Masashi Kishimoto

WORLD BIOGRAPHY - Masashi Kishimoto (岸本斉史 Kishimoto Masashi?, born November 8, 1974) is a Japanese manga artist, well known for creating the manga series Naruto which was in serialization from 1999 to 2014. As of September 2014, the series had over 200 million copies in print worldwide. Besides the Naruto manga, Kishimoto also participated in the making of the anime films Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie, The Last: Naruto the Movie, and has written several one-shot stories.

A reader of manga ever since a young age, Kishimoto showed a desire to write his own manga, citing authors Akira Toriyama and Katsuhiro Otomo as his main inspirations. As a result, Kishimoto spent several years working to write his own shōnen manga for Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine which he was a fan of. His younger twin brother, Seishi Kishimoto, is also a manga artist and creator of the manga series 666 Satan (O-Parts Hunter) and Blazer Drive. During the publication of Naruto, Kishimoto married in 2003 and became a father.

Masashi Kishimoto was born in the Okayama Prefecture, Japan on November 8, 1974 as the older identical twin of Seishi Kishimoto. During his childhood, Kishimoto showed interest in drawing characters from the anime shows he watched, such as Dr. Slump's Arale and Doraemon‍ 's titular protagonist. In elementary school, Kishimoto started watching the Kinnikuman and Dragon Ball anime alongside his brother. During the following years, Kishimoto started idolizing Dragon Ball‍ 's author Akira Toriyama, enjoying not only his series Dragon Ball and Dr. Slump, but also Dragon Quest, a role-playing video game for which Toriyama was art designer. While he could not afford to buy Weekly Shōnen Jump where the Dragon Ball manga was published, he followed the series thanks to a friend from school who had subscribed to the magazine. By high school Kishimoto started losing interest in manga as he started playing baseball and basketball, sports he practiced at his school. However, upon seeing a poster for the animated film Akira, Kishimoto became fascinated with the way the illustration was made and wished to imitate the series' creator Katsuhiro Otomo's style.
During his last years of school, Kishimoto spent time drawing manga and went to an art college with hopes that he would become a manga artist. Upon entering college, Kishimoto decided he should try creating a Chanbara manga since Weekly Shōnen Jump had not published a title from that genre. However, during the same years, Kishimoto started reading Hiroaki Samura's Blade of the Immortal and Nobuhiro Watsuki's Rurouni Kenshin which used such genre. Kishimoto recalls having never been surprised by manga ever since reading Akira and found that he still was not able to compete against them. In his second year of college, Kishimoto started drawing manga for magazine contests. However, he noted that his works were similar to seinen manga, aimed towards a young adult demographic, rather than the shōnen manga read by children. Wishing to write a manga for Shōnen Jump that targets a young demographic, Kishimoto found his style unsuitable for the magazine. When watching the anime series Hashire Melos!, Kishimoto was surprised by the character designs employed by the animators and he started researching works from animators. He later met Tetsuya Nishio, designer from the anime adaptation of the manga Ninku who he deemed as a big influence. Now emulating the way of drawing from multiple character designers from anime series, Kishimoto noted that his style started resembling shōnen series.

Manga

Karakuri one-shot (1996; Hop Step Award winner, published in Hop Step Award Selection 18 ('95~'96) (1996), Akamaru Jump Winter (1997), and Naruto: The Official Premium Fanbook (2009))
Naruto one-shot (1997; published in Akamaru Jump Summer (1997) and Naruto: The Official Fanbook (2002))
Karakuri (December 21, 1997; debuted and canceled in Weekly Shōnen Jump 1998 No. 4-5)
Naruto (September 21, 1999 – November 10, 2014; serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump, debuted in Weekly Shōnen Jump 1999 No. 43)
Bench one-shot (October 11, 2010, published in Weekly Shōnen Jump 2010 No. 45)
Mario one-shot (May 2, 2013, published in Jump Square 2013 No. 6)
Naruto: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring (April 27, 2015 – ongoing; serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump, debuted in Weekly Shōnen Jump 2015 No. 22-23)

Film

Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie — 2012, scenario writer and character designer
The Last: Naruto the Movie — 2014, scenario writer and character designer[32]
Boruto: Naruto the Movie — 2015, scenario writer and character designer

Artbooks

The Art of Naruto: Uzumaki (岸本斉史画集 UZUMAKI Kishimoto Masashi Gashū: Uzumaki?, lit. "Masashi Kishimoto Art Collection: Uzumaki") — 2004[33]
Paint Jump: Art of Naruto (PAINT JUMP Art of NARUTO－ナルト－?) — 2008[34]
Naruto Illustration Book (NARUTO―ナルト―イラスト集 NARUTO Naruto Irasuto-shū: Naruto?, lit. "Naruto Illustration Collection: Naruto") — 2010[35]
Uzumaki Naruto: Illustrations (NARUTO―ナルト―イラスト集 UZUMAKI NARUTO Naruto Irasuto-shū: Uzumaki Naruto?, lit. "Naruto Illustration Collection: Naruto Uzumaki") — 2015

Novels

Naruto: Tales of a Gutsy Ninja (NARUTO―ナルト―　ド根性忍伝 Naruto: Dokonjō Ninden?) — 2010, illustrator
Naruto: Blood Prison (NARUTO―ナルト―　鬼燈の城（ブラッド・プリズン） Naruto: Buraddo Purizun?) — 2011, illustrator
Naruto Jinraiden: The Day the Wolf Howled (NARUTO－ナルト－　迅雷伝　狼の哭く日 Naruto Jinraiden: Ōkami no Naku Hi?) — 2012, illustrator
Naruto: Kakashi's Story (NARUTO－ナルト－　カカシ秘伝氷天の雷 Naruto: Kakashi Hiden — Hyōten no Ikazuchi?) — 2015, illustrator
Naruto: Shikamaru's Story (NARUTO－ナルト－　シカマル秘伝闇の黙に浮ぶ雲 Naruto: Shikamaru Hiden — Yami no Shijima ni Ukabu Kumo?) — 2015, illustrator
Naruto: Sakura's Story (NARUTO－ナルト－　サクラ秘伝思恋、春風にのせて Naruto: Sakura Hiden — Shiren, Harukaze ni Nosete?) — 2015, illustrator
Naruto: Konoha's Story (NARUTO－ナルト－　木ノ葉秘伝祝言日和 Naruto: Konoha Hiden — Shūgenbiyori?) — 2015, illustrator

Other

Tekken 6 — 2009, guest character designer
Motion Comic: Naruto — 2012, designer
Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution — 2014, character designer and editorial supervisor

Ticker

Masashi Kishimoto