise en bande dessinée in France and as Japan Inc. in the USA), the first volume was also published in German in February 1989 under the title Japan GmbH . Ishinomori created his second major non-fiction manga from 1989 to 1993 with Manga Nihon no Rekishi , a 10,000-page overview of Japanese history.

His last major work, Hotel , remained unfinished after his death in 1998, as Ishinomori died of heart failure at the age of 60.

effect

Ishinomori was a great influence on other manga artists; including Go Nagai , who also worked as his assistant, and Hideo Azuma , the "inventor" of the lolicon manga genre.

Based on Ishinomoris Kikaider , the Mangaka Meimu created the Manga Kikaider Code 02 , which was published in German from 2002 to 2003 by Planet Manga .

The Ishinomori Mangattan Museum in Ishinomaki .

A museum dedicated to his life and work has been opened in Ishinomaki , a town in Ishinomori's home Miyagi Prefecture . The museum is called the Ishinomori Mangattan Museum .

From February 2006 to November 2008, the Kadokawa Shoten publishing house plans to publish all of its works in 502 volumes, similar to the complete edition by Osamu Tezuka .

Awards

Ishinomori has received many awards over the course of his career:

• 7. Kodansha Prize (1967) for Cyborg 009 and Mutant Sabu
• 13. Shogakukan Manga Prize (1968) for Sabu to Ichi Torimonohikae and Jun
• 33rd Shogakukan Manga Prize (1988) for Hotel und Japan GmbH
• 17. Japan Cartoonists Association Award (1988) for Japan GmbH
• 2. Osamu Tezuka Culture Prize (1998) in the Special Prize category

Works (selection)

• Nikyū Tenshi , 1954–1955
• Terebi Kozou , 1959-1952
• Yūrei Fune , 1960–1961
• Kaitō Harimao , 1960–1961
• Cyborg 009 , 1964-1986
• Rainbow Sentai , 1965
• Mutant Sabu , 1965-1967
• Sabu to Ichi Torimonohikae , 1966-1996
• Jun , 1967-1969
• 009 no 1 , 1967-1970
• Ryu no Michi , 1969-1970
• Skull Man , 1970
• Kamen Rider , 1971
• Kikaider , 1972-1974
• Ganbare! Robocon , 1974-1975
• Himitsu Sentai Goranger , 1975-1976
• Gilgamesh , 1976-1977
• Gringlass , 1983-1984
• Kewaishi , 1983-1984
• Hotel , 1984-1998
• Japan Ltd. , 1986-1988
• Manga Nihon no Rekishi , 1989-1993

Web links

• Shōtarō Ishinomori in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Official homepage on ishimoripro.com (Japanese, English, French)