Ishinomori Shotaro

石森章太郎
Ishinomori Shotaro
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Real name Onodera Shotaro. He was known as Ishimori Shotaro before 1986 when he changed his name to Ishinomori Shotaro.

While he was in high school, he made his debut with Nikyu Tenshi in Manga Shônen (1954). Like most of the Japanese artists, Ishimori was influenced by Tezuka Osamu. In 1956, he formed a coterie group with Akatsuka Fujio, Nagashima Shinji and Suzuki Mitsuaki. He moved to Tokyo after graduation, where he continued to work as a mangaka, starting with the war story Kaiketsu Harimao in 1959. Subsequently, he produced hit mangas such as the science fiction series Cyborg 009 (1964) and the historical series Sabu to Ichi Torimono Hikae (Big Comic, 1968-72). In the 1970s, Ishimori created metamorphosis manga such as Kamen Rider and in the 1980s, he became a pioneer of a new manga category. In 1989, he commenced working on a large series about the history of Japan, Manga Nihon no Rekishi, which remained unfinished due to the artist's death on January 28th, 1998 at the age of 60.

Ishinomori was nicknamed the 'King of Manga' and is considered one of the pioneers of modern manga. He was also one of the most productive creators, producing over 120,000 pages of artwork in thirty years. It's rumored that he drew over 500 pages in one month!