Yoshikazu Yasuhiko
Encyclopedia
is a Japanese animator
and manga artist
in the anime
industry.
Yasuhiko dropped out of Hirosaki University
and was hired by Osamu Tezuka
's Mushi Productions in 1970 as an animator. He later went freelance and worked on various animation productions for film and television. In 1981 he won the Seiun Award
in Art category. He began working as a manga
artist in 1988. In 1992 he won the Nippon Mangaka Kyokai (Japan Cartoonists Society) Award
, and in 2000, an Excellence Prize in manga for Ōdō no Inu at the Japan Media Arts Festival
. He is also known as a novelist and science fiction illustrator. Some of his most notable works as character designer and director are Brave Reideen, Combattler V
, and Mobile Suit Gundam
. Less well known is the fact that he was the original character designer for the Dirty Pair
, long before their first anime or manga appearance, when he was illustrating the Haruka Takachiho
short stories that became the 1980 fixup novel Great Adventures of the Dirty Pair.
In recent years he has branched out artistically, creating such works as Joan, a three-volume story of a young French girl living at the time of the Hundred Years' War
, whose life parallels that of Joan of Arc
; and Jesus, a two-volume biographical manga about the life of Jesus Christ
.
Yasuhiko signs his artwork as "YAS".
Animator
An animator is an artist who creates multiple images that give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence; the images are called frames and key frames. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, video games, and the internet. Usually, an...
and 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...
in the 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....
industry.
Yasuhiko dropped out of Hirosaki University
Hirosaki University
is a University in Hirosaki city in Aomori, Japan.- Faculties :* Faculty of Humanities* Faculty of Education* School of Medicine* Faculty of Science and Technology* Faculty of Agriculture and Life Science-History:...
and was hired by Osamu Tezuka
Osamu Tezuka
was a Japanese cartoonist, manga artist, animator, producer, activist and medical doctor, although he never practiced medicine. Born in Osaka Prefecture, he is best known as the creator of Astro Boy, Kimba the White Lion and Black Jack...
's Mushi Productions in 1970 as an animator. He later went freelance and worked on various animation productions for film and television. In 1981 he won the Seiun Award
Seiun Award
The is a Japanese science fiction award for the best science fiction published in Japan during the preceding year, as voted by attendees of the Japan Science Fiction Convention. "Seiun" is the Japanese word for "nebula", but the award is not related to the American Nebula Award. It was named after...
in Art category. He began working as a manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
artist in 1988. In 1992 he won the Nippon Mangaka Kyokai (Japan Cartoonists Society) Award
Japan Cartoonists Association Award
is an annual award for manga, sponsored by the Japan Cartoonists Association. The awards began in 1972.-Recipients:-External links:* *...
, and in 2000, an Excellence Prize in manga for Ōdō no Inu at the Japan Media Arts Festival
Japan Media Arts Festival
The Japan Media Arts Festival is an annual festival held by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs since 1997. The festival for a nominal year was usually held during February or March next year, rather than at the end of the nominal year. For instance, the 2010 Japan Media Arts Festival, where...
. He is also known as a novelist and science fiction illustrator. Some of his most notable works as character designer and director are Brave Reideen, Combattler V
Combattler V
is the first part of the Robot Romance Trilogy of Super Robot series created by "Saburo Yatsude" and directed by Tadao Nagahama. The robot's name is a portmanteau of Combine, Combat and Battle, and the V is intended both as an abbreviation for "victory" and in reference to the five component...
, and Mobile Suit Gundam
Mobile Suit Gundam
is a televised anime series, created by Sunrise. Created and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino, it premiered in Japan on Nagoya Broadcasting Network on April 7, 1979, and lasted until January 26, 1980, spanning 43 episodes...
. Less well known is the fact that he was the original character designer for the Dirty Pair
Dirty Pair
is 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....
, long before their first anime or manga appearance, when he was illustrating the Haruka Takachiho
Haruka Takachiho
is a Japanese science fiction author and founder of Studio Nue. Takachiho is best known as the creator of Crusher Joe, Dirty Pair and Dirty Pair Flash....
short stories that became the 1980 fixup novel Great Adventures of the Dirty Pair.
In recent years he has branched out artistically, creating such works as Joan, a three-volume story of a young French girl living at the time of the Hundred Years' War
Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War was a series of separate wars waged from 1337 to 1453 by the House of Valois and the House of Plantagenet, also known as the House of Anjou, for the French throne, which had become vacant upon the extinction of the senior Capetian line of French kings...
, whose life parallels that of Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc
Saint Joan of Arc, nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans" , is a national heroine of France and a Roman Catholic saint. A peasant girl born in eastern France who claimed divine guidance, she led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, which paved the way for the...
; and Jesus, a two-volume biographical manga about the life of Jesus Christ
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
.
Yasuhiko signs his artwork as "YAS".
Animated works
- Wandering SunWandering Sunwas a televised anime series created, written and directed by Keisuke Fujikawa, and which ran for 26 episodes in 1971. Both Yoshiyuki Tomino and Yasuhiko Yoshikazu were involved in the production of Wandering Sun, and would later team up for the ground-breaking and genre defining series Mobile Suit...
(Sasurai no Taiyō) (1971) (character design) - Zero Tester (1973) (Character Design)
- Space Cruiser Yamato (1974) (storyboards)
- Brave RaideenBrave Raideenis a super robot anime series. Produced by Tohokushinsha, Asahi News Agency and Sunrise, it aired on NET from 4 April 1975 to 26 March 1976, with a total of 50 episodes...
