Satoshi Urushihara
Encyclopedia
is a Japanese
manga artist
and illustrator
known for his distinctive style of featuresque and beautiful characters. His work is the basis for anime
such as Plastic Little
and Legend of Lemnear
, and appears in the Langrisser
and Growlanser series of tactical CRPGs.
, Japan
. He met fellow illustrator Kinji Yoshimoto in 1983 while attending a technical
high school
in Miyajima
. He effectively started his career in manga and anime when he was selected as animator for the animated movie , produced by Kadokawa Haruki Jimusho and Toei Animation
, a position he was actively looking for.
.
The next year, Urushihara became a freelancer, working mainly in original video animation
s. It was his work with the OVA Megazone 23 Part II
(1986) that made him recognized by producers of the AIC studio. This lead him to be the character designer and animation supervisor of the adult-restricted OVA (New Cream Lemon
series, episode 2) released in 1987. This work was his debut as character designer, although at the time of the original OVA release, his name was kept secret and afterwards announced on the official website of Earthwork.
In 1990, along with illustrators Kinji Yoshimoto and Yoshihiro Kimura, he created the production company Earthwork.
Japanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
manga artist
Mangaka
is the Japanese word for a comic artist or cartoonist. Outside of Japan, manga usually refers to a Japanese comic book and mangaka refers to the author of the manga, who is usually Japanese...
and illustrator
Illustrator
An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...
known for his distinctive style of featuresque and beautiful characters. His work is the basis for anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
such as Plastic Little
Plastic Little
is an anime created by Satoshi Urushihara. It was published in Japan as a one-shot OVA. The anime motion picture was first released in North America on VHS by ADV Films, in 2001 ADV announced that the anime would be released on to DVD on February 5, 2002...
and Legend of Lemnear
Legend of Lemnear
is fantasy manga written by Kinji Yoshimoto with art by Satoshi Urushihara. It is licensed in North America by CPM Manga, in Poland by JPF and in Russia by Comics Factory. It focuses heavily on the "swords and sorcery" genre, and in typical Urushihara style provides a great deal of fan service...
, and appears in the Langrisser
Langrisser
is a five-part video game series created by Masaya, the software division of Nippon Computer Systems created in the early 1990s. The development team working under Masaya is CareerSoft....
and Growlanser series of tactical CRPGs.
Early life
Satoshi Urushihara was born on February 9, 1966 in Hiroshima PrefectureHiroshima Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region on Honshu island. The capital is the city of Hiroshima.- History :The area around Hiroshima was formerly divided into Bingo Province and Aki Province. This location has been a center of trade and culture since the beginning of Japan's recorded...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. He met fellow illustrator Kinji Yoshimoto in 1983 while attending a technical
Vocational education
Vocational education or vocational education and training is an education that prepares trainees for jobs that are based on manual or practical activities, traditionally non-academic, and totally related to a specific trade, occupation, or vocation...
high school
Secondary education in Japan
Secondary education in Japan is split into middle schools which cover the seventh through ninth grades, and high schools which mostly cover grades ten through twelve...
in Miyajima
Miyajima, Hiroshima
was a town located on the island of Itsukushima in Saeki District, Hiroshima, Japan.On November 3, 2005 Miyajima, along with the town of Ōno, also from Saeki District, was merged into the city of Hatsukaichi....
. He effectively started his career in manga and anime when he was selected as animator for the animated movie , produced by Kadokawa Haruki Jimusho and Toei Animation
Toei Animation
Toei Animation Co., Ltd. is a Japanese animation studio owned by Toei Co., Ltd. The studio was founded in 1948 as Japan Animated Films . In 1956, Toei purchased the studio and it was reincorporated under its current name...
, a position he was actively looking for.
Anime and manga career
After graduating from high school in 1984, he was employed by Toei Animation and after gaining some experience he was promoted to key animator with the animated TV series The TransformersThe Transformers (TV series)
The Transformers is an animated television series depicting a war among giant robots who could transform into vehicles, other objects and animal-like forms. Written and recorded in America, the series was animated in Japan and South Korea...
