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Hiro Mashima

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Hiro Mashima
真島 ヒロ
Hiro Mashima at Japan Expo, 2010
Born (1977-05-03) May 3, 1977 (age 47)
Nagano, Japan
OccupationManga artist
Years active1998–present
EmployerKodansha
Notable workRave Master
Fairy Tail
Edens Zero
Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest
Children1[1]
AwardsKodansha Manga Award (2009)

Hiro Mashima (真島 ヒロ, Mashima Hiro, born May 3, 1977) is a Japanese manga artist. He gained success with his first serial Rave Master, published in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine from 1999 to 2005. His best selling work, Fairy Tail, published in the same magazine from 2006 to 2017, has become one of the best-selling manga series with over 72 million copies in print.[2] Fairy Tail won the Kodansha Manga Award for shōnen manga in 2009,[3] and Mashima was given the Harvey Awards International Spotlight award in 2017 and the Fauve Special Award at the 2018 Angoulême International Comics Festival.[4]

Early life

Mashima stated that he knew he wanted to be a manga artist for as long as he can recall. His father was an artist that aspired to turn professional, but died when Mashima was young.[5] Living in the mountains as a child, his grandfather would bring him discarded manga that he found. After reading them, Mashima would draw from them. When he graduated high school, he entered a school specializing in teaching manga artists, but left without completing the studies. He stated that while it taught him the basics, he felt it would not help as a professional.[1][6]

Career

Mashima created a story on his own and brought it to manga editors, which led to entering it into a competition that he won.[6] He made his official serialization debut the following year with Rave Master in Weekly Shōnen Magazine. It ran until 2005 and was adapted into an anime titled Groove Adventure Rave from 2001 to 2002.

In 2003, he collected some of his one-shot titles into two volumes, Mashima-en, which was licensed for a North American release in 2018 as a single volume under the title Hiro Mashima's Playground.[7]

From 2005 to 2007, Mashima wrote Monster Soul in Comic BomBom.

While working on Rave, Mashima drew the prototype for what would become Fairy Tail. Fairy Tail began serialization in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine in 2006 and has been adapted into an anime television series.

Mashima serialized Monster Hunter Orage, an adaptation of the Monster Hunter video games, in Monthly Shōnen Rival from 2008 to 2009.[8] Also in 2008, he drew a remake of Atsushi Kase's gag manga Chameleon for the 50th anniversary of Weekly Shōnen Magazine.[9]

In 2011, he created a crossover manga between Rave and Fairy Tail published in the May issue of Weekly Shōnen Magazine.[10] It was adapted into an original video animation released in August 2013.[11] A special 2013 issue of Weekly Shōnen Magazine featured a small crossover between Fairy Tail and Nakaba Suzuki's The Seven Deadly Sins, where each artist drew a yonkoma (four-panel comic) of the other's series.[12] An actual crossover chapter between these two ran in December 2013.[13]

Mashima's Fairy Tail has inspired several other works. From summer 2014 to July 17, 2015, Fairy Tail had its own monthly magazine titled Monthly Fairy Tail, which included a prequel manga by Mashima himself titled Fairy Tail Zero.[14][15] In 2014, three spin-offs were released: Fairy Tail: Ice Trail by Yūsuke Shirato; Fairy Tail Blue Mistral by Rui Watanabe; and Fairy Girls by Boku. Another spin-off manga titled Fairy Tail Side Stories and created by Kyōta Shibano launched on July 30, 2015 in Kodansha's free Magazine Pocket mobile app.[16]

Style and influences

Mashima listed Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball as his favorite manga growing up, the video game series Dragon Quest, and Yudetamago's Kinnikuman as inspiring him to become an artist.[1][6] He also read/watched several works by Hayao Miyazaki as a child.[17] In 2008, when asked if there were any current things that inspired him, he gave Code Geass as a response.[6] In 2011, Berserk was stated to be his favorite manga.[18]

For Rave, Mashima's inspiration was wanting to travel the world, while for Fairy Tail it was simply sitting in bars and partying with his friends, the community aspect, but is also about young people finding their calling. He stated that while he tries to consider both his own interests and the fans' on what will happen next in Fairy Tail, the fans take precedence.[6]

Mashima has named his main characters after the seasons.[6] In Rave, the main character is named Haru, which is Japanese for spring. In Fairy Tail, the main character is Natsu (夏), which is the Japanese word for summer.[19] In Monster Soul, his main character is Aki (Autumn), and in Monster Hunter Orage, he names a character Shiki, which is the Japanese word for seasons. He has also named a character Fuyu, which is Japanese for winter. Mashima said in an About.com interview that he did this because Japanese readers may not be familiar with western fantasy names.[1] The main characters of both Rave and Fairy Tail do not have fathers, partly taken from Mashima's own experience of his father dying when he was young.[5]

Mashima had six assistants in 2008 that worked in an 8,000 sq. feet area with seven desks, as well as a sofa and TV for video games. He revealed his schedule for Fairy Tail was script and storyboards on Monday, rough sketches the following day, and drawing and inking Wednesday through Friday. The weekend was for Monster Hunter; working on a quarter of the story each weekend and finishing by the end of the month.[1] In 2011, he stated that he worked six days a week, for 17 hours a day.[18] Mashima's assistants included Miki Yoshikawa, who has gone on to work on the romantic comedies Yankee-kun and Megane-chan (Flunk Punk Rumble) and Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches. In 2008, together they developed a crossover one-shot story called Fairy Megane where characters from Yankee-kun decide to find part-time jobs at the Fairy Tail guild.[20] Other assistants who have gone on to work on projects of their own were Shin Mikuni, who published Spray King, and Ueda Yui, who published Tsukushi Biyori.

