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Akira Hiramoto ( 平本 (ヒラモト) アキラ Hiramoto Akira) is a Japanese professional mangaka serialised in seinen publication Weekly Young Magazine, owned by Kodansha.[3] He was born in Okinawa in Japan in 1976, and is currently aged around 40.[4] The mangaka currently resides in the downtown area of Nerima, Tokyo.[5] Akira Hiramoto has produced multiple works while signed to Kodansha, of which the magnum opus was the long-running gag manga "Agonashi Gen to Ore Monogatari". The mangaka is currently working on two manga series as the author & artist of Me and the Devil Blues and Prison School,[6][7] the latter winning the General Manga Category award at the 37th Kodansha Awards Ceremony in 2013.[2]

Biography

Early life

In 1976, Akira Hiramoto was born in Okinawa prefecture of Japan.[4] In Hiramoto's junior high school years, the prospect of graduation into high school and part-time employment was only bearable when he drew manga as a hobby at manga cafes.[4] The high school experience of the male-female division proved to become an inspiration for his future manga series.[4] In 1995, Akira Hiramoto was signed to Kodansha as a manga artist when he made his debut with the one-shot "Sono Tomodachi no Gimon Ari" in Weekly Young Magazine.[3] The freedom of his high school graduation allowed Hiramoto to forgo higher education in the pursuit of a manga career, after winning a manga contest prize for his one-shot despite a lack of confidence in his artistic skill.[4]

Manga career

Gag comedy debut

In 1998, Akira Hiramoto's first gag comedy manga and series "Agonashi Gen to Ore Monogatari" began serialisation in Weekly Young Magazine[3]. It was published in the magazine for eleven years as his most famous and long-running work. In 2003, Hiramoto's second series, "Me and The Devil Blues," was serialised in Issue No. 11 of Monthly Afternoon Magazine during the original chapter run of Agonashi Gen - until the latter's completion in 2009 and its hiatus in 2008. During 2007, Hiramoto had a one-shot "Yarisugi Companion to Atashi Monogatari" serialised in Weekly Young Magazine which became a short series running for ten issues of Weekly Young Magazine'.' With the two other series in continuation and published in one volume by Kodansha.[3] The completion of this series preceded a three-year hiatus in which Hiramoto's manga received no serialisation.

Post-hiatus

In 2011 following a three-year hiatus, Akira Hiramoto's fourth series "Prison School" was published in Issue No. 10 of Weekly Young Magazine as his then-singular manga series. The comedy manga won a Kodansha publisher award in their "General" category in 2013.[3] In an interview with journalist Okita Akira, Akira Hiramoto identified American crime thriller Cool Hand Luke as an inspiration for Prison School and the use of American filmography as reference work.[4] In the interview, he cited depicting humanity, violence, desire and a woman of strength as his primary motivation to draw manga.[4] In 2015, Akira Hiramoto's manga Prison School received a television anime adaptation which he provided creative input for to its production committee alongside his magazine editor Toshihiro Miura and promoted.[8] In 2014, "Me and the Devil Blues" resumed serialisation from a six-year hiatus in Young Magazine the 3rd. In December 2015, the Oricon Manga Chart designated Prison School as the 9th-top bestselling manga by volume count in Japan and the 2nd-top Kodansha bestseller.[9]

Serialised works

Manga series

  • Agonashi Gen to Ore Monogatari (アゴなしゲンとオレ物語 lit. The Jawless Gen's Story and Mine) - a completed long-running gag manga about low-earning middle-aged shipping company manager Gen and his employees, that ran from Merger Issue No. 5-6 of 1998 to Issue No. 27 in 2009.[10]
  • Me and the Devil Blues (俺と悪魔のブルーズ Ore to Akuma no Burūzu) - a popular manga about the black blues legend selling his soul to the devil and losing his family to become a musical legend and roam America, titled after the musician's most famous song.[11] It ran in Kodansha's Monthly Afternoon Magazine from November 25, 2003, to February 25, 2008, before an indefinite hiatus.[12] This was the first manga of Hiramoto's to be published in the Northern American market, by Del Rey Manga,[13] and has begun monthly releases after hiatus in Young Magazine the Third starting in February 6, 2015.[7]
  • Yarisugi Companion to Atashi Monogatari (やりすぎコンパニオンとアタシ物語 lit. The Overboard Companion's Story and Mine) - a mature fanservice manga about an assistant at a Japanese hot spring in Tokyo. Having begun as a oneshot, it ran from Issue No. 46 in 2007 to Issue No. 8 in 2008 and was published in one volume by Kodansha.[14]
  • Prison School (監獄学園 Purizun Sukūru) - a mature comedy manga about the enrollment and internal imprisonment of five boys at a girls school recently turned co-ed, and their struggle to stay enrolled despite resistance from its schoolgirls.[15] The manga is currently serialised starting from Issue No. 10 in 2011, having been awarded a publisher award from Kodansha and received an anime adaptation by JC Staff.[6]

Oneshots and crossovers

  • Sono Tomodachi no Gimon Ari (その友達に疑問あり lit. These Friends are Questionable) - his debut oneshot serialised in Weekly Young Magazine in 1995.[15]
  • Chouzetsu Dodomeiro Pinup NEMESISTERS (超絶ドドメ色ピンナップ NEMESISTERS lit. Transcendent Maroon-Colored Various Pinup NEMESISTERS) - an illustration published in Issue No. 2 2010 in the Kodansha bimonthly magazine Nemesis.[16][17]
  • Youkei Seijuku Onna Hilda (幼形成熟女ヒルダ lit. Juvenile Form Mature Woman Hilda) - a oneshot published in 2011 Issue No. 6 of Nemesis.[16][18]
  • Tantou-san Manga (担当さん漫画 lit. Mr Manga Editor) - a manga chapter special from the interview anthology "Manga Editors" (漫画編集者) by Shunsuke Kimura on the editorial aspects of the Japanese manga industry.[19]
  • Neo Parasyte (ネオ寄生獣 Neo Kiseijuu) - the first short-story single chapter one-shot based on manga series Kiseijuu. The series is a collaboration with another mangaka to promote the upcoming Parasyte: A Maxim anime.[20] It ran in 2014 Issue No. 9 of Monthly Afternoon Magazine, with other authors such as Fairy Tail's Hiro Mashima and Peacemaker's Ryoji Minagawa producing other chapters.[21]

Artbooks

  • Gampuku (Gampuku 眼福) - the first artbook by Hiramoto, illustrating his twenty-year artistic evolution with author commentary.

Trivia

  • The characterised form of Akira Hiramoto makes a guest appearance in the chapter special series promoting the anime adaptation of the Prison School manga.[8]
  • The characterisation is used as a signature on panel notes by the mangaka and is visually similar to Kenji from Agonashi Gen.
  • The titular cultural references in his manga series make an homage to his interest in American media.
  • The manga artist uses the digital manga suite Comic Studio EX to produce his manga artwork.[23][5]
  • The Young Magazine editor of Prison School has confirmed that there are spoof Twitter accounts associated with the author.[24]
  • However, the author's official account is not for contact according to its biography.[25]
  • Akira Hiramoto has never appeared in photos or public events and is somewhat more reclusive than another mangaka.[4]

Gallery

Videos

『監獄学園』平本アキラ先生作画動画!!

『監獄学園』平本アキラ先生作画動画!!


External links

References

  1. 2009 Glyph Comics Awards Winners | East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention. Retrieved 06-04-2016.
  2. 2.0 2.1 " Winners at 37th Kodansha Manga Awards" | Anime News Network. Retrieved 06-08-2015.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Author Biography - Akira Hiramoto | Weekly Young Magazine. (Japanese) Retrieved 08-08-2015.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 Harem×Prison. Hiramoto Tearing Down Walls with A "Woman of Strength" | Da Vinci News. (Japanese) Retrieved 08-08-2015.
  5. 5.0 5.1 "Akira Hiramoto assistant recruitment request" | Weekly Young Magazine via Wayback Machine. Retreived 10-04-2016.
  6. 6.0 6.1 "Prison School" Hiramoto Akira: The Published List | Kodansha Comics. (Japanese) Retrieved 08-08-2015.
  7. 7.0 7.1 "Young Magazine the 3rd Magazine's Line-Up Detailed" | Anime News Network. Retrieved 11-09-2015.
  8. 8.0 8.1 The Men Who Created The Prison School Anime Chapter 2 Page 10
  9. "Top 10 Oricon Manga Volume Chart 2015" | Oricon Charts. (Japanese) Retrieved 26-08-2015.
  10. "The Jawless Gen' Story and Mine" Hiramoto Akira: The Published List | Kodansha Comics. (Japanese) Retrieved 08-08-2015.
  11. "Me and the Devil Blues" | Weekly Young Magazine. (Japanese) Retrieved 08-08-2015.
  12. "Me and the Devil Blues" Hiramoto Akira: The Published List | Kodansha Comics. (Japanese) Retrieved 08-08-2015.
  13. "Media Blasters, Del Rey Announce New Manga Licenses" | Anime News Network. Retrieved 09-08-2015.
  14. "The Overboard Companion's Story and Mine" Hiramoto Akira: Yanmaga KC | Kodansha Comics. (Japanese) Retrieved 08-08-2015.
  15. 15.0 15.1 Young Magazine "Prison School". (Japanese) Retrieved 08-08-2015.
  16. 16.0 16.1 NEMESIS Monthly Shonen Sirius | Kodansha Comics. (Japanese) Retrieved 09-08-2015.
  17. NEMESIS Issue No.2 2010: KC Deluxe | Kodansha Comics. (Japanese) Retrieved 09-08-2015.
  18. NEMESIS Issue No.6 2011: KC Deluxe | Kodansha Comics. (Japanese) Retrieved 08-08-2015.
  19. "Manga Editors" | Film Art. (Japanese) Retrieved 30-11-2015.
  20. "Me and the Devil Blues' Hiramoto to Draw Parasyte Oneshot" | Anime News Network. Retrieved 08-08-2015.
  21. "Fairy Tail's Mashima to Draw Parasyte One-Shot Manga" | Anime News Network. Retrieved 08-08-2015.
  22. Young Magazine 3rd Issue No.4 | Weekly Young Magazine. (Japanese) Retrieved 08-08-2015.
  23. "Prison Schools Akira Hiramoto drawing manga" | Young Magazine channel on Youtube. Retreived 08-10-2015.
  24. 『監獄学園』担当: "kangoku_tantou" Tweet | Twitter. (Japanese) Retrieved 08-08-2015.
  25. 平 本 ア キ ラ (akira_hiramoto) | Twitter Bio
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