was a Japanese illustrator,

character designer Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * Character (novel), ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * Characters (Theophrastus), ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek se ...

, and model maker born in Tochio, Niigata. He is well known for character designs in the

Kamen Rider The , also known as ''Masked Rider Series'' (until ''Kamen Rider Decade, Decade'' and except Thailand), is a Japanese superhero fiction, superhero media franchise consisting of tokusatsu television programs, films, manga, and anime, created by ...

entries ''

Kamen Rider Blade is a Japanese tokusatsu superhero television series. It is the fourteenth installment in the Kamen Rider Series. It aired on TV Asahi from January 25, 2004 to January 23, 2005. It is a joint collaboration between Ishimori Productions and Toe ...

'', ''

Kamen Rider Kabuto is a Japanese tokusatsu superhero television series. It is the sixteenth installment in the popular Kamen Rider Series of tokusatsu programs. It is a joint collaboration between Asatsu-DK and Toei. The series was broadcast on TV Asahi. The ...

'', and ''

Kamen Rider Den-O is the seventeenth installment in the popular Kamen Rider Series of tokusatsu programs. It is a joint collaboration between Ishimori Productions and Toei. It premiered January 28, 2007 on TV Asahi, and concluded airing on January 20, 2008. Its l ...

'' and the creatures called " Horrors" in the ''

GARO Garo may refer to: People and languages * Garo people, a tribal people in India ** Garo language, the language spoken by the Garo tribe Places * Kingdom of Garo, a former kingdom in southern Ethiopia * Garo, Colorado * Garo Hills, part of the ...

'' series. Much of his early work as a designer and sculptor was featured in his

Hobby Japan is a Japanese publishing company known for publishing and releasing books, magazines, light novels, games, and collectibles. Founded in 1969, the company owns and distributes such publications as the eponymous ''Hobby Japan EX'' magazine, as w ...

magazine column titled "Creature Core", which featured at least one of his sculptures in each monthly issue and was later collected as a hardcover book of the same name. In addition to original designs, this column also included sculptures based on characters from

Inazuman is a television series starring a mutant fictional character of the same name created by Shotaro Ishinomori. The first television series ran from October 2, 1973 to March 26, 1974 with a total of 25 episodes. A second season named aired in 197 ...

, Guyver,

Phantom of the Paradise ''Phantom of the Paradise'' is a 1974 American rock musical comedy horror film written and directed by Brian De Palma and scored by and starring Paul Williams. A naïve young singer-songwriter, Winslow Leach ( William Finley), is tricked by ...

Hellraiser ''Hellraiser'' is a 1987 British supernatural horror film written and directed by Clive Barker in his directorial debut. Based on Barker's 1986 novella ''The Hellbound Heart'', the film's plot concerns a mystical puzzle box that summons the ...

, Hellraiser III, and others. As part of his work for Hobby Japan, Nirasawa did character designs and cover art for the video games Beast Warriors and

A-Rank Thunder Tanjouhen is an adventure game released in 1993 on Mega-CD. The game was developed by Telenet Japan, and published by its label Riot. The game's cover art was created by Yasushi Nirasawa, in his position as a model-builder for Hobby Japan magazine. G ...

, and illustrations for Japanese

RPGs RPG may refer to: Military * Rocket-propelled grenade, a shoulder-launched anti-tank weapon **''Ruchnoi Protivotankoviy Granatomyot'' (Russian: ''Ручной Противотанковый Гранатомёт''), hand-held anti-tank grenade laun ...

, including illustrations of

Michael Moorcock Michael John Moorcock (born 18 December 1939) is an English writer, particularly of science fiction and fantasy, who has published a number of well-received literary novels as well as comic thrillers, graphic novels and non-fiction. He has wo ...

's Elric for the Japanese edition of

Stormbringer Stormbringer is a magic sword featured in a number of fantasy stories by the author Michael Moorcock. It is described as a huge, black sword covered with strange runes, created by the forces of Chaos. The sword has a will of its own and it is ...

. In 2009, he was brought onto the productions of ''

Kamen Rider Decade is a Japanese television show and the 2009 installment of the long-running ''Kamen Rider'' series of tokusatsu dramas. ''Decade'', as its title suggests, is the tenth anniversary series of ''Kamen Rider''s Heisei era, and the final installment ...