Works

Manga

  • Magician (1998, one shot) – debut work
  • Rave Master (Weekly Shōnen Magazine, 1999–2005, 35 volumes)
    • Plue's Dog Diaries (プルーの犬日記, 2002–2007)
  • Hiro Mashima's Playground (ましまえん, Mashima-en, 2003) – collection of one-shots
    • Magician (マジシャン, Majishan)
    • Fairy Tale (フェアリー・テール, Fearī Tēru)
    • Cocona (ココナ, Kokona)
    • The Adventures of Plue Part 2 (プルーの冒険日記II, Purū Bōken Nikki II)
    • Bad Boys Song (バット ボーイズ ソング, Baddo Bōizu Songu)
    • Magic Party (マジックパーティー, Majikku Pātī)
    • Xmas Hearts (クリスマス ハーツ, Kurisumasu Hātsu)
    • Fighting Force Mixture (混合戦隊ミクスチャー, Kongō Sentai Mikusuchā)
  • Monster Soul (Comic BomBom, 2005–2007, 2 volumes)
  • Fairy Tail (Weekly Shōnen Magazine, 2006–2017, 63 volumes)
  • Chameleon (Weekly Shonen Magazine, 2008) – one-shot remake of Atsushi Kase's title
  • Monster Hunter Orage (Monthly Shōnen Rival, 2008–2009, 4 volumes)
  • Nishikaze to Taiyou (西風と太陽, 2010, one-shot)
  • Hoshigami no Satsuki (星咬の皐月, 2014, one-shot)
  • Edens Zero (Weekly Shōnen Magazine, 2018–present, 13 volumes)
  • Hero's (Weekly Shōnen Magazine, 2019, 11 chapters)

Other works

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Aoki, Deb. "Interview: Hiro Mashima". About.com. The New York Times Company. p. 2. Retrieved January 3, 2012.
  2. ^ 【インタビュー】迷ったら読者を取れ――漫画家・真島ヒロを「仕事の鬼」に変えたクリエイティブの原点. Livedoor (in Japanese). February 28, 2020. Retrieved April 19, 2020.
  3. ^ "33rd Annual Kodansha Manga Awards Announced". Anime News Network. May 12, 2009. Retrieved January 27, 2018.
  4. ^ "Fairy Tail Manga Creator Hiro Mashima Wins Angoulême's Special Award in France". Anime News Network. January 26, 2018. Retrieved January 27, 2018.
  5. ^ a b Hodgkins, Crystalyn (August 5, 2008). "Everyday Hiro: Fairy Tail's Mashima at Comic-Con". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved March 30, 2014.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Santos, Carlo (August 17, 2008). "Interview: Hiro Mashima". Anime News Network. Retrieved March 30, 2014.
  7. ^ "Kodansha USA Adds The Seven Deadly Sins: Seven Days, Love in Focus, Witch Hat Atelier Manga". Anime News Network. July 7, 2018. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
  8. ^ "Rave Master's Mashima Draws Monster Hunter Orage Manga". Anime News Network. February 8, 2008. Retrieved March 30, 2014.
  9. ^ "Shonen Magazine Marks 50th with New, Returning Manga". Anime News Network. March 12, 2008. Retrieved March 30, 2014.
  10. ^ "Fairy Tail x Rave Crossover Manga 1-Shot Published". Anime News Network. April 20, 2011. Retrieved March 30, 2014.
  11. ^ "Fairy Tail x Rave Master Crossover Manga Gets Anime DVD". Anime News Network. April 15, 2013. Retrieved March 30, 2014.
  12. ^ "鈴木央が「FAIRY TAIL」、真島ヒロが「七つの大罪」を執筆" (in Japanese). Natalie. October 19, 2013. Retrieved November 11, 2013.
  13. ^ "Fairy Tail, The Seven Deadly Sins Get Crossover 1-Shot Manga". Anime News Network. December 6, 2013. Retrieved March 30, 2014.
  14. ^ "Monthly Fairy Tail Magazine to Launch With Fairy Tail Zero Manga". Anime News Network. March 30, 2014. Retrieved March 30, 2014.
  15. ^ "Fairy Tail Zero, Fairy Tail: Ice Trail Spinoff Manga to End in July". Anime News Network. June 18, 2015. Retrieved August 2, 2015.
  16. ^ "Kodansha Launches 'Magazine Pocket' Manga App With New Fairy Tail, Ace of Diamond Spinoffs". Anime News Network. August 2, 2015. Retrieved August 2, 2015.
  17. ^ Hodgkins, Crystalyn (November 8, 2011). "Interview: Hiro Mashima". Anime News Network. Retrieved January 3, 2012.
  18. ^ a b Hodgkins, Crystalyn (October 14, 2011). "Kodansha Comics Panel with Hiro Mashima". Anime News Network. Retrieved March 30, 2014.
  19. ^ Fairy Tail Volume 2, Afterword
  20. ^ "Star Comics presenta Fairy Megane: quando Fairy Tail in contra Yankee-Kun & Megane-Chan (Italian)". MangaForever. April 2, 2013. Retrieved August 3, 2015.
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