Nobuhiro Watsuki
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Nobuhiro Watsuki (和月伸宏 Watsuki Nobuhiro?, born May 26, 1970) is a Japanese mangaka, best known for his samurai-themed series Rurouni Kenshin. He once worked as an assistant for his favorite author Takeshi Obata, and is influenced by Marvel comics such as the X-Men, Spider-Man, Hulk, and Spawn when making his characters.
Nobuhiro Watsuki was born in Nagaoka, Niigata prefecture, Japan. When Watsuki was a young boy, his brother, who was three years older, drew manga. Watsuki’s older brother was his role model so he started drawing Manga as well. Watsuki was also inspired by various Manga artists of the older times. A few of them were Osamu Tezuka and Fujiko F. Fujio. Later on, his brother stopped drawing manga but, “Because Mr. Watsuki was dumb, he kept drawing it (manga) for a while.”
When Watsuki was in middle school, he practiced kendo. Kendo is the art of wooden swords. He still drew Manga but also wanted to partake in sports. Watsuki admits that he was very weak. “So weak in fact,” says Watsuki, “That I was an embarrassment to my 183 centimeters of height.” (RK vol. 1) Watsuki never won a kendo match. One time, though, he was selected to be a starter. This happened because the boy who was supposed to start was suspended for causing an uproar. After a while, Watsuki got frustrated with kendo, and eventually quit. When he was challenged to come up with a new character for Rurouni Kenshin, he used his outlook on kendo for a base of Myōjin Yahiko.
Nobuhiro Watsuki has had many works in the past. In high school he won the Hop Step award for his work on his comic sleeve he called Podmark. Not much is known about Podmark because it has not been translated to English. Later on, Watsuki was an assistant in the work of Arabian Lamp-Lamp. The model for Sagara Sanosuke was based on a different version of Lamp. In 1994 a new sleeve was created and published in Shonen Jump Weekly. It seems that this was the first sleeve about Rurouni Kenshin. His most recent work, Buso Renkin (Arms Alchemy) was published on June 2003, also in Jump.
When not working on manga, Watsuki enjoys playing video games, reading other manga, and watching television. His favorite American comic book is X-Men because he likes the action. His favorite Anime (other than his own) is Neon Genesis Evangelion. He likes video games like Samurai Spirits and things of that sort. He also enjoys action movies like Die Hard and The Matrix.
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[edit] Real-World Inspirations
Watsuki bases many of his characters on historical figures and characters from other anime/manga series. For example, Himura Kenshin was based on Kawakami Gensai, one of the hitokiri (assassins) during the Bakumatsu (Japanese revolution). He was the master of the sword style called shiranui-ryu. Gensai is famous for felling the famous idealist Sakuma Shozan. Four years after the revolution ended, Gensai was falsely accused of a crime and was executed. Watsuki admires Kenshin for his desire to do good in honor of those whom he had to kill so the Meiji government could exist.
In addition, Saitō Hajime was based on the historical Saito, a member of the Shinsengumi. Several other characters, most notably Sagara Sanosuke, Shinomori Aoshi, and Seta Sojiro, are also loosely based on certain figures among the Shinsengumi. Okita Soji, Okubo Toshimichi, and Katsura Kogoro were among numerous other historical figures who made appearances in the story.
[edit] Manga Works
- Crescent Moon in the Warring States (first professional work) - Indirectly set in the Rurouni Kenshin world. Tells the tale of a former Hiko Seijūrō. It is collected in Rurouni Kenshin tankōbon volume 6.
- Rurouni: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story - Two short story Rurouni Kenshin pilots that preceded the launching of the ongoing series in Shonen Jump. They are collected in Rurouni Kenshin tankōbon volumes 1 and 3 in Japan and North America.
- Rurouni Kenshin (るろうに剣心)
- Kenshin Kaden - A Rurouni Kenshin guidebook that includes a short story in full color detailing the fates of all of the Rurouni Kenshin characters.
- Yahiko no Sakabatō - Also set in the Rurouni Kenshin universe. Details the final story set in the Rurouni Kenshin universe with Myōjin Yahiko as the main character. Yahiko must save the daughter of a swordsmen teacher from an old lost follower of Shishio.
- Meteor Strike (メテオ ストライク) - Short story done for a Shonen Jump artist competition. About a boy that got a meteor lodged in his head. He gains super-human strength from the meteor in his head and saves a city from being crushed by another meteor headed towards the nuclear reactor.
- GUN BLAZE WEST- Set in America in the 1800s, the 3 main characters look for the gunslingers paradise "Gun Blaze West". It was cancelled after 3 volumes.
- Buso Renkin (武装錬金 Busō Renkin)- finished at 10 volumes. About a boy who risked his life to save a girl from a monster called the homunculus - flesh eating monsters disguised as humans. His heart was replaced by alchemy and he uses it to call his Lance weapon to fight off these monsters.
- Embalming -DEAD BODY and BRIDE- (done for "JUMP the REVOLUTION" 2005 - Short story based on the Frankenstein idea of bringing the dead to life)
- Embalming II -DEAD BODY and LOVER- (done for "Jump the Revolution" 2006 - Another short story taking place in the Embalming universe)
[edit] Video Game Designs
[edit] External links
- The-OrO// Mangaka More information about Watsuki.
