Hiromu Arakawa

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Arakawa Hiromu
荒川 弘
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Arakawa's self-portrait depicting a bespectacled cow from Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 6
Born May 8, 1973 (1973-05-08) (age 36)
Hokkaidō, Japan
Nationality Japanese
Area(s) Manga artist and author
Notable works Fullmetal Alchemist

Hiromu Arakawa (荒川 弘 Arakawa Hiromu?, born May 8, 1973) is a Japanese manga artist from Hokkaidō. Her renowned manga, Fullmetal Alchemist, became a hit, and was later adapted into two television anime. She often portrays herself as a bespectacled cow.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Born on May 8, 1973 in Hokkaidō, Japan, Arakawa was born and raised on a dairy farm with five sisters. Arakawa thought about being a manga artist "since [she] was little" and during her school years, she would often draw on textbooks. After graduating high school, she would take oil painting classes once a month while working on her family's farm for seven years. During this time, she also created dōjinshi manga with her friends and drew yonkoma for a magazine.[1][2]

Arakawa started in the manga industry as an assistant to Hiroyuki Etō, author of Mahōjin Guru Guru.[3] Her own career began with the publication of Stray Dog in Square Enix's Monthly Shōnen Gangan in 1999.[2] Stray Dog won the ninth 21st Century "Shōnen Gangan" Award.[1] She published one chapter of Shanghai Yōmakikai (上海妖魔鬼怪 Demons of Shanghai?) in Monthly Shōnen Gangan in 2000.[4] In July 2001, Arakawa published the first chapter of Fullmetal Alchemist in Monthly Shōnen Gangan.[5] The series won the 49th Shogakukan Manga Award in the shōnen category in 2004.[6]

She is currently living in Tokyo and has published three more works, Raiden 18, Souten no Koumori (蒼天の蝙蝠 Bat of Blue Sky?), and Hero Tales.[2][7][8][9]

[edit] Works

  • Stray Dog (1999)
  • Shanghai Yōmakikai (上海妖魔鬼怪 Demons of Shanghai?) (2000)
  • Fullmetal Alchemist (2001)
  • Raiden 18 (2005)
  • Souten no Koumori (蒼天の蝙蝠 Bat of Blue Sky?) (2006)
  • Hero Tales (2006)

[edit] Awards

[edit] Style

[edit] Influences

Arakawa states that Suihō Tagawa, the author of Norakuro, is the "root of [her] style as an artist". She also learned composition and drawing during her time as Hiroyuki Etō's assistant. She also cites Rumiko Takahashi, Shigeru Mizuki and Kinnikuman by Yudetamago as influences and is a fan of Mike Mignola's work.[3][2]

[edit] Quotes

  • "I always draw ridiculous looking self-portraits for this series, so I have a really hard time when I need to draw one for other magazines. It's regrettable how they always use the "underwear" picture from volume one. Really regrettable." (Hiromu Arakawa, 2004)
  • I like B movies. I take a look at this and that, while thinking, “What the hell is this!? This makes no sense!” till the end. I like that sort of feeling. So an alchemy manga was born because I wanted to have that kind of feeling in my manga. Thanks to everyone who bought it. While getting into it and thinking, “What is alchemy supposed to be like this?” Please enjoy it.
  • I left home, and I wasn’t going back until I could make a living on manga. I’m happy that my wish was granted and that I’ve gotten a series, but now I’m busy and have no time to go home. I’m kind of happy and kind of sad.
  • “I love reading manga!!” “I really, really love drawing them too!!” “I draw therefore I am!!” “This is proof that I exist!! I’m satisfied with just that!!!” The point is I’m a manga idiot.
  • What do I look forward to in a volume? That would be drawing the omake pages. I don’t care if there are 180 pages, as long as I have my omake.
  • After starting to draw manga, a lot of unexpected things happened, leaving me quite stunned. But it is these sudden events that make life interesting.
  • The self-portraits that I draw here are usually not up to scratch, so when magazines do author profiles, it becomes quite a hassle. Repeatedly using the “Fighting Panties” from Volume 1 makes me feel regretful. Very regretful.
  • A few friends that also drew manga gathered at the pub regardless of the fact did we drink any alcohol, we would talk excitedly about manga. We will get so preoccupied with the topic, that we always miss the last train. Although we all have the feeling, “We’re so old already, why are we still mucking around like this?” But whenever we hear something like “I want to draw this!!”, the passion from everybody, our spirits are refreshed with new enthusiasm. This time I even got Moritaishi Sensei to draw the omake for me. Wah!! (Happy)
  • The cover for Volume 9 seems to be very well liked. I received many letters discussing their opinions regarding it. “Follow me! That’s what it is trying to convey!!” or “Men speak with their backs!!” or “It’s like saying everybody’s fate is resting upon my back, what a great cover!!” and stuff like that. ... Can’t bear to say “It’s because drawing the colonel’s face is really troublesome” ... Can’t say it ...
  • This happened when I went for a massage after finishing the drafts for the manga. Because I was really sleepy, I was thinking drowsily about “How should the next chapter develop?”, when the massager suddenly commented: “Your right shoulder is really tight.” I unwittingly answered “That’s because it’s automail.” Getting confused between the manga and reality…!!

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c "インタビュー - 荒川弘" (in Japanese). Yahoo.com. Archived from the original on December 9, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20071209123210/http://books.yahoo.co.jp/interview/detail/08249604/01.html. Retrieved on April 6, 2008. 
  2. ^ a b c d Wong, Amos (January 2006). "Equivalent Exchange". Newtype USA (A.D. Vision). 
  3. ^ a b Arakawa, Hiromu (June 2006). Fullmetal Alchemist Profiles. Viz Media. pp. 100-105. ISBN 1-4215-0768-4. 
  4. ^ Arakawa, Hiromu (March 2000). "Shanghai Yōmakikai" (in Japanese). Monthly Shōnen Gangan (Square Enix). 
  5. ^ "Hiromu Arakawa". Viz Media. http://www.viz.com/products/products.php?&series_id=315&section=profiles. Retrieved on May 3, 2009. 
  6. ^ a b "小学館漫画賞：歴代受賞者" (in Japanese). Shogakukan. http://comics.shogakukan.co.jp/mangasho/rist.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-19. 
  7. ^ "Raiden 18" (in Japanese). Shogakukan. http://websunday.net/gx/sakuhin/arakawa.html. Retrieved on 2009-05-03. 
  8. ^ "New Manga Magazine from Square-Enix". Comipress.com. September 29, 2006. http://comipress.com/news/2006/09/29/806. Retrieved on May 3, 2009. 
  9. ^ "Announcement Planned for Hiromu Arakawa's Hero Tales". Anime News Network. May 2, 2007. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-05-01/announcement-planned-for-hiromu-arakawa%27s-hero-tales. Retrieved on May 3, 2009. 

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiromu_Arakawa"
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