Tite Kubo

Last updated

Tite Kubo
久保 帯人
BornNoriaki Kubo (久保 宣章, Kubo Noriaki)
(1977-06-26) June 26, 1977 (age 47)
Fuchū, Japan
Area(s) Manga artist, character designer
Notable works
Bleach
Zombiepowder.
Burn the Witch
Spouse(s)unknown (m. 2012) [1]

Noriaki Kubo (Japanese: 久保 宣章, Hepburn: Kubo Noriaki, born June 26, 1977), [2] known professionally as Tite Kubo (久保 帯人, Kubo Taito), is a Japanese manga artist and character designer. His manga series Bleach (2001–2016) had over 130 million copies in circulation as of 2022. [3]

Contents

Career

Kubo was born on June 26, 1977, in Hiroshima Prefecture, [4] where his father worked as a town council member. In elementary school, he had already decided to become a manga artist, [5] due to reading the manga Saint Seiya . His first one-shot was "Ultra Unholy Hearted Machine", written for the Weekly Shōnen Jump in 1996. [2] He wrote his first manga Zombiepowder , which was also published in Weekly Shōnen Jump in 1999. It ran a short 27 chapters before being canceled in 2000. According to the author's commentary, Kubo was in a state of severe emotional trauma when he wrote it. [6] Kubo later stated that he was not used to the magazine weekly serialization and used to pay more attention to his editor's comments rather than his own ideas. [7]

His next series, Bleach , about Ichigo Kurosaki, a high school student who becomes a shinigami and fights creatures known as Hollows, began running in the same magazine in 2001. Kubo initially expected the series' serialization to continue no longer than five years. [2] The original story concept was submitted to Weekly Shōnen Jump shortly after the cancellation of Zombiepowder, but was rejected. Akira Toriyama, creator of Dragon Ball , saw the story and wrote a letter of encouragement to Kubo. [2] Bleach ran for 15 years of serialization and reached over 698 chapters from 2001 to 2016. Additionally, an anime adaptation of the series was broadcast in TV Tokyo for 8 years from 2004 to 2012, spanning over 366 episodes. The manga was named a winner of the Shogakukan Manga Award for its category in 2004. [8] Kubo and Makoto Matsubara have co-authored two novelizations of the Bleach series, which were published by Shueisha under their Jump Books label. [9] [10] The first Bleach movie was released in Japan on December 16, 2006, followed by a second movie on December 22, 2007, a third on December 13, 2008, and a fourth on December 4, 2010. Kubo also appeared in the episode 112 of the Japanese radio program of Bleach B-Station. In that program, Kubo was interviewed by Masakazu Morita, voice actor of Ichigo Kurosaki, the main character of Bleach, and answered several questions from fans. [11] On July 26, 2008, Kubo went to the United States for the first time and made an appearance at San Diego Comic-Con. [12]

Kubo provided character designs for Madhouse's anime adaptations of Ango Sakaguchi's Sakura no Mori no Mankai no Shita and Ryūnosuke Akutagawa's The Spider's Thread and Hell Screen , which are parts of the Aoi Bungaku series. [13] In 2018, Kubo returned to Weekly Shōnen Jump and published a one-shot, Burn the Witch , in commemoration of the magazine's 50th anniversary. [14] Later on, in 2020, the one-shot was serialized in the magazine with a seasonal release schedule. [15] The 4-chapter first season was published in August to September 2020. [16] A second season of the series has been announced. [17] [18]

Style

Both of Kubo's serialized works are shōnen manga with a heavy focus on action. His fight scenes are noted for swift cuts and dramatic angle changes between panels, as well as minimal inclusion of background art or splash pages. As a character designer, Kubo held to a distinctively angular and lanky style through Zombiepowder and the early portions of Bleach, which filled out somewhat as Bleach continued. His designs often incorporate elements of body horror. [19] [20] [21]

Influences

Kubo's earliest influence is from Shigeru Mizuki's manga Gegege no Kitaro . He remembers trying to sketch its characters and found his own designs to be simpler than that of Mizuki's. [7] Bleach was first conceived from a desire on Kubo's part to draw shinigami in kimono, which formed the basis for the design of the Shinigami in the series, and conception of the character Rukia Kuchiki. [22] Kubo has cited influences for elements of Bleach ranging from other manga series to music, foreign language, architecture, and film. He attributes his interest in drawing the supernatural and monsters to Shigeru Mizuki's GeGeGe no Kitaro and Bleach's focus on interesting weaponry and battle scenes to Masami Kurumada's Saint Seiya , both manga Kubo enjoyed as a boy. [22] Kubo stated that Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball taught him that all villains must be "strong, scary and cool" without exception, and added that to this day no fight scene has shocked him more than Trunks' first appearance. [23] The action style and storytelling found in Bleach are inspired by cinema, though Kubo has not revealed any specific movie as being an influence for fight scenes. [24] Kubo has also stated that he wishes to make Bleach an experience that can only be found by reading manga, and dismissed ideas of creating any live-action film adaptations of the series. [25]