'', the Cho-Den-O series, and '' Kamen Rider G'' in designing the Paradoxa Undead, the Alligator Imagin, the villains Goludora and Shilubara, and the Phylloxera Worm, respectively. He later provided the designs of the original villains of the

Super Sentai The is a Japanese superhero team media franchise consisting of television series and films produced by Toei Company and Bandai, and aired by TV Asahi. The shows are of the '' tokusatsu'' genre, featuring live action characters and colorfu ...

Series's 2011 entry ''

Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger is a Japanese Tokusatsu television series and the 35th entry in its long-running ''Super Sentai'' metaseries of Japanese ''tokusatsu'' television series following '' Tensou Sentai Goseiger''. It follows a Pirate motif, joining '' Kamen Rider OO ...

''. His designs for the various Tokusatsu productions are published in ''UNDEAD GREEN BLOOD'', ''GITAI'', ''SAY YOUR WISH'', and ''ZANGYACK WORKS LOG''. Nirasawa died on February 2 2016 due to complications from chronic renal failure.

Art style

Two common themes in Nirasawa's design are asymmetry, with characters having lopsided forms or multiple limbs; and anatomical imagery, with many designs having skeletal elements and/or extensive muscular detail. His nonhuman characters often originate from a combination of animal and human features, particularly including insectoid features. His human characters are often voluptuous women, either semi-nude or wearing armor.

Works

(Cover art) * Beast Warriors (cover art) *

Soulcalibur is a fighting game franchise developed by Bandai Namco Studios and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. There are a total of seven main installments and various media spin-offs, including music albums and a series of manga books in the ...

(Concept art) *

BlowOut Blowout or Blow out may refer to: Film and television *''Blow Out'', a 1981 film by Brian De Palma * '' The Blow Out'', a 1936 short film * ''Blow Out'' (TV series), a TV series on Bravo * "Blow Out" (''Prison Break''), an episode of ''Priso ...

(Concept art) * Space Truckers (Concept art) * Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (Set design) *

Enemy Zero is a 1996 Horror game, horror-themed adventure video game for the Sega Saturn, developed by Warp (company), Warp and directed by Kenji Eno. Players assume the role of an astronaut who awakens from cryogenic sleep to find her spaceship overrun by ...

(creature designer) * Volfoss (creature designer) * Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (Phantom design) * Guilstien *

(

Undead The undead are beings in mythology, legend, or fiction that are deceased but behave as if they were alive. A common example of an undead being is a cadaver, corpse reanimated by supernatural forces, by the application of either the deceased's o ...

design) * Godzilla: Final Wars (

Gigan is a fictional monster, or kaiju, that appeared in the 1972 film, '' Godzilla vs. Gigan''. Gigan is a giant extraterrestrial space monster, resembling a species of reptile, who was turned into a cyborg by the alien race known as the Nebulans. G ...

and Xilien design) *

The Great Yokai War is a 2005 Japanese fantasy film directed by Takashi Miike, produced by Kadokawa Pictures and distributed by Shochiku. The film stars Ryūnosuke Kamiki, Ryunosuke Kamiki, Hiroyuki Miyasako, Chiaki Kuriyama, and Mai Takahashi. The film focuses lar ...

* Golden Knight Garo series (creature design) *

(

Worm Worms are many different distantly related bilateria, bilateral animals that typically have a long cylindrical tube-like body, no limb (anatomy), limbs, and usually no eyes. Worms vary in size from microscopic to over in length for marine ...

design) *

(

Imagin is the seventeenth installment in the popular Kamen Rider Series of tokusatsu programs. It is a joint collaboration between Ishimori Productions and Toei. It premiered January 28, 2007 on TV Asahi, and concluded airing on January 20, 2008. Its l ...

design) *

(creature design) * Kamen Rider G (creature design) *

(creature design) * Iron Man: Rise of Technovore (Technovore design) *

Monster Hunter Frontier G ''Monster Hunter Frontier G'' is an updated version of ''Monster Hunter Frontier'', a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) in the ''Monster Hunter'' series for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 3, and Wi ...

(Genome and Divol armor design) *

Shin Megami Tensei IV is a role-playing video game, role-playing video game developed and published by Atlus for the Nintendo 3DS. It is part of the ''Shin Megami Tensei'' series, the central series of the ''Megami Tensei'' franchise, though no direct story connect ...

(creature design) * Amon: The Darkside of The Devilman (creature design)

References

External links

*
Yasushi Nirasawa Undead WorksYasushi Nirasawa Worm Works
* 1963 births Japanese illustrators People from Niigata Prefecture 2016 deaths {{Japan-artist-stub