Curated playlist
Japanese character designers
- Hayao MiyazakiHayao Miyazaki was told as a boy he would not live past 20. He went on to found Studio Ghibli in 1985.
- Yasuo ŌtsukaA realistic skeleton in Magic Boy made audiences laugh, and it changed Yasuo Ōtsuka's view of animation.
- Yumiko ŌshimaYumiko Ōshima wrote a manga about a kitten who believes she is a little girl. It ran in LaLa from 1978 until 1987.
- Yoshifumi KondōYoshifumi Kondō directed only one film before he died at 47. Many at Studio Ghibli saw him as heir to Miyazaki.
- Akira ToriyamaAkira Toriyama, the Japanese manga artist behind Dragon Ball, made his final contribution to that story by changing one drawing. In chapter 103 of Dragon Ball Super, the warrior Piccolo is shown departing. Toriyama instructed his…
- Go NagaiGo Nagai started drawing manga because he thought he was dying. The illness was catarrh of the colon.
- Kazuko ShibuyaKazuko Shibuya drew the characters, monsters and menus for the first Final Fantasy.
- Osamu TezukaOsamu Tezuka was a licensed physician who never practiced medicine. He is the manga artist behind Astro Boy.
- Yoshikazu YasuhikoYoshikazu Yasuhiko answered a newspaper ad on a whim and became Gundam's character designer.
- Tetsuya NomuraTetsuya Nomura started at Square as a debugger, not a designer. A hand-drawn plan book later got him noticed.
- Yoshitaka AmanoIn 1996, artist Yoshitaka Amano became the world's highest-earning artist.
- Moto HagioMoto Hagio's parents did not accept her career as a manga artist until 2010. She was 61 by then.