In the making of battle scenes, Kubo's comments that he imagines the fights with the empty backgrounds and then he tries to find the best angle to make it. [26] Then, he tries to make the injuries look very realistic in order to make the readers feel the character's pain. [27] Kubo mentions he sometimes is bored while illustrating them, so he tries to add a few jokes to make it more humorous. [26] When creating characters, Kubo first attempts to create the design and later decide how the character's personality will be according to what he drew. Since creating them like this, Kubo considers every character to be unique and wants each of them to be developed along the series. [28] When asked about romantic relationships between certain characters, Kubo answers saying that he does not want to turn the series into a love story since he thinks there are more exciting aspects concerning their personalities. [29] While the Soul Reapers' attacks and arsenal have Japanese names, other characters from the series also use different languages to describe their terms: German words used for powers from the Quincy and English for the members of X-Cution. In the case of the Hollows and Arrancars, Kubo choose to use Spanish terms about their abilities as he is interested in the Spanish language for sounding "bewitching" and "mellow" from his perspective. [30]

Works

Series

Initially appearing in Weekly Shōnen Jump and published by Shueisha in Tokyo, Japan, the manga have been licensed in North America by Viz Media.

One-shots

Prior to being serially published, Tite Kubo wrote and illustrated several one-shot manga. Three of these were later published in English, included in Viz Media's collected volumes of Zombiepowder. These short manga display the rapid development of Kubo's artstyle in the mid-90s. Afterwards, Kubo published another one-shot after Bleach ended, with an artstyle that has been widely recognized as his own.

Artbooks

  • Bleach All Colour but the Black [33]
  • Bleach Official Bootleg [34]
  • Bleach JET [35]

Databooks

  • Bleach Official Character Book SOULs [36]
  • Bleach Official Anime Guide Book VIBEs [37]
  • Bleach Official Character Book 2 MASKED [38]
  • Bleach Official Character Book 3 UNMASKED [39]
  • Bleach 13 BLADEs. [40]

Novels

  • 2020: With Ryohgo Narita: Bleach: Can't Fear Your Own World, Vol. 1 (Novel), Viz publishing, ISBN   978-1-9747-1326-4
  • 2020: With Ryohgo Narita: Bleach: Can't Fear Your Own World, Vol. 2 (Novel), Viz publishing, ISBN   978-1-9747-1327-1
  • 2021: With Ryohgo Narita: Bleach: Can't Fear Your Own World, Vol. 3 (Novel), Viz publishing, ISBN   978-1-9747-1328-8

Video games

Related Research Articles

<i>Weekly Shōnen Jump</i> Japanese manga magazine

Weekly Shōnen Jump is a weekly shōnen manga anthology published in Japan by Shueisha under the Jump line of magazines. The manga series within the magazine consist of many action scenes and a fair amount of comedy. Chapters of the series that run in Weekly Shōnen Jump are collected and published in tankōbon volumes under the Jump Comics imprint every two to three months. It is one of the longest-running manga magazines, with the first issue being released with a cover date of August 1, 1968.

<i>Bleach</i> (manga) Japanese manga series by Tite Kubo

Bleach is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tite Kubo. It follows the adventures of a teenager Ichigo Kurosaki, who obtains the powers of a Soul Reaper—a death personification similar to a Grim Reaper—from another Soul Reaper, Rukia Kuchiki. His new-found powers allow him to take on the duties of defending humans from evil spirits and guiding departed souls to the afterlife, and set him on journeys to various ghostly realms of existence.

<i>Zombiepowder.</i> Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tite Kubo

Zombiepowder. is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tite Kubo. The manga ran in Shueisha's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump for 27 chapters from August 1999 to February 2000 before being canceled. The series was collected into four tankōbon volumes, released the following year. Zombiepowder. is distributed in North America by Viz Media, who licensed it in 2005. Although critical reception in the United States was largely mediocre, the series achieved moderate commercial success in the western market due to the prominence Kubo had achieved by that point for his second manga series, Bleach.