.
The next year, Urushihara became a freelancer, working mainly in original video animation
Original video animation
, abbreviated as media , are animated films and series made specially for release in home-video formats. The term originated in relation to Japanese animation...
s. It was his work with the OVA Megazone 23 Part II
Megazone 23
is a four-part original video animation created by AIC, written by Hiroyuki Hoshiyama, and directed by Noboru Ishiguro, Ichiro Itano, Kenichi Yatagai and Shinji Aramaki. The series was originally titled but the title was changed just before release....
(1986) that made him recognized by producers of the AIC studio. This lead him to be the character designer and animation supervisor of the adult-restricted OVA (New Cream Lemon
Cream Lemon
is an erotic anime series with some in-depth storylines and classic artwork. The first Cream Lemon OVA was released in 1984, though Cream Lemon was not the first hentai OVA...
series, episode 2) released in 1987. This work was his debut as character designer, although at the time of the original OVA release, his name was kept secret and afterwards announced on the official website of Earthwork.
In 1990, along with illustrators Kinji Yoshimoto and Yoshihiro Kimura, he created the production company Earthwork.
Manga
- ChiralityChirality (manga)is a 4-volume yuri manga series written and illustrated by author Satoshi Urushihara. The manga was originally serialized in Comic NORA in 1995, and later published in three bound volumes, which was re-released into two bound volumes in 2003. In 1997 Chirality was licensed for released in North...
- Eidoron Shadow (known as Eidron Shadow in Germany)
- Legend of LemnearLegend of Lemnearis fantasy manga written by Kinji Yoshimoto with art by Satoshi Urushihara. It is licensed in North America by CPM Manga, in Poland by JPF and in Russia by Comics Factory. It focuses heavily on the "swords and sorcery" genre, and in typical Urushihara style provides a great deal of fan service...
- Mirowoire: The Mirror Within a Mirror
- Plastic LittlePlastic Littleis an anime created by Satoshi Urushihara. It was published in Japan as a one-shot OVA. The anime motion picture was first released in North America on VHS by ADV Films, in 2001 ADV announced that the anime would be released on to DVD on February 5, 2002...
- Ragnarock CityRagnarock Cityis an erotic art book and yuri manga by Satoshi Urushihara, published by Gakken in 2001 in Japan. It has been released in French and German.The story is set in a world where a large population of cyborgs and robots has inspired a fashion of near-total nudity to show that one has a fully human body...
- RC Twins (enclosed within the "Sigma" artbook)
- Ryoujoku (also known as Love Intermission)
- Vampire Master Dark CrimsonVampire Master Dark Crimsonis an adult manga by Satoshi Urushihara which was serialized in Monthly Magazine Z published by Kodansha. Its original release was November 13, 2000.-Plot synopsis:...
Artbooks
- Satoshi Urushihara Cell Works. ISBN 4896010868. (1994/05/01) (Note: title is in English.). ISBN 489389126X. (1996/10). ISBN 405601681X. (1997/11/06). ISBN 405601955X. (1998/08/14). ISBN 4840219184. (2002/08). ISBN 4056031223. (2003/04). ISBN 479732547X. (2003/12) (Note: title is in English, with katakana transliteration.). ISBN 4063645339. (2003/12/17). ISBN 4840226687. (2004/06) (Note: title is in English, with katakana transliteration.). ISBN 4861761131. (2005/03). ISBN 4056039615. (2005/04/02). ISBN 4757724969. (2005/10/03). ISBN 4056044856. (2006/06/30). ISBN 4056056706. (2009/11/30)
Anime
- Another Lady InnocentAnother Lady Innocentis the title of an hentai anime directed by Satoshi Urushihara in 2004, based on his artbook "Lady Innocent" and was released in Japan under the title "Front Innocent"....
