is a Japanese

manga artist A is a comic artist who writes and/or illustrates manga. As of 2006, about 3,000 professional manga artists were working in Japan. Most manga artists study at an art college or manga school or take on an apprenticeship with another artist be ...

and

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while othe ...

. Born in

Ehime Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Ehime Prefecture has a population of 1,342,011 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 5,676 km2 (2,191 sq mi). Ehime Prefecture borders Kagawa Prefecture to the northeast, Toku ...

, he is best known as the writer of the

seinen is an editorial category of Japanese comics marketed toward young adult men. In Japanese, the word ''seinen'' literally means "youth", but the term "''seinen'' manga" is also used to describe the target audience of magazines like '' Weekly Ma ...

manga series, '' Bungo Stray Dogs''.

History

Originally a salaryman working for a car company, Asagiri had been thinking about becoming a scenario writer since his second or third year of work, but the company was so busy that he couldn't write stories while working. He quit the car company at the beginning of 2012. After that, while preparing for job hunting related to screenplays, Asagiri decided to create something that people could watch for free. He started posting videos saying "I wanted to," along with creating videos serving as business cards, believing in the importance of work experience for becoming a professional. Then, his video "Slowly Youmu and the Really Scary Cthulhu Mythos" released on Nico Nico Douga received a great response and became popular. Four months after he uploaded the video, Asagiri was approached by the editor-in-chief of ''

Monthly Shonen Ace Monthly usually refers to the scheduling of something every month. It may also refer to: * ''The Monthly'' * ''Monthly Magazine'' * ''Monthly Review'' * ''PQ Monthly'' * ''Home Monthly'' * ''Trader Monthly'' * ''Overland Monthly'' * Menstruation ...

'' to bring in three projects in two weeks. After a meeting, they made their commercial debut with '' Bungo Stray Dogs''. He debuted as a novelist with the novelization ''Bungo Stray Dogs: Osamu Dazai's Entrance Examination,'' a prequel to the same work.''Yukkuri Youmu and the Really Scary Cthulhu Myth'' was later made into a manga called '' Minase Youmu and the Really Scary Cthulhu Myth'', with Asagiri in charge of the original work. For ''Bungo Stray Dogs'', Asagiri was inspired by

Shūsaku Endō was a Japanese author who wrote from the rare perspective of a Japanese Catholic. Internationally, he is known for his 1966 historical fiction novel ''Silence'', which was adapted into a 2016 film of the same name by director Martin Scorsese. ...

's story ''Ryūgaku'' as well as

Osamu Dazai was a Japanese author. A number of his most popular works, such as '' The Setting Sun'' (''Shayō'') and '' No Longer Human'' (''Ningen Shikkaku''), are considered modern-day classics. His influences include Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Murasaki Sh ...

's last novel ''

No Longer Human is a 1948 Japanese novel by Osamu Dazai. It is considered Dazai's masterpiece and ranks as the second-best selling novel ever in Japan, behind Natsume Sōseki's '' Kokoro''. The literal translation of the title, discussed by Donald Keene in hi ...

''. Asagiri decided to make his own take on Osamu Dazai stand out among the readers.

Kadokawa Shoten , formerly , is a Japanese publisher and division of Kadokawa Future Publishing based in Tokyo, Japan. It became an internal division of Kadokawa Corporation on October 1, 2013. Kadokawa publishes manga, light novels, manga anthology magazines s ...

approached Asagiri with writing more content for the characters, which led to the production of

light novel A light novel (, Hepburn: ''raito noberu'') is a style of young adult novel primarily targeting high school and middle school students. The term "light novel" is a '' wasei-eigo'', or a Japanese term formed from words in the English language ...

s where the writer decided to explore Dazai's past.

Hobbies

Many works have influenced Asagiri, including ''

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki. It was originally serialized in Shueisha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1987 to 2004, and was transferred to the monthly ''seinen'' manga ...

''. He also enjoyed reading ''

YuYu Hakusho is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yoshihiro Togashi. The series tells the story of Yusuke Urameshi, a teenage delinquent who is struck and killed by a car while attempting to save a child's life. After a number of t ...

'' and ''

Black Lagoon ''Black Lagoon'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Rei Hiroe. It has been published in Shogakukan's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''Monthly Sunday Gene-X'' since April 2002, with its chapters colle ...