Masashi Kishimoto is a Japanese manga artist. His manga series, Naruto, which was in serialization from 1999 to 2014, has sold over 250 million copies worldwide in 46 countries as of May 2019. The series has been adapted into two anime and multiple films, video games, and related media. Besides the Naruto manga, Kishimoto also personally supervised the two canonical anime films, The Last: Naruto the Movie and Boruto: Naruto the Movie, and has written several one-shot stories. In 2019, Kishimoto wrote Samurai 8: The Tale of Hachimaru which ended in March 2020. From May 2016 through October 2020 he supervised the Boruto: Naruto Next Generations manga written by Ukyō Kodachi and illustrated by Mikio Ikemoto. In November 2020 it was announced that he had taken over as writer on the series, replacing Kodachi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ichigo Kurosaki</span> Fictional character from Bleach

Ichigo Kurosaki is a fictional character in the Bleach manga series and its adaptations created by author Tite Kubo. He is the main protagonist of the series, who receives Soul Reaper powers after meeting Rukia Kuchiki, a Soul Reaper assigned to patrol around the fictional city of Karakura Town. These powers come at the cost of her own, and as a result, he concedes to work as her stand-in, fighting to protect people from evil spirits called Hollows and sending good spirits, wholes, to a dimension known as the Soul Society. Ichigo appears in other media after the manga series, including the anime television series, four anime films, two original video animations, rock musicals, several video games, light novels and the 2018 live-action film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rukia Kuchiki</span> Fictional character from Bleach

Rukia Kuchiki is a fictional character in the anime and manga series Bleach created by Tite Kubo. In the series, she is a Soul Reaper,, in charge of slaying and eradicating corrupted souls whose unfortunate fate lies destined for ruthless killing and feeding of living beings. We call these lost souls hollows. Along with eradicating hollows, Rukia's primary objective as a Shinigami is to pass on the souls of those who have failed to pass on those who have yet to cross by means of konso. At the beginning, after a brief meeting with the protagonist of the series, Ichigo Kurosaki, who can see supernatural beings such as Soul Reapers, she transfers her powers to him in order to fulfill her duties as a Soul Reaper. Rukia has appeared in several other pieces of Bleach media, including the four feature films in the series, the two original video animations and several video games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orihime Inoue</span> Fictional character from Bleach

Orihime Inoue is a fictional character in the Japanese manga series Bleach and its anime adaptation created by Tite Kubo. She is one of Ichigo Kurosaki's friends. Like the many other characters in the series, she quickly develops powers of her own after Ichigo becomes a Soul Reaper. Throughout the series, Orihime learns about Ichigo's duty as a Soul Reaper and accompanies him when they go to the Soul Society to save Rukia Kuchiki, and is depicted as Ichigo's wife in the epilogue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yasutora Sado</span> Fictional character from Bleach

Yasutora Sado is a fictional character in the Japanese manga and anime series Bleach created by Tite Kubo. He is also one of Ichigo Kurosaki's friends. Because Ichigo first read Yasutora's name off a nametag, he pronounced his family name as Chad due to the variable pronunciations of kanji, and Ichigo continues to call him this throughout the story.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tōshirō Hitsugaya</span> Fictional character from Bleach

Tōshirō Hitsugaya is a fictional character in the manga and anime series Bleach, created by Tite Kubo. In the series, Hitsugaya is a captain of the 10th division or squad of the Gotei 13, a group of Soul Reapers who govern the flow of souls and protect Soul Society, an afterlife realm. Hitsugaya makes appearances in all Bleach's films, being the protagonist in Bleach: The Diamond Dust Rebellion, and in other media related to the series, including video games and original video animations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Akira Amano</span> Japanese mangaka

Akira Amano is a Japanese mangaka known for the shōnen series Reborn!.

<i>Bleach: The DiamondDust Rebellion</i> 2007 film by Noriyuki Abe

Bleach: The DiamondDust Rebellion is the second animated film adaptation of the anime and manga series Bleach. The film is directed by Noriyuki Abe, and co-written by Michiko Yokote and Masahiro Ōkubo, and the theatrical release was on December 22, 2007 in between episodes 153 and 154. The theme music for the film is "Rock of Light" by Sambomaster. The DVD of the film was released on September 6, 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yūki Tabata</span> Japanese manga artist

Yūki Tabata is a Japanese manga artist. After working as an assistant to Toshiaki Iwashiro, he created the one-shot Hungry Joker, which was later serialized as a full series. After its conclusion, he launched Black Clover.

