Tsutomu Nihei
Tsutomu Nihei ( Japanese 弐 瓶 勉 , Nihei Tsutomu ; * 1971 in Fukushima Prefecture , Japan ) is a Japanese manga artist who worked with Blame! created a dark end-time scenario.
Nihei's drawings are very sketchy. Nihei's stories can be assigned to the genre of cyberpunk .
Nihei studied architecture and was then assistant to the Mangaka Tsutomu Takahashi . He made his debut as a professional draftsman in 1994 in the manga magazine Afternoon with BLAME . Due to the great success of BLAME , Nihei drew the 10-volume manga Blame! , which was released in Japan from 1997 to 2003 and is his greatest success to date. From 2004 to 2009 Biomega followed , which brought it to six volumes, as well as his latest series Sidonia no Kishi ( Knights of Sidonia ), which so far (as of May 2014) had 12 volumes. All three series are published in Germany by Egmont Manga .
Given the success of Blame , Marvel Comics approached him and asked if he would be interested in drawing a comic about Wolverine . Nihei accepted this offer and in June 2003 the first chapter of Wolverine Snikt was published! in the United States. 2006 was Halo - graphic novel announced contributes to what Nihei one of four stories, this also appears in Marvel .
Nihei also works for the amateur manga scene. His six-page short story Akai Kiba ( 赤 い 牙 ) was published in 2005 as Dōjinshi .
Recurring themes
Nihei's stories mostly take place in the future and often deal with similar topics. The most prominent is probably transhumanism , as many of its main characters appear as human, but are often not human. The transition from humans to artificial beings itself is rarely discussed, but it is a central aspect as characters recover from apparently fatal injuries or are already thousands of years old thanks to nanotechnology . Furthermore, aspects such as the upload of consciousnesses and the question of humanity in an artificial being are questioned.
In addition to this central theme, Nihei repeatedly uses some very specific elements.
- Bear with prosthetic arm: Biomega , Knights of Sidonia
- Sexless beings as protagonists or antagonists: Abba , Blame! , Knights of Sidonia , Biomega, Abara
- The fictional company Toha Heavy Industry : Blame !, Biomega, Knights of Sidonia
Nihei also modifies individual objects, names and organizations slightly and uses them again in other stories. This style element includes the gun of the main character Killy in Blame! - the rare molecular shock wave weapon - which in a modified form both in Blame! as also occurs in Biomega. However, it is controversial among fans whether these occurrences and repetitions are part of a shared universe and whether the stories take place in the same universe.
Works
- BLAME , 1994 (the final chapter of NOiSE )
- Blame! , 1997-2003, 10 volumes
- NOiSE , 2000-2001, 1 volume
- Blame! and so on , 2003 ( Artbook )
- Wolverine Snikt! , 2003
- Blame! Academy , 2004
- Biomega , 2004–2009, 6 volumes
- Zeb-Noid , 2004
- Net Sphere Engineer (NSE) , 2004
- Digimortal , 2005
- Abara , 2005–2006, 2 volumes
- Akai Kiba (Abba) , 2006
- Halo Graphic Novel , 2006 (one of four stories)
- Blame! Academy 2 , 2007
- Dead heads
- Negative corridor
- Sabrina
- Winged Armor Suzumega
- Blame! Academy 3 , 2008
- Sidonia no Kishi ( Knights of Sidonia ), 2009–2015, 15 volumes
- Aposimz - In the Land of Dolls (Ningyō no Kuni) , since 2017, 2 volumes
Web links
- Entry at Anime News Network (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Nihei, Tsutomu |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | 弐 瓶 勉 (Japanese) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Japanese manga artist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1971 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Fukushima Prefecture , Japan |