Hiroshi Sakurazaka

Hiroshi Sakurazaka (桜坂 洋, Sakurazaka Hiroshi, born 1970) is a Japanese science fiction and fantasy light novel author. He originally began in a career in IT.

Life and career

Sakurazuka made his debut in 2002 at the second Super Dash Novel Rookie of the Year Award with the novel Mahō tsukai no netto, which was later published in December 2003 under the name Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahō. This work has subsequently been expanded into a series of light novels and has also been made into an anime. In 2004 he was presented the S-F Magazine Readers Award's best short story award for Saitama Chainsaw Shōjo (さいたまチェーンソー少女). His 2004 novel All you need is kill, received high praise from other authors in Japan and has subsequently been published in English by Viz Media.

Sakurazuka has an interest in computers and video games. He is quite knowledgeable about computer culture, can program in Perl, and is able to use specialized text editors such as Meadow, SKK and TeX.

Recently he has collaborated with cultural critic Hiroki Azuma on the works Geet State (ギートステイト) and Charactors (キャラクターズ) and has written a critique of Yasutaka Tsutsui's novel Dancing Vanity.

Film adaptation

Sakurazaka's manga comic All You Need is Kill was optioned by Warner Bros., and based upon the manga, the sci-fi screenplay We Mortals Are was written by Dante Harper and Joby Harold. Originally Brad Pitt was approached to play the lead, but he has conflicts with other films for which Warner wanted him. In October 2011, Tom Cruise began talks for the project to be directed by Doug Liman.

Awards

• 2004: S-F Magazine Readers Award Best Short Story for "Saitama Chainsaw Shōjo" (さいたまチェーンソー少女)

Bibliography

• All You Need Is Kill (2004; ISBN 978-4086302197); English translation: All You Need Is Kill (2009; ISBN 978-1421527611)
• Suramu onrain (スラムオンライン) (2005); English translation: Slum Online (2010; ISBN 978-1-4215-3439-8) (English version contains a short story "Bonus Round" (エキストラ・ラウンド, "Ekisutora Raundo"))
• Kyarakutāzu (キャラクターズ, "Characters") (2008) (co-written with Hiroki Azuma)

Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahō series

• Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahō (よくわかる現代魔法^?, "Comprehensible Modern Magic") (2003; ISBN 4-08-630163-6)
  • Revised version: Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahō 1 new edition (よくわかる現代魔法 1 new edition) (2008; ISBN 978-4-08-630421-4)
• Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahō 2 Gābēji Korekutā (よくわかる現代魔法 2 ガーベージコレクター^?, "Garbage Collector") (2004; ISBN 4-08-630184-9)
• Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahō 3 Gōsutosukuriputo Fō Uizāzu (よくわかる現代魔法 3 ゴーストスクリプト・フォー・ウィザーズ^?, "Ghostscript for Wizards") (2004; ISBN 4-08-630204-7)
• Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahō 4 jini Tsukai (よくわかる現代魔法 4 jini使い^?, "Jini Handler") (2005; ISBN 4-08-630221-7)
• Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahō 5 TMTOWTDI Tatta Hitotsu Ja Nai Saeta Yarikata (よくわかる現代魔法 5 TMTOWTDI たったひとつじゃない冴えたやりかた^?, "TMTOWTDI Not The Only Neat Thing To Do") (2005; ISBN 4-08-630236-5)
• Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahō 6 Firefox! (よくわかる現代魔法 6 Firefox!) (2009; ISBN 978-4-08-630475-7)

References

• "ALL YOU NEED IS KILL". Haikasoru. http://www.haikasoru.com/?page_id=13. Retrieved 2009-07-18. 
• Entry in the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction