Masashi Kishimoto

Masashi Kishimoto (岸本 斉史, Kishimoto Masashi, born November 8, 1974) is a Japanese manga artist, well known for creating the manga series Naruto which was in serialization from 1999 to 2014. As of September 2014, the series had over 200 million copies in print worldwide. Besides the Naruto manga, Kishimoto also participated in the making of the anime films Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie, The Last: Naruto the Movie, and has written several one-shot stories.

A reader of manga ever since a young age, Kishimoto showed a desire to write his own manga, citing authors Akira Toriyama and Katsuhiro Otomo as his main inspirations. As a result, Kishimoto spent several years working to write his own shōnen manga for Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine which he was a fan of. His younger twin brother, Seishi Kishimoto, is also a manga artist and creator of the manga series 666 Satan (O-Parts Hunter) and Blazer Drive. During the publication of Naruto, Kishimoto married in 2003 and became a father.

Biography

Early life

Masashi Kishimoto was born in the Okayama Prefecture, Japan on November 8, 1974 as the older identical twin of Seishi Kishimoto. During his childhood, Kishimoto showed interest in drawing characters from the anime shows he watched, such as Dr. Slump's Arale and Doraemon '​s titular protagonist. In elementary school, Kishimoto started watching the Kinnikuman and Dragon Ball anime alongside his brother. During the following years, Kishimoto started idolizing Dragon Ball '​s author Akira Toriyama, enjoying not only his series Dragon Ball and Dr. Slump, but also Dragon Quest, a role-playing video game for which Toriyama was art designer. While he could not afford to buy Weekly Shōnen Jump where the Dragon Ball manga was published, he followed the series thanks to a friend from school who had subscribed to the magazine. By high school Kishimoto started losing interest in manga as he started playing baseball and basketball, sports he practiced at his school. However, upon seeing a poster for the animated film Akira, Kishimoto became fascinated with the way the illustration was made and wished to imitate the series' creator Katsuhiro Otomo's style.

During his last years of school, Kishimoto spent time drawing manga and went to an art college hoping he would become a manga artist. Upon entering college, Kishimoto decided he should try creating a Chanbara manga since Weekly Shōnen Jump had not published a title from that genre. However, during the same years, Kishimoto started reading Hiroaki Samura's Blade of the Immortal and Nobuhiro Watsuki's Rurouni Kenshin which used such genre. Kishimoto recalls having never been surprised by manga ever since reading Akira and found that he still was not able to compete against them. In his second year of college, Kishimoto started drawing manga for magazine contests. However, he noted that his works were similar to seinen manga, aimed towards a young adult demographic, rather than the shōnen manga read by children. Wishing to write a manga for Shōnen Jump that targets a young demographic, Kishimoto found his style unsuitable for the magazine. When watching the anime series Hashire Melos!, Kishimoto was surprised by the character designs employed by the animators and he started researching works from animators. He later met Tetsuya Nishio, designer from the anime adaptation of the manga Ninku who he deemed as a big influence. Now emulating the way of drawing from multiple character designers from anime series, Kishimoto noted that his style started resembling shōnen series.

Works

Kishimoto's first work as a manga artist was Karakuri (カラクリ), which he submitted to Shueisha in 1995. This earned him Weekly Shōnen Jump '​s monthly "Hop Step Award" in 1996, granted to promising new manga artists. This was followed in 1997 by a one-shot version of Naruto (NARUTO－ナルト－), published in Akamaru Jump Summer. In December 1997, Kishimoto premiered as a Weekly Shōnen Jump artist with a serialized version of Karakuri in Weekly Shōnen Jump 1998 No. 4-5, but it was immediately canceled due to poor performance in reader polls. In September 1999, a serialized version of Naruto premiered in 'Weekly Shōnen Jump 1999 No. 43, and quickly became a hit. Naruto finished on November 10, 2014, with over 70 volumes published, and has sold over 113 million copies in Japan and over 95 million copies in the US, followed by over 93 million copies worldwide (outside Japan and United States) as of volume 36, also being adapted into two successful anime series. The Naruto manga series became one of Viz Media's top properties, accounting for nearly 10% of all manga sales in the US in 2006. The seventh volume of Viz's release became the first manga to ever win a Quill Award when it claimed the award for "Best Graphic Novel" in 2006. Responding to Naruto's success, Kishimoto said in Naruto Collector Winter 2007/2008 that he was "very glad that the American audience has accepted and understood ninja. It shows that the American audience has good taste... because it means they can accept something previously unfamiliar to them."

