Katsuhiro Otomo

About

Katsuhiro Otomo (大友克洋) is a Japanese manga artist and film director, born on 14 April 1954 in Miyagi Prefecture. He made his manga debut in 1973 with 銃声 in Futabasha's magazine 漫画アクション. His manga Domu (童夢) received the 日本SF大賞 (Nihon SF Taishō) and the comics category of the 星雲賞 (Seiun Shō), and AKIRA received the 講談社漫画賞 (Kōdansha Manga Shō). Designing the characters for Rintaro's animated film Harmagedon (幻魔大戦, 1983) led him into animation. He directed the 1988 animated film of his own AKIRA and later the original animated feature STEAMBOY. On the anthology film MEMORIES (1995) he was executive producer and general director, and he directed the third episode, Cannon Fodder (大砲の街), for which he also wrote the original story and screenplay and created the character concepts and art. In live action he directed World Apartment Horror (1991) and Mushi-Shi (蟲師, 2007), based on Yuki Urushibara's manga. His honours include Japan's Medal with Purple Ribbon (2013), Officier of France's Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (2014) and the Grand Prix of the Festival International de la Bande Dessinée d'Angoulême (2015).