, more commonly known by his stagename , (born January 13, 1971) is a Japanese

comedic Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Gr ...

performer The performing arts are The arts, arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which involve the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art ob ...

and former

manga artist A manga artist, also known as a mangaka (), is a Cartoonist, comic artist who writes and/or illustrates manga. Most manga artists study at an art college or manga school or take on an apprenticeship with another artist before entering the indus ...

. Dai Okazaki is a relative of

Takashi Okazaki (born March 18, 1974) is a Japanese manga artist, visual designer and graphic designer, most notable for writing and illustrating the manga series ''Afro Samurai''. Early life Okazaki was born in Kanagawa Prefecture and graduated from the Tam ...

, the creator of ''

Afro Samurai is a Japanese '' seinen'' ''dōjinshi'' manga series written and illustrated by manga artist Takashi Okazaki. It was originally serialized irregularly in the avant-garde ''dōjinshi'' manga magazine '' Nou Nou Hau'' from November 1998 to ...

''.

Career

Dai Okazaki was one out of four people to debut in the line up of '' Nou Nou Hau'' issue 0, with his brother

, Ryoji Shibasaki and Mai Shibasaki in November 1998. At the time, Dai Okazaki was a ''

dōjinshi , also Romanization of Japanese, romanized as ', is the Japanese term for self-published print works, such as magazines, manga, and novels. Part of a wider category of ''doujin'' (self-published) works, ''doujinshi'' are often derivative of exi ...

. In issue 2 of March 1999, Dai Okazaki contacted Meywa Denki for a long period of time to interview him in the "Nou Hau Talk" section of the magazine. Later on that year, Dai Okazaki was asked to go on the famous show ''Takeshi no Dare Demo Picasso'', and then went under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

"Smelly", taken from an old nickname of

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

's. The third issue of ''Nou Nou Hau'' was released at the same time as when Dai Okazaki became famous on ''Takeshi no Dare Demo Picasso'' in May 1999 and featured a picture of him on it, which made the magazine increase in sales. Also, in issue 3, Dai Okazaki started a ''Smelly'' manga series, which was said to be very different from the live performances. In October 1999, issue 4 of ''Nou Nou Hau'', Dai started the serialized manga in that issue. In 2000, Dai Okazaki played at the Hakone Open-Air Museum and Rotterdam Film Festival, and in 2001 appeared on a

promotional video In video production, a promotional video is marketing or advertising: Arts, media and entertainment * Promotional recording, an audio or video recording distributed to publicize a recording * Trailer (promotion), a commercial advertisement for a ...

for Takkyu Ishino, and played at PostPet exercise. At the ''Nou Nou Hau'' exhibition "Show Yavay!!!," Dai Okazaki played a live performance in 2002. In 2003, Dai also played at the opening ceremony for Mori Art Museum in 2003 and at the program exhibition for the Kirishima Open-Air Museum. As well as just performing in Japan, Dai also performed in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

, and

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. In 2005, Dai Okazaki collaborated again with Tōhō Rikimaru, who previously appeared on Geisai 7 by

Takashi Murakami is a Japanese contemporary artist. He works in fine arts (such as painting and sculpture) as well as commercial media (such as fashion, merchandise, and animation) and is known for blurring the line between High art, high and low arts. His wo ...

. Smelly was also quoted and interviewed in the Michael Jackson article "Big in Japan" by Bryan Walsh in 2007.

Works

Smelly started doing work in the ''Nou Nou Hau'' magazine, as previously mentioned, and created two

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

serializations, ''Smelly'' and ''Bijutsu Techō''. Smelly later went on to participate in ''Takeshi no Dare Demo Picasso'' which made him famous later on. Smelly is also famous for creating the promotion video , where he sings "Ikkyū-san" along with "

September September is the ninth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 30 days. September in the Northern Hemisphere and March in the Southern Hemisphere are seasonally equivalent. In the Northern hemisphere, the b ...

" by

Earth, Wind & Fire Earth, Wind & Fire (abbreviated as EW&F or