(1975) (character design, animation director) - Wanpaku Omukashi Kum Kum (1975) (Screenplay, Original creator, Character Design, Animation director)
- Combattler VCombattler Vis the first part of the Robot Romance Trilogy of Super Robot series created by "Saburo Yatsude" and directed by Tadao Nagahama. The robot's name is a portmanteau of Combine, Combat and Battle, and the V is intended both as an abbreviation for "victory" and in reference to the five component...
(1976) (Character Design) - Robokko Beeton (1976) (Character Design, Animation director)
- Zambot 3Invincible Super Man Zambot 3is a Super Robot anime series created by Yoshiyuki Tomino and Yoshitake Suzuki, featuring character design by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko and produced by Sunrise. It was first broadcast on Japanese TV in 1977. The series lasted for 23 episodes.- Story :...
(1977) (Character Design) - The Adventures of the Little PrinceThe Little PrinceThe Little Prince , first published in 1943, is a novella and the most famous work of the French aristocrat writer, poet and pioneering aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry ....
(1978) (Character Design) - Mobile Suit GundamMobile Suit Gundamis a televised anime series, created by Sunrise. Created and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino, it premiered in Japan on Nagoya Broadcasting Network on April 7, 1979, and lasted until January 26, 1980, spanning 43 episodes...
(1979) (Character Design) - Shiroi Kiba White Fang MonogatariWhite FangWhite Fang is a novel by American author Jack London. First serialized in Outing magazine, it was published in 1906. The story takes place in Yukon Territory, Canada, during the Klondike Gold Rush at the end of the 19th-century, and details a wild wolfdog's journey to domestication...
(1982) (Character Design, Animation director) - Crusher Joe the MovieCrusher Joeis a series of science fiction light novels by Haruka Takachiho and released by Asahi Sonorama from 1979 to 1983. During the late 1970s one of the founding fathers of Studio Nue, Takachiho decided that besides being a designer he would try his hand at penning novels...
(1983) (Director, Script, Screenplay, Storyboard, Character Design, Animation director) - Giant GorgGiant Gorgis a 26-episode anime created by Sunrise. Directed by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, it was broadcast in Japan on TV Tokyo between April 5, 1984 and September 27, 1984....
(1984) (Chief Director, Storyboard (ep 1,4), Original creator, Character Design, Animation director) - Mobile Suit Zeta GundamMobile Suit Zeta Gundamis a television anime, part of the Gundam series and a sequel to the original Mobile Suit Gundam. The show was created and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino, with character designs by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, while the series' mechanical designs is split amongst Kunio Okawara, Mamoru Nagano, and Kazumi Fujita...
(1985) (Character Design) - ArionArion (anime)was a manga series written and illustrated by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, published in Tokuma Shoten's Monthly Comic Ryū from March 1979 to September 1984...
(1986 - Director, Character Design) - Kaze to Ki no Uta SANCTUS -Sei naru kana-Kaze to Ki no Utais a shōjo manga with yaoi themes by Keiko Takemiya. It was first published by Shougakukan from 1976 to 1984 in the magazine Shōjo Comic. In 1979, it was awarded the prestigious Shogakukan Manga Award for shōnen/shōjo manga. The series is widely regarded as a shōnen-ai manga classic, being one of...
(1987) (Director, Storyboard) - Venus WarsVenus Warsis a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko. It was serialized in the Gakken magazine Nora Comics from 1987 to 1990...
(1989 - Original Story, Director, Character Design) - Crusher Joe OAVCrusher Joeis a series of science fiction light novels by Haruka Takachiho and released by Asahi Sonorama from 1979 to 1983. During the late 1970s one of the founding fathers of Studio Nue, Takachiho decided that besides being a designer he would try his hand at penning novels...
(1989) (Character Design) - Mobile Suit Gundam F91Mobile Suit Gundam F91is a 1991 anime film, which was Gundam creator Yoshiyuki Tomino's attempt to launch a new Gundam saga, set thirty years after Char's Counterattack and twenty seven years after Gundam Unicorn. He re-teamed with character designer Yoshikazu Yasuhiko and mecha designer Kunio Okawara for the occasion....
(Character Design) - Super Atragon (1995) (Character Design)
- Mobile Suit Gundam UnicornMobile Suit Gundam Unicornis a novel by popular Japanese author Harutoshi Fukui . The novel takes place in Gundam's Universal Century timeline. Character and mechanical designs are provided by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko and Hajime Katoki, respectively...
(2009) (Original Character Design - did the illustrations for the original light novelLight novelA is a style of Japanese novel primarily targeting junior high and high school students . The term "light novel" is a wasei-eigo, or a Japanese term formed from words in the English language. Light novels are often called or for short...
)
Manga works
- Arion (1979–1984)
- Kurd no hoshi
- Nijiiro no Trotsky
- Anton
- Oudou no inu
- Namuji
- Zinmu
- Venus Wars (1986–1990)
- C kouto
- Maraya
- Joan (1995–1996)
- Jesus (1997)
- Waga nawa Nero (1998–1999)
- Neo Devilman
- Dattan typhoon
- Nomi no Ou
- Mobile Suit Gundam: The OriginMobile Suit Gundam: The OriginMobile Suit Gundam: THE ORIGIN is a manga adaptation of the television anime series Mobile Suit Gundam written and illustrated by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, the original series' character designer...
- Alexandros
External links
- http://yasuworld.hp.infoseek.co.jp (Japanese)