Kenta Shinohara is a Japanese manga artist. He is best known for his manga series Sket Dance, which was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 2007 to 2013 and won the Shogakukan Manga Award in 2010. His next series, Astra Lost in Space, serialized on Shonen Jump+ from 2016 to 2017 and won the 2019 Manga Taishō. Shinohara began serializing his currently ongoing series Witch Watch in Weekly Shōnen Jump in 2021.

<i>Samurai 8: The Tale of Hachimaru</i> Japanese manga series created by Masahi Kishimoto

Samurai 8: The Tale of Hachimaru is a Japanese manga written by Masashi Kishimoto and illustrated by Akira Ōkubo. It was serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump from May 2019 to March 2020, with its chapters collected in five tankōbon volumes. In North America, Viz Media published the series on the Shonen Jump platform, and started the print release of the series in March 2020. Shueisha published it on the Manga Plus platform.

<i>Burn the Witch</i> (manga) Japanese manga series

Burn the Witch is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tite Kubo. It was first published in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump as a one-shot chapter in July 2018. A serialized continuation of the one-shot is being published in the same magazine with a seasonal release schedule. The four-chapter first season was published from August to September 2020. A second season of the manga has been announced. The series' title comes from a 2016 song by the English band Radiohead.

<i>Black Torch</i> Japanese manga series by Tsuyoshi Takaki

Black Torch is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tsuyoshi Takaki. It was serialized in Shueisha's monthly magazine Jump Square from December 2016 to March 2018, and later on the digital platform Shōnen Jump+ from April to July 2018. Its chapters were compiled in five tankōbon volumes. In North America, the manga was licensed for English language release by Viz Media.

Gege Akutami is a Japanese manga artist known for their work Jujutsu Kaisen. Gege Akutami is a pen name and the author's real name and identity are unknown.

<i>Witch Watch</i> Japanese manga series by Kenta Shinohara

Witch Watch is a Japanese fantasy and romantic comedy manga series written and illustrated by Kenta Shinohara. It has been serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump since February 2021, with its chapters collected into seventeen tankōbon volumes as of July 2024. As of November 2022, the manga had over 1.1 million copies in circulation.

<i>Kubo Wont Let Me Be Invisible</i> Japanese manga series

Kubo Won't Let Me Be Invisible is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Nene Yukimori. It was serialized in Shueisha's seinen manga magazine Weekly Young Jump from October 2019 to March 2023, with its chapters collected in twelve tankōbon volumes. An anime television series adaptation produced by Pine Jam aired from January to June 2023.

