Category: manga

Sadao Hasegawa

Graphic Work by Sadao Hasegawa

Born in the Tōkai region of Japan, Sadao Hasegawa was a Japanese graphic artist known for creating homoerotic fetish art. His first solo exhibition, “Sadao Hasegawa’s Alchemism: Meditation for 1973” was held in Tokyo, Japan, and featured collages, sculptures, and oil paintings. In 1978 Hasegawa’s art was published for the first time in “Barazoku”, a monthly magazine for gay men. Later he would be published inthe magazines “Sabu”, “Samson” and Adon”.

Sadao Hasegawa cited japanese homoerotic artist Go Mishima and artist Tom of Finland as major influences on his work. Hasegawa’s early works reflected European styles,;but after regular trips to Bali and Thailand, his work put greater focus on Asian iconography and mythology. On November 20, 1999, Hasegawa died from suicide by hanging in aBangkok, Thailand, hotel. Ownership of his work was eventually granted to Gallery Naruyama in Tokyo, which holds the majority of Hasegawa’s colledted works.

Hasegawa’s artworks are noted for their extensive detail, elaborate fantasy settings, and  for elements of Japanese, Thai, Tibetan Buddhist, African and Indian art. While Hasegawa focused primarily on depictios of muscular male physique, he oftren incorporated extreme sexual themes and subject matter into his works.

Sadao Hasegawa is regarded as one of the most influential creators of homoerotic art in Japan. Very little of his work was publihed in Japan and only one work “Sadao Hasegawa: Paintings and Drawings”, a collection of his magazine work, was published internationally by the British publisher Gay Men’s Press in 1990.

 

 

Cyborg 009

Poster for Manga Film “Cyborg 009”

Shotaro Ishinomoni was a Japanese manga artist who became an influential figure in manga, anime and tokusatsu. He created  several popular long-running series such as “Cyborg 009”, the Super Sentai series that was later adapted into the Power Rangers series. “Cyborg 009”, created in 1963, was the firest superpowered hero team created in Japan.

Katsuhiro Otomo

Katsuhiro Otomo, “Akira”, Volume 5, March 2011, Cover Illustration, Published by Kodansha Comics

“In the 21st century, the once glittering Neo-Tokyo lies in ruin, leveled in minutes by the infinite power of the child psychic Akira. From the flooded wasteland of rubble and anarchy rises the Great Tokyo Empire, populated by a ragtag army of zealots and crazies who worship and fear Akria and his mad prime minister, Tetsuo, an angry teen with immense powers of his own– and equally immense, twisted ambitions. The world at large is not taking the threat lying down, and the military strength of the planet is massing to take on the empire, but will technology’s most advanced weaponry be enough to destroy Akira? And are Tetsuo’s rapidly growing paranormal abilities a potentially greater threat?” Stay tuned for more… .

Tsutomu Nihel

Manga Architecture by Tsutomu Nihel

Tsutomu Nihel, born in 1971, is a Japanese manga artist. His cyber-punk-influenced artwork has gained a strong cult following. He has a relatively large community of fans overseas where his manga “Blame!”, “Kinghts of Sidonia”, and “Biomega” were published by Vertical Incorporated and Viz Media.

Nihel’s first study was architecture: this influence has shown up in his manga work of depictions of huge structures. This is one of the general themes that make his manga unique.

Halloween Horror

Happy Halloween: Third and Final Chapter: Horror Manga

Japanese horror tends to focus on psychological horror and tension building and suspense, particularly involving ghosts and poltergeists, while many contain themes of folk religion such as: possession, exorcism, shamanism, precognition, and yōkai.

Recommended: Graphic horror works by Junji Ito ( “The Enigma of Amigara Fault” and “Uzumaki”) and “Jisatsu Circle” by Furuya Usamaru.

Recommended: Films:  “Jigoku”,1960 by director Nobuo Nakagawa; “Tetsuo: The Iron man”,1989, a cyberpunk horror film by Shinya Tsukamoto;  “Ringu”, the original Japanese version of the Americanized “The Ring”,1998, directed by Hideo Nakata.

Enjoy. Do not forget to turn off all the lights. No flashlights allowed. Happy Halloween to all of you.

Hiroaki Samura

Hiroaki Samura, “Blade of the Immortal”

“Blade of the Immortal” is a Japanese manga series by Hiroaki Samura. The series is set in Japan during the mid-Tokugawa Shogunate period and follows the cursed samurai Manji, who has to kill 1000 evil men in order to regain his mortality.

The manga was originally published in Afternoon from June 25, 1993, to December 25, 2012. A 2008 anime adaption was produced Bee Train and Production I.G. Also in 2008, the novel “Blade of the Immortal: Legend of the Sword Demon” was released in Japan by Kodansha, and two years later in the United States by Dark Horse Comics. A live action film adaptation is scheduled for release in 2017.

Yuuki Yugo

Wolf Guy

Wolf Guy is a Japanese manga series of two volumes published in 1970 by Bunkasha. Originally written by Kazumasa Hirai and illustrated by Hisashi Sakaguchi (坂口尚), the series has been readapted with a more violent and mature setting in 2007 by Yoshiaki Tabata and Yuuki Yugo. This new adaptation, also known as Wolf Guy: Ōkami no Monshō, has been released as twelve volumes by Akita Shoten.

The main protagonist of the story is Akira Inugami, a Japanese-American exchange student. He is constantly bullied and abused by gang members (whom in the stories, he usually ends up killing or maiming). His parents were killed by hunters when he was young, mainly because of their werewolf lineage, and was raised by a pack of wolves he had befriended. He can transform into a werewolf in his own will. He is quite powerful during full moons and is weak only during the days of new moons.