Nobuhiro Watsuki | |
|---|---|
和月 伸宏 | |
| Born | Nobuhiro Nishiwaki (西脇 伸宏,Nishiwaki Nobuhiro) (1970-05-26)May 26, 1970 (age 55) Tokyo, Japan |
| Occupation | Manga artist |
| Known for | |
| Spouse | Kaworu Kurosaki |
Nobuhiro Nishiwaki (Japanese:西脇 伸宏,Hepburn:Nishiwaki Nobuhiro; born May 26, 1970), better known by hispen nameNobuhiro Watsuki (和月 伸宏,Watsuki Nobuhiro), is a Japanesemanga artist. He is best known for hissamurai-themed seriesRurouni Kenshin: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story (1994–1999), which has over 70 million copies in circulation, and a sequel he is currently creating,Rurouni Kenshin: The Hokkaido Arc (2017–present).
Watsuki has written three more manga series,Gun Blaze West (2001),Buso Renkin (2003–2005), andEmbalming: The Another Tale of Frankenstein (2007–2015). He has mentored several well-known manga artists, includingOne Piece creatorEiichiro Oda,Shaman King creatorHiroyuki Takei, andMr. Fullswing creatorShinya Suzuki [ja].[1] Watsuki was convicted of possessingchild pornography in 2018.
Watsuki was born on May 26, 1970, inTokyo and was brought up inNagaoka, Niigata.[2] When he was in middle school, Watsuki practicedkendo. He still drew manga but also enjoyed sports, although he never won a kendo match. Watsuki grew frustrated with kendo, and eventually quit.[3]
In high school, Watsuki received an honorable mention in the 33rdTezuka Awards for his 1987one-shotTeacher Pon, which he wrote under the pen name "Nobuhiro Nishiwaki".Hokuriku Yūrei Kobanashi earned him the Hop Step award. It was included inHop Step Award Selection volume 6 in 1991. After graduating, Watsuki moved to Tokyo and worked as an assistant toYōichi Takahashi andTakeshi Obata. Watsuki worked on Obata'sMashin Bōken Tan Lamp-Lamp andChikara Bito Densetsu,[4] the former's title character would later serve as a model forSagara Sanosuke.[5]
Watsuki then created three historically set samurai-themed one-shots;Crescent Moon in the Warring States, and two sharing the titleRurouni: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story. Set in theSengoku Jidai era of Japan's warring states,Crescent Moon in the Warring States relates the tale of the lone swordsmanHiko Seijūrō. The firstRurouni: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story featuresHimura Kenshin stopping a crime lord from taking over the Kamiya familydojo. The second sees Kenshin saving a young girl who is being held ransom by fallen samurai.[6] These three works served as the basis for his first serial;Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story, which follows the formerhitokiri Himura Kenshin and was serialized inWeekly Shōnen Jump from 1994 to 1999. It was a major success with over 70 million copies in circulation,[7] and was adapted into ananimetelevision series, several animated films, and a trilogy of live-action films. The storyHaru ni Sakura, included in theKenshin Kaden guidebook, details the fates of the main cast ofRurouni Kenshin following its conclusion. InYahiko no Sakabatō, set five years after the conclusion ofRurouni Kenshin, Myōjin Yahiko must save the daughter of a dojo master from an old foe.
DuringRurouni Kenshin's serialization, Watsuki wroteMeteor Strike, a one-shot written for aWeekly Shōnen Jump artists project. It chronicles the what-if adventures of a young boy who is struck in the head by a meteor and gains superhuman powers, eventually saving his town from a nuclear disaster. Watsuki felt disgusted with the work and originally did not plan on revealing it, but ultimately decided to includeMeteor Strike in the finalRurouni Kenshin volume to increase its page count. Although, he said that after reading the story over again it "relaxed" him "in a nice way."[8] Watsuki included three main elements in the story, which he described as having "some different flavors" thanRurouni Kenshin. He had wanted to use meteors in a story for a long time, since they are the "most energetic natural phenomena." His second element was a boy wearing a pair of white gloves. Watsuki described white gloves as "sort of plain" and "not cool at all," yet he considers the element to be one of his favorites since the gloves "give off a sense of strength." His third element is the girl wearing a construction site helmet. The helmet is masculine, while theJapanese school uniform that the girl wears is feminine.[8] Watsuki said that he created the main character Shinya "on the spot," giving him too much honesty, and a personality that overlaps with that of Himura Kenshin, which he regrets "a little." Watsuki created Chiho, the other major character, to show the "shojo theme of the moment" when the boy out-matures the girl. Watsuki felt that the plan "didn't work out so well" and "a lot wasn't what I wanted it to be." He added that he liked portraying the "helpful nature" of Chiho.[8]
In 2001, Watsuki created his second serialized work, the westernGun 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 inWeekly Shōnen Jump for less-than a year, from January 8 to August 13, 2001.[9][10] Its three volumes were published in English by Viz.