References

  1. "Tite Kubo Has Gotten Married". Anime News Network . December 22, 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Charles Solomon (August 28, 2008). "Creator Tite Kubo surprised by 'Bleach' success". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on April 23, 2009. Retrieved September 17, 2008.
  3. BLEACH 千年血戦篇:キービジュアルに護廷十三隊の隊長陣、星十字騎士団集結 PVでユーハバッハのせりふも. Mantan Web (in Japanese). July 3, 2022. Retrieved November 12, 2022.
  4. "久保帯人の一覧". BookLive  [ ja ] (in Japanese). Retrieved August 7, 2021.
  5. Aoki, Deb (January 9, 2018). "Interview With Manga Artist Tite Kubo". LiveAbout. Retrieved August 24, 2021.
  6. Kubo, Tite (2000). Zombie Powder vol. 03. Shueisha. Author's commentary. ISBN   4-08-872877-7.
  7. 1 2 Kido, Misaki C. (February 2012). "Interview with Tite Kubo (Creator of Bleach)". Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha (2–20–12). Viz Media: 124–126.
  8. 小学館漫画賞: 歴代受賞者 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Archived from the original on April 24, 2005. Retrieved August 19, 2007.
  9. "Bleach novel series" (in Japanese). Shueisha . Retrieved April 15, 2008.
  10. "Bleach novel series" (in Japanese). Shueisha . Retrieved April 15, 2008.
  11. Tite Kubo, Masakazu Morita (August 2007). Tite Kubo Interview, Bleach B-Station 112. Japan: Bleach B-Station.
  12. "Comic-con 2008 Guests". Comic-Con International. Archived from the original on July 24, 2009. Retrieved December 12, 2009.
  13. "Madhouse's Aoi Bungaku Posts Staff, Cast Lineup". Anime News Network. September 22, 2009. Retrieved September 26, 2014.
  14. Pineda, Rafael Antonio (June 27, 2018). "Bleach's Tite Kubo Unveils 'Burn the Witch' 1-Shot Manga". Anime News Network . Retrieved March 18, 2020.
  15. Martinez, Phillip (March 18, 2020). "'BLEACH' ANIME TO RETURN IN 2021; 'BURN THE WITCH' GETS SERIALIZATION AND ANIME". Newsweek . Retrieved March 18, 2020.
  16. Hodgkins, Crystalyn (August 10, 2020). "Tite Kubo's 4-Chapter Burn the Witch Manga Debuts on August 24". Anime News Network . Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  17. 久保帯人「BURN THE WITCH」単行本の発売&Season2の制作が決定. Natalie (in Japanese). September 14, 2020. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
  18. Pineda, Rafael Antonio (September 13, 2020). "Bleach's Tite Kubo Unveils Draft Pages for Burn the Witch 'Season 2' Manga". Anime News Network . Retrieved September 14, 2020.
  19. 1 2 Theron Martin (March 1, 2007). "Zombie Powder GN 3". Anime News Network. Retrieved September 12, 2008.
  20. 1 2 3 Snow Wildsmith (January 31, 2008). "Zombie Powder". TeenReads.com. Archived from the original on August 14, 2014. Retrieved August 14, 2014.
  21. Santos, Carlo (November 2, 2012). "Bleach GN 48-49". Anime News Network . Retrieved August 15, 2014.
  22. 1 2 Deb Aoki. "Interview: Tite Kubo (page 1)". About.com. Archived from the original on November 12, 2016. Retrieved September 16, 2008.
  23. Suzuki, Haruhiko, ed. (December 19, 2003). "5: Dragon Ball Children". Dragon Ball Landmark (in Japanese). Shueisha. p. 172. ISBN   4-08-873478-5.
  24. Shonen Jump #51. Volume 5, issue 3. March 2007. Viz Media. 328.
  25. Shonen Jump #39. Volume 4, issue 3. March 2006. Viz Media. 010.
  26. 1 2 Deb Aoki. "Interview: Tite Kubo (page 3)". About.com. Archived from the original on November 27, 2011. Retrieved September 16, 2008.
  27. Kai-ming Cha (August 4, 2008). "Kubo Comes to Comic-Con". Publishers Weekly . Retrieved September 17, 2008.
  28. Anime Insider (61). Wizard Universe: 39. October 2008. ISSN   1547-3767.{{cite journal}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  29. Deb Aoki. "Interview: Tite Kubo (page 2)". About.com. Archived from the original on February 4, 2009. Retrieved September 16, 2008.
  30. Shonen Jump . Volume 6, issue 6. June 2008. Viz Media. 12.
  31. Rafael Antonio Pineda (June 28, 2018). "Bleach's Tite Kubo Unveils 'Burn the Witch' 1-Shot Manga". animenewsnetwork.com. Retrieved June 28, 2018.
  32. Hodgkins, Crystalyn (August 1, 2021). "Tite Kubo Pens New Bleach 1-Shot Manga". Anime News Network . Archived from the original on August 10, 2021. Retrieved August 1, 2021.
  33. "BLEACHイラスト集 All Colour But The Black" (in Japanese). Shueisha . Retrieved April 27, 2008.
  34. "BLEACH OFFICIAL BOOTLEG カラブリ+| 久保 帯人| ジャンプコミックス" (in Japanese). Shueisha . Retrieved April 27, 2008.
  35. "'Bleach' Announces Massive Art Collection". Comicbook.com. Retrieved June 12, 2018.
  36. "BLEACH―ブリーチ― OFFICIAL CHARACTER BOOK SOULs" (in Japanese). Shueisha . Retrieved April 27, 2008.
  37. "BLEACH―ブリーチ― OFFICIAL ANIMATION BOOK VIBEs" (in Japanese). Shueisha . Retrieved April 27, 2008.
  38. "BLEACH―ブリーチ― OFFICIAL CHARACTER BOOK 2 MASKED" (in Japanese). Shueisha . Retrieved August 6, 2010.
  39. "BLEACH―ブリーチ― OFFICIAL CHARACTER BOOK 3 UNMASKED" (in Japanese). Shueisha . Retrieved August 10, 2015.
  40. "BLEACH 13 BLADEs. ブリーチ 13 ブレイズ" (in Japanese). Shueisha . Retrieved August 10, 2015.