Recruiting
Dengeki have issued a platitudinous apology for their use of illustrations traced from deceased artist 堀部秀郎 / Hiderou Horibe’s works; they promise it won’t happen again (it has in fact happened several times previously, and they were most evasive in this case until exposed thoroughly on 2ch).
Dengeki Playstation magazine stands accused of freely helping themselves to dead mangaka 堀部秀郎 / Hiderou Horibe’s illustrations, in what seems to be flagrant plagiarism of the cover illustration of a 2004 edition of eroge magazine PC Angel (see above), as well as other instances (below); whilst Horibe may have passed away two years ago, observant eyes spotted the traces, and Dengeki and publisher Ascii Media Works refuse to apologise or even respond to the allegations.
The level of anticipation and furious interest centred on 鳴子ハナハル / Naruko Hanaharu’s (also Naruco Hanaharu – and he is assuredly a man despite the -ko) latest adult manga, 少女マテリアル / Shoujo Material, has perhaps been unprecedented; it is a little hard to fathom how such attention has come to focus on a mangaka whose works had previously been relatively restricted in availability, however high quality they were.
An iconic artist whose illustrations and manga unusually really only form a fraction of his overall works is うるし原 智志 / Satoshi Urushihara (sometimes given as 漆原智志). He has had a long and illustrious career as an animator and character designer for anime, and these achievements overshadow (probably justifiably) his other works; here, the focus is on his own illustrative works however.
The mangaka defunct rag WaiWai branded a paedophile, over his using a tastefully dressed girl character (above) to illustrate an official manga version of an otherwise dry defence white paper, has shot back at Mainichi, demanding a public apology, only to be told that he can expect an under the table settlement, but under no circumstances must he write about it on his blog.
でこくーる / decocool wrote about it on his blog, revealing the details of the interchange in full.
A famous and hugely prolific mangaka whose works I have been familiar for many years now is 師走の翁 / Shiwasu no Okina. His works are notably original, if at times a little hard to understand story wise, and it is particularly interesting to see such original works still focussing on relatively mainstream themes.
Konjiki no Gash creator 雷句誠 / Makoto Raiku brings a series of scandalous allegations regarding the conduct of his editors to light, as if his last were not severe enough. Shonen Sunday magazine and publisher Shogakukan, coincidentally also in trouble with the ending of one of their major series, and also having abused a somewhat charismatic lady mangaka, seems set to have its reputation utterly destroyed. In an interview with Raiku the details emerge in lurid detail, and the full story is provided below.
An artist whose works exhibit truly striking quality is Tony (also known by the name Taka Tony, his real name 田中貴之 / Takayuki Tanaka, his company RPM KK and his circle T2 Art Works); his works have come to be quite famous, and for good reason, as they are first rate, as you can see below.
Infuriated over publisher Shogakukan having managed to lose an important original manuscript, 金色のガッシュ / Konjiki no Gash (also “Zatch Bell”) mangaka 雷句誠 / Makoto Raiku has demanded compensation to the tune of ¥3,300,000.
Apparently, after the manga finished serialisation, the publisher returned the orginal manuscripts, but some colour pages were missing; the author is basing his claim on the artistic value of the lost pages. Shogakukan for their part have made the terse statement “We shall deal with the petition properly as soon as it is received”.
Via TBS.
A mangaka with a young but nevertheless impressive career who has caught my attention is 大和川 / Yamatogawa; his works are currently limited to only two compilations, but they are conspicuous through their extremely high quality.
One of the most original and artistically accomplished, not to mention prolific, mangaka whose work I am familiar with is 唯 登詩樹 / Yui Toshiki; his work manages exceptional originality, both in terms of /d/ worthiness, as well as in terms of outright surrealness or artistic novelty. Not only this, but a large proportion of his works are produced in sumptuous colour…