His third serializationBuso Renkin, was published inWeekly Shōnen Jump between July 7, 2003, and May 9, 2005,[11][12] with two special chapters published inAkamaru Jump. Watsuki is married to author Kaworu Kurosaki (黒碕薫,Kurosaki Kaoru). She has assisted her husband in writing several of his manga includingBuso Renkin, which she later wrote two novelizations of.[13][14] Watsuki described himself as "pro-dōjinshi" and asked fans to send fan comics.[15]Buso Renkin became his second work to be adapted into an anime. Both the manga and anime were released in English by Viz Media.
Watsuki wrote two one-shots forJump the Revolution!,Embalming -Dead Body and Bride- on November 1, 2005, andEmbalming 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 ofJump SQ on November 2, 2007, and concluded on April 4, 2015.[16][17] Kaworu Kurosaki again assisted him with the story.[13] It draws largely fromMary Shelley's famed 1818 novelFrankenstein 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.
Between 2012 and 2013, Watsuki putEmbalming on hold to writeRurouni Kenshin: Restoration inJump SQ.[18][19] This "reboot" depicts the battles that are featured in the first live-actionRurouni 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 inWeekly Shōnen Jump in August 2012 as a prologue toRestoration and included in its first volume.[20] The two-partRurouni Kenshin: Master of Flame, which shows howShishio Makoto metKomagata Yumi and formed theJuppongatana, followed inJump SQ. in 2014.[21] From August 9–11, 2013, an exhibit of art fromRurouni Kenshin was displayed atOtakon in the United States curated by Watsuki's wife.[14] Watsuki and his wife collaborated on the two-chapterRurouni Kenshin Side Story: The Ex-Con Ashitaro for the ninth anniversary ofJump SQ. in 2016.[22] The second chapter revealed that the story is a prequel to a new arc of the series;[23]Rurouni Kenshin: The Hokkaido Arc which began in fall 2017.
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 ofchild pornography. The search uncovered about a hundred child pornography DVDs.[24][25] He was referred to prosecutors overpossession of child pornography on November 21.[26][27] The serialization ofRurouni Kenshin: The Hokkaido Arc was put on hiatus after the details of Watsuki's charges were made public.[28][29] In February 2018, Watsuki was fined¥200,000 (aboutUS$1,900).[30]The Hokkaido Arc resumed serialization in June 2018.[31][32]
Watsuki started drawing from the influence of his older brother. He namedOsamu Tezuka'sBlack Jack as his favorite manga andTakeshi Obata as his favorite artist. Other series that influenced him includeFujiko F. Fujio'sDoraemon andPa-man,Mitsuru Adachi'sTouch,Wing Man byMasakazu Katsura, Minako Narita'sAlien Street andCypher, andYuYu Hakusho byYoshihiro Togashi.[4] Watsuki said that he is not very good at writing comedy, but stated that he does not give up on it because laughter contains "smiles and happiness, the greatest common denominators."[33]
Watsuki based many of his characters on historical figures, characters from other manga/anime, and video games series. For example,Himura Kenshin was based onKawakami Gensai,[34] one of theFour Hitokiri of the Bakumatsu. Four years after the revolution ended, Gensai was falsely accused of a crime and was executed.[35] Watsuki admires Kenshin for his desire to do good in honor of those whom he had to kill so the Meiji Government could exist.[35] In addition,Saitō Hajime was based on the historicalSaitō Hajime, a member of the Shinsengumi although Watsuki admitted altering him to the point of fan complaints.[36] Several other characters, most notablySagara Sanosuke,Shinomori Aoshi, andSeta Sōjirō, are also loosely based on certain figures among the Shinsengumi.[37]Okita Sōji,Ōkubo Toshimichi, andKatsura Kogorō are among numerous other historical figures who make appearances in the story. Yukishiro Enishi's minion Gein was based on grave robber and double murdererEd Gein.[38]
Shueisha announced on Tuesday that Nobuhiro Watsuki's Rurouni Kenshin manga is going on hiatus, due to Watsuki being charged for possession of child pornography. The manga will not run in Shueisha's Jump SQ. Magazine as of the January 2018 issue, which will ship on December 4.
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