''. Asagiri also enjoys international film and TV series, particularly ''The Avengers'' and ''

The Dark Knight ''The Dark Knight'' is a 2008 superhero film directed by Christopher Nolan from a screenplay he co-wrote with his brother Jonathan. Based on the DC Comics superhero, Batman, it is the sequel to ''Batman Begins'' (2005) and the second instal ...

''. When asked what exactly he likes about Western media, he bluntly answered that its accessibility makes it so attractive; American media is widely available through different platforms in Japan. Asagiri enjoyed playing ''

Dragon Quest previously published as ''Dragon Warrior'' in North America until 2005, is a franchise of Japanese role-playing video games created by Armor Project ( Yuji Horii), Bird Studio (Akira Toriyama) and Sugiyama Kobo ( Koichi Sugiyama) to its pu ...

'', and was also addicted to the RPG production software ''

RPG Maker RPG Maker, known in Japan as , is a series of programs for the development of role-playing video games (RPGs) with story-driven elements, created by the Japanese group ASCII, succeeded by Enterbrain. The Japanese name, ''Tsukūru'', is a pu ...

'' and was always creating stories. When it comes to storywriting, he is not particular about mediums such as manga, novels, or games; he wants to create stories that are optimized for that medium.

Works

Manga

* '' Bungo Stray Dogs'' (''

Young Ace is a monthly ''seinen'' manga magazine in Japan published by Kadokawa Shoten, started in 2009. A spin-off web manga magazine titled ''Young Ace UP'' began publication in December 2015. Series ''Young Ace'' *''Akuma no Ikenie'' ('' Devil's Sacri ...

'' January 2013 issue -, Illustration: Sango Harukawa) * '' Youmu Minase and the really scary Cthulhu myth'' (''

Nico Nico Ace Naftiran Intertrade Company limited (NICO) is a Swiss-based subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC). NICO is a general contractor for the oil and gas industry. NIOC buys the vast majority of Iran's gasoline imports. NICO is a key pl ...

'' No. 73 - No. 129+130, Illustration: Masahiko Yoshihara) * ''Ayane Shionomiya can't be wrong''. (''

'' August 2013 issue - January 2015 issue, illustration: Yukitoshi Nakamura)

Novel

* '' Bungo Stray Dogs'' series (April 1, 2014 -,

Kadokawa Beans Bunko Kadokawa may refer to: *Kadokawa Corporation, the holding company of the Kadokawa Group **Kadokawa Content Gate and Kadokawa Mobile, both former names for BookWalker **Kadokawa Future Publishing, a subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation and the publis ...

, Illustration: Sango Harukawa) ** ''Bungo Stray Dogs Gaiden Natsuhiko Kyogoku VS Yukito Ayatsuji'' (Novelist Sari-sari October 2015 issue - January 2016 issue, Illustration: Sango Harukawa * ''Guildre'' (''

Young Magazine Third Young may refer to: * Offspring, the product of reproduction of a new organism produced by one or more parents * Youth, the time of life when one is young, often meaning the time between childhood and adulthood Music * The Young, an American r ...

'' 2014 Vol.1 - 2016 Vol.4, illustration: Ame Toba, mechanical design: Ryuichi Sadamatsu) * ''

Ghost in the Shell ''Ghost in the Shell'' is a Japanese cyberpunk media franchise based on the seinen manga series of the same name written and illustrated by Masamune Shirow. The manga, first serialized in 1989 under the subtitle of ''The Ghost in the Shell' ...

'' Novel Anthology (March 27, 2017, Kodansha)

Drama CD

* TV anime ''Bungo Stray Dogs'' original drama CD Slightly Extraordinary Days (2016)

Game

* Love Heaven (September 2014), April 2015・November, April 2016・June) - Supervision of collaboration scenario with "Bungo Stray Dogs"

Paperback commentary

Yukito Ayatsuji , who writes under his pen name , is a Japanese writer of mystery and horror. He is one of the founders of Honkaku Mystery Writers Club of Japan and one of the representative writers of the new traditionalist movement in Japanese mystery writin ...

" Another Episode S" (2016,

Kadokawa Bunko , formerly , is a Japanese publisher and division of Kadokawa Future Publishing based in Tokyo, Japan. It became an internal division of Kadokawa Corporation on October 1, 2013. Kadokawa publishes manga, light novels, manga anthology magazines su ...

)

Footnotes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Asagiri, Kafka Living people Japanese fantasy writers Light novelists Writers from Ehime Prefecture 1984 births