Two of his former assistants, Osamu Kajisa (Tattoo Hearts) and Yuuichi Itakura (Hand's), have also gone on to moderate success following their work on Naruto. In 2009, Kishimoto designed an extra costume for the video game character Lars Alexandersson for Tekken 6, and in 2010 this character appeared in Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 as part of a special cross-promotion. In 2010, Kishimoto also produced a one-shot baseball manga, Bench (ベンチ, Benchi), as part of Jump's "Top of the Super Legend" project, a series of six one-shot manga by famed Weekly Shōnen Jump artists. For the ninth Naruto film, Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie, Kishimoto was responsible for both the story and characters' designs. In order to promote the film, Kishimoto also worked in Motion Comic Naruto a DVD that shows scenes from the manga in 3D that was given to the first 1.5 million people who went to the cinema. Regarding Naruto '​s publication Kishimoto told Tetsuya Nishio in July 2012 that the series would take over a year and a half to end. However, Kishimoto admitted that it now appears that the manga will continue beyond that timeframe. In April, 2012, it was announced that Kishimoto would publish a one-shot version of his long-postponed mafia manga, Mario, in Jump Square, based on a rough, 160-page manuscript he began working on before Naruto became serialized. Throughout 2013, several of Kishimoto's one-shots saw their English-language debut in issues of the Weekly Shonen Jump digital magazine, including Mario, Bench, and the original Naruto pilot.

Manga

• Karakuri one-shot (1996; Hop Step Award winner, published in Hop Step Award Selection 18 ('95~'96) (1996), Akamaru Jump Winter (1997), and Naruto: The Official Premium Fanbook (2009))
• Naruto one-shot (1997; published in Akamaru Jump Summer (1997) and Naruto: The Official Fanbook (2002))
• Karakuri (December 21, 1997; debuted and canceled in Weekly Shōnen Jump 1998 No. 4-5)
• Naruto (September 21, 1999 â€" November 10, 2014; serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump, debuted in Weekly Shōnen Jump 1999 No. 43)
• Bench one-shot (October 11, 2010, published in Weekly Shōnen Jump 2010 No. 45)
• Mario one-shot (May 2, 2013, published in Jump Square 2013 No. 6)

Guides

• Naruto: First Official Data Book (NARUTO―ナルト―[秘伝·臨の書]キャラクターオフィシャルデータBOOK, Naruto Hiden: Rin no Sho Kyarakutā Ofisharu DÄ"ta Book, lit. "Naruto [Secret Book: Record of Confrontation] Character Official Data Book")

• Naruto: The Official Fanbook (NARUTO―ナルト―[秘伝·の書]オフォシャルファンBOOK, Naruto Hiden: Hyō no Sho Ofisharu Fan Book, lit. "Naruto [Secret Book: Record of Warriors] Official Fan Book")

• Naruto: Second Official Data Book (NARUTO―ナルト―[秘伝·闘の書]キャラクターオフィシャルデータBOOK, Naruto Hiden: Tō no Sho Kyarakutā Ofisharu DÄ"ta Book, lit. "Naruto [Secret Book: Record of Battle] Character Official Data Book")

• Naruto: Third Official Data Book (NARUTO―ナルト―[秘伝·者の書]キャラクターオフィシャルデータBOOK, Naruto Hiden: Sha no Sho Kyarakutā Ofisharu DÄ"ta Book, lit. "Naruto [Secret Book: Record of Someone] Character Official Data Book")

• Naruto: The Official Premium Fanbook (NARUTO―ナルト―[秘伝·皆の書]オフィシャルプレミアムファンBOOK, Naruto Hiden: Kai no Sho Ofisharu Puremiamu Fan Book, lit. "Naruto [Secret Book: Record of Everyone] Official Premium Fan Book")

Artbooks

• The Art of Naruto: Uzumaki (岸本斉史ç"»é›† UZUMAKI, Kishimoto Masashi GashÅ«: Uzumaki, lit. "The Art of Masashi Kishimoto: Uzumaki")

• Paint Jump: Art of Naruto (PAINT JUMP Art of NARUTO－ナルト－)

• The Art of Naruto: Naruto (NARUTO―ナルト―イラスト集 NARUTO, Naruto Irasuto-shÅ«: Naruto, lit. "Naruto Illustration Collection: Naruto")

Novels

• Naruto: Tales of a Gutsy Ninja (NARUTO―ナルト―ド根性忍伝, Naruto: Dokonjō Ninden) â€" 2010, illustrator
• Naruto: Blood Prison (NARUTO―ナルト―鬼燈の城（ブラッド・プリズン）, Naruto: Buraddo Purizun) â€" 2011, illustrator
• Naruto Jinraiden: The Wolf that Howled at the Sun (NARUTO－ナルト－　迅雷伝　狼のå"­ãæ—¥, Naruto Jinraiden: ÅŒkami no Naku Hi) â€" 2012, illustrator

Other

• Tekken 6 â€" 2009, guest character designer
• Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie â€" 2012, scenario writer and character designer
• Motion Comic: Naruto â€" 2012, designer
• Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution â€" 2014, character designer and editorial supervisor
• The Last: Naruto the Movie â€" 2014, scenario writer and character designer

Influences

While as a child, Kishimoto enjoyed reading manga, he was inspired to write one after seeing a promotional image for the film Akira. This made him analyze the artwork of Akira '​s original author, Katsuhiro Otomo, as well as Akira Toriyama, another artist he admired. Realizing both had their own style regarding the designs, Kishimoto decided to draw manga while crafting his own images. When Kishimoto was originally creating the Naruto series, he looked to other shōnen manga for influences while attempting to make his characters as unique as possible. Kishimoto cites Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball series as one of his influences, noting that Goku, the protagonist of Dragon Ball, was a key factor when creating Naruto Uzumaki due to his energetic and mischievous personality. When redesigning three characters for the series, Kishimoto cites The Matrix, one of his favorite movies, as an inspiration for such outfits. He has also cited Yoshihiro Togashi as one of his favorite manga authors, while the manga Sasuke by Sanpei Shirato, a series which Kishimoto likes, inspired Kishimoto in the development of the character Sasuke Uchiha. During the series' publication, Kishimoto got married and had children. The changes to his personal life affected the series as he made the protagonist Naruto Uzumaki shortly meet his parents, something the author wanted the character to feel based on his own experience as a father.

When drawing the characters, Kishimoto follows a five-step process that he consistently follows: concept and rough sketch, drafting, inking, shading, and coloring. These steps are followed when he is drawing the actual manga and making the color illustrations that commonly adorn the cover of tankōbon, the cover of Weekly Shōnen Jump, or other media, but the toolkit he utilizes occasionally changes. For instance, he utilized an airbrush for one illustration for a Weekly Shōnen Jump cover, but decided not to use it for future drawings largely due to the cleanup required.

Masashi and his twin brother Seishi have been drawing manga together since early childhood, thus their styles are similar. As a result, each of them has frequently been accused of copying the other, not just artwork, but story elements as well. Seishi notes that the similarities are not intentional but are likely because they were both influenced by many of the same things. As a result of the "copy-cat" accusations, the more famous Masashi even asked fans to stop calling Seishi a "copycat."

References

External links

• Masashi Kishimoto at Anime News Network's encyclopedia