(Japanese title Front Innocent) - Crying FreemanCrying Freemanis a manga by Kazuo Koike & Ryoichi Ikegami about an assassin who sheds tears after he kills his targets. Crying Freeman follows the title assassin, a Japanese man hypnotized and trained by the Chinese mafia to serve as its agent, and covered in a vast and complex dragon tattoo...
(Production Supervision (vol 3 & 4)) - Growlanser IVGrowlanser IV: Wayfarer of Timeis a TRPG for the PlayStation 2. It was developed and published in Japan by Atlus in 2003 in standard and Delux editions. It is the fourth installment in the Growlanser series.Like all Growlanser games, the character art was done by Satoshi Urushihara...
(Character Design) - Legend of LemnearLegend of Lemnearis fantasy manga written by Kinji Yoshimoto with art by Satoshi Urushihara. It is licensed in North America by CPM Manga, in Poland by JPF and in Russia by Comics Factory. It focuses heavily on the "swords and sorcery" genre, and in typical Urushihara style provides a great deal of fan service...
- Plastic LittlePlastic Littleis an anime created by Satoshi Urushihara. It was published in Japan as a one-shot OVA. The anime motion picture was first released in North America on VHS by ADV Films, in 2001 ADV announced that the anime would be released on to DVD on February 5, 2002...
- Bubblegum CrisisBubblegum Crisisis a Japanese cyberpunk direct-to-video animated series. It displays strong influences from Blade Runner, also making occasional references to it.- Setting :...
(Chief Production Supervisor (ep 7), Guest Character Designer (ep 7)) - Record of Lodoss WarRecord of Lodoss Waris a franchise of fantasy novels by Ryo Mizuno based around the work he originally created for a world called Forcelia for role-playing games . There have since been multiple manga, anime and computer game adaptations, several of which have been translated into English...
(OVA) (Assistant Animator, Production Supervision (Ep 5)) - Ikki Tousen: Dragon destiny (Ending Animation Character Design)
Video Games
- LangrisserLangrisseris a five-part video game series created by Masaya, the software division of Nippon Computer Systems created in the early 1990s. The development team working under Masaya is CareerSoft....
series - Growlanser series
- CybernatorCybernatorCybernator - known in Japan as - is a run and gun game released in 1992 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the indirect prequel to Target Earth as part of the Assault Suits series by NCS Corp. The game was localized and published overseas by Konami. A remake of Cybernator was...
(Japanese title Assault Suits Valken) - Next King: Millennial Kingdom of Love
Other works
- Provided artwork for the Street Fighter IIStreet Fighter IIis a competitive fighting game originally released for the arcades in . It is the arcade sequel to the original Street Fighter released in and was Capcom's fourteenth title that ran on the CP System arcade hardware...
drama CDsRadio drama in JapanRadio drama in Japan has a history as long as that of radio broadcasting in that country, which began in 1925. Some consider the first Japanese radio drama to have been "" which was a radio broadcast of a stage play. Others consider the Japanese translation of Richard Hughes's "Danger" or to be...
Mad Revenger and Portrait of the Magician. - Satoshi Urushihara Posterbox
- G.I. Joe
- Transformers_series
- Tenma Magazine covers
- Staff member of many anime, including Record of Lodoss War and Bubblegum Crisis OAV
- In his artbook Nostalgic Heroines, Urushihara creates a series of images that involves characters, mainly female, from well-known popular anime series including Neon Genesis EvangelionNeon Genesis Evangelion, commonly referred to as Evangelion, is a commercially and critically successful Japanese anime series that began airing in October 1995. The series was highly influential, and launched the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise. It garnered several major animation awards...
, Nadesico, and Dirty PairDirty Pairis a series of sci-fi comedy light novels written by Haruka Takachiho and illustrated by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko that was later adapted into anime and manga versions....
.
External links
- Satoshi Urushihara's blog
- Earthwork official webpage (adults only)
- Urushihara Satoshi at Ultimate Manga Guide