Daijiro Morohoshi

Daijiro Morohoshi (諸星 大二郎, Morohoshi Daijirō, born July 6, 1949 in Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, Japan) is a Japanese manga artist. He grew up in Adachi-ku, Tokyo. He is well known for SF comics, allegorical comics and horror/mystery comics based on pseudohistory and folklore. The indirect influence by Cthulhu Mythos also appears here and there in his works.

Biography

After graduating from high school, Morohoshi worked for the Tokyo metropolitan government for three years.

In 1970, Morohoshi made his professional debut with his short story "Junko Kyōkatsu" (ジュン子・恐喝, Junko, blackmail) in COM.

In 1974, his "Seibutsu Toshi" (ç"Ÿç‰©éƒ½å¸‚, Bio City) was selected in the 7th Tezuka Award. He published "Yōkai Hunter" (妖怪ハンター, Demon Hunter) series in Weekly Shōnen Jump and he entered the comics industry in earnest. He published "Ankoku Shinwa" (æš—é»'神話, Dark myth), "Kōshi Ankokuden" (å­"子暗é»'伝, Dark biography of Confucius) in the same magazine afterwards.

In 1979, he published the "Mud men" series in Monthly Shōnen Champion Zōkan.

In 1983, he published Saiyū Yōenden (西遊妖猿伝, Journey to the West: Monster monkey’s Commentary) (The Monkey King and other Chinese Legends) based on "Journey to the West" in Super Action. This work won the grand prize of the fourth Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2000.

Anecdote

Because Morohoshi's style of painting was too unique, his assistants said that they didn't know how to assist him, or Osamu Tezuka said that he could not imitate Morohoshi's painting. Morohoshi's "Mud men" triggered Haruomi Hosono of Yellow Magic Orchestra, and Hosono wrote "The Madmen". Hosono said that his production company misspelled "Mudmen" with "Madmen". Hayao Miyazaki told that he was strongly influenced by Morohoshi in various media. When Kentaro Takekuma interviewed Miyazaki, he said that he actually wanted Morohoshi to draw "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind". According to Toshio Okada who was a former representative director of Gainax, Hideaki Anno always said that he wanted to apply the scene where a giant appeared in "Kage no Machi" (影の街, Shadow Town) to his work, and his hope was realized in "Neon Genesis Evangelion".

Awards

Major Works

Manga

• Yōkai Hunter series
• SaiyÅ« Yōenden (The Monkey King and other Chinese Legends)
• Mud men series
• Seibutsu Toshi
• Kōshi Ankokuden
• Boku to Furio to Kōtei de
• Ikairoku
• Shiori to Shimiko
• Uriko-Hime no Yoru, Cinderella no Asa

Novels

• Kyōko no Kyō wa Kyōfu no Kyō (2004)
• Kumo no Ito wa Kanarazu Kireru (2007)

Illustrations for books

• Rōkō ni Ari (Author: Ken'ichi Sakemi)

Movies

• Hiruko the Goblin (1991, Film Director: Shinya Tsukamoto)
• Kidan (2005, Film Director: Takashi Komatsu)
• Kabeotoko (British title: The Wall Man) (2007, Film Director: Wataru Hayakawa)

TV drama

• FukushÅ« Club (1991, Fuji Television, in Yo nimo Kimyo na Monogatari)
• Shiro (1992, Fuji Television, in Yo nimo Kimyo na Monogatari)
• Shiori to Shimiko no Kaiki Jikenbo (2008, Nippon Television)

Radio drama

• SaiyÅ« Yōenden (1989)
• Zoku SaiyÅ« Yōenden (1990)
• Yumemiru Kikai (2000)

OVA

• Ankoku Shinwa Chapter 1/Chapter 2 (1990)

Video games

• Ankoku Shinwa: Yamatotakeru Densetsu (1988)

References

External links

• Yōkai Hunter Hiruko (movie)
• Daijiro Morohoshi Museum
• List of Daijiro Morohoshi works