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Katsuhiro Otomo
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==Style== Otomo said that when he started his professional career in the late 1970s, "almost all manga was [[gekiga]] like ''[[Golgo 13]]''. So it was all gekiga or [[sports manga]], nothing to do with [[science fiction]]." Remembering how much he loved science fiction as a child, Otomo wanted to recreate that kind of excitement; "That was in part how something like ''[[Domu]]'' came about. [...] There was no [[hard science fiction]] manga [...] so I wanted to change that and do something more realistic and believable."<ref name="Forbes"/> Describing his characterization style, Otomo said he first tried to draw and imitate "very traditional manga-like art," such as ''Astro Boy''. But by the time he was in high school, illustration work by people like [[Tadanori Yokoo]] and Yoshitaro Isaka was popular, so he wanted to create manga characters with this illustrative art style.<ref name="Forbes"/> When asked about how Japanese critics praise him as the first manga artist to draw realistic Japanese faces, Otomo said he always tries to balance fantasy and realism; "Depicting things too realistically actually damages the social realism of the piece, and if you go too far into the realm of fantasy, that hurts its imaginative ability." However, he said the realism of his early works probably came from having used friends as character models.<ref name="10years">{{cite news|url=https://kodansha.us/2019/01/09/10-years-kodansha-comics-akira/|title=10 Years of Kodansha Comics—January Spotlight: AKIRA |work=[[Kodansha]]|date=2019-01-09|access-date=2021-09-04}}</ref> French cartoonist [[Jean Giraud|Moebius]], who is known for realistic character designs, is often cited as one of Otomo's biggest influences.<ref>{{cite news|last=Lee|first=Andrew|title=Otomo's ''genga'' will make you remember|url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2012/05/17/arts/otomos-genga-will-make-you-remember/|work=[[The Japan Times]]|date=2012-05-17|access-date=2021-09-24}}</ref> Otomo is considered to be one of the artists of the [[New Wave (manga)|New Wave]] in manga in the late 1970s and 1980s especially due to his visual innovation.<ref name=":02">{{Cite web |last=Mizumoto |first=Kentarō |date= |title=「ニューウェイブ」という時代 |url=http://www.big.or.jp/~solar/comics/newwave.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030123005700/http://www.big.or.jp/~solar/comics/newwave.html |archive-date=January 23, 2003 |access-date=July 25, 2023 |website=Sora Tobu Kikai}}</ref> Otomo includes homages to his favorite childhood manga in his work, and there were three manga authors that he really respected at that time; [[Osamu Tezuka]], [[Shotaro Ishinomori]] and [[Mitsuteru Yokoyama]]. He named the main computer in ''Fireball'' ATOM after [[Astro Boy (character)|Tezuka's character]] of the same name, the character nicknamed Ecchan in ''Domu'' is a reference to Ishinomori's ''[[Sarutobi Ecchan]]'', and the title character of ''Akira'' is also known as No. 28 in homage to Yokoyama's ''[[Tetsujin 28-go]]'' in addition to the two series having the "same overall plot."<ref name="Forbes"/> Ever since depicting the apartment complex in ''Domu'', Otomo has had a large interest in architecture, proclaiming, "I don't think there was anyone before me who put this much effort into their depictions of buildings." He believes this habit of drawing detailed backgrounds was influenced by [[Shigeru Mizuki]]'s manga, which showed him how important backdrops are to a story.<ref name="10years"/> Otomo strongly praised the framing done by [[Tetsuya Chiba]], whose work he studied a lot out of admiration at a store in [[Kichijoji]], for making it easy to grasp how tangible the backgrounds and characters are. It was taken from Chiba’s ''[[Notari Matsutaro]], '' a seinen sports manga that mainly inspired Otomo to develop his ''grammar'' for making manga, including '' Domu.''<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2018-11-18/akira-creator-katsuhiro-otomo-cites-ashita-no-joe-creator-as-influence/.139408|title=Akira Creator Katsuhiro Otomo Cites Ashita no Joe Creator as Influence |work=[[Anime News Network]]|date=2018-11-18|access-date=2021-09-04}}</ref> When asked about his influences in designing the [[mecha]] in ''Farewell to Weapons'', Otomo pointed out that [[Studio Nue]]'s work was popular at the time, specifically mentioning the powered suit designs by [[Kazutaka Miyatake]] and [[Naoyuki Kato]]. He also stated that he is a fan of mecha by Takashi Watabe and Makoto Kobayashi and is fond of those seen in ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'', but explained that all his influences are jumbled and mixed together; "In short, I digest many different things and ideas tend to pop out from that."<ref name="Forbes"/>
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