Makoto Raiku

Makoto Kawada(Hà điền thành,Kawada Makoto,born 23 August 1974 inGifu,Japan),known by the pen nameMakoto Raiku(Lôi cú thành,Raiku Makoto),is amanga artistknown for creating theZatch Bell!franchise. Starting off anassistantforKazuhiro Fujitaon his mangaUshio & Tora,he began creating several one-shots for theWeekly Shōnen Sundayshōnenmanga anthology such asBird Man(about a youngpilot),Hero Ba-Ban(about a cheerful, but weaksuperhero) andGenmai Blade(about a teenage medicinalexorcist,of which he created both a one-shot and a two-part story). By 1999, he had created the seriesNewtown Heroes,which was published inShōnen Sunday Super,a seasonal publication featuring upcomingmanga artistsand one-shots from the mainSundaybook.

Makoto Raiku's signature in 2006

Biography

Debut

In 2001, Raiku started the manga seriesKonjiki no Gash!!,which began publication inShogakukan'sWeekly Shōnen Sunday,and in 2003, inspired ananimeversion (Konjiki no Gash Bell!!) produced byToei Animation.In English-speaking countries, both the manga and anime are known asZatch Bell!.In one chapter of the Konjiki no Gash Bell!! manga, Raiku makes an appearance with his own story, and also plays the role of Umagon's partner in the game, Konjiki no Gash Bell!!: Electric Arena (prior to the introduction ofKafka Sunbeam). In 2003,Konjiki no Gash!!received the 48thShogakukan Manga Awardin the Shōnen category.

Civil trial

In June 2008, Raiku brought a case againstShogakukantoTokyo District Courtbecause they lost five of his coloured works. He demanded 3,300,000 yen as compensation, valuing each work at 300,000 yen due to the average price at which other original color drawings were sold at auctions.In his lawsuit, he called for the publisher to make a statement acknowledging the artistic value of the works that were lost. Raiku stated that he filed the lawsuit to oppose the overworking of manga artists by companies and drew attention to exploitation of artists by their publishers.

On July 28, 2008, they had their first public session. Shogakukan agreed they were responsible for the loss with a reservation on financial value of the lost works as it was not clear. Recommended by the judge, both parties agreed tosettlethe claim. After the case was settled, Makoto Raiku announced he would no longer do business with Shogakukan, and switched toKodansha.His first work for Kodansha wasAnimal Land,which was serialized inBessatsu Shonen Magazine.

Self-Publishing

Raiku's third serialization,Vector Ball,ran in Kodansha'sWeekly Shōnen Magazinefrom April 2016 until its abrupt end in March 2017,after Raiku refused to continue the story based on suggestions from his editor that he had previously agreed to follow. Over the next several years, he re-released his 3 serializations as ebooks, with bothKonjiki no Gash!!andAnimal Landreceiving bonus content.

In 2022, Raiku started a new manga studio, Birgdin Board, under which he had ownership of his previous manga. He began working on a new series, a sequel toKonjiki no Gash!!which was published online by Raiku and Birgdin Board starting in March 2022.

Works

• Bird Man
• Newtown Heroes(ニュータウン・ヒーローズ,Nyūtaun Hīrōzu)
• Genmai Blade(Huyền mễ ブレード,Genmai Burēdo,"genmai" means brown rice)
• Zatch Bell!(Kim sắc のガッシュ!!,Konjiki no Gasshu!!)
• Grief Warrior Hero Ba-Ban(Ai sầu chiến sĩ ヒーローババーン,Aishū Senshi Hīrō Babān)
• Aosora(アオソラ)
• Class Room(クラスルーム)
• Oyaju Rider(おやじゅ～ライダー)
• Animal Land(どうぶつの quốc,Dōbutsu no Kuni)
• Vector Ball(ベクターボール)
• Golden Gash!! 2(Kim sắc のガッシュ!!,Konjiki no Gasshu!! 2)

Associated Manga Authors

Master

• Kazuhiro Fujita

Fellow Assistants under Tanabe

• Kazurou Inoue
• Tatsuya Kaneda
• Nobuyuki Anzai

Raiku's Assistants

• Yellow Tanabe
• Aiko Koyama
• Youhei Sakai

External links

• Makoto RaikuonTwitter(in Japanese)
• Birgdin Board website(in Japanese)
• Raiku Makoto's official blog (current)(in Japanese)
• Raiku Makoto's official blog (old)(in Japanese)
• Makoto RaikuatAnime News Network's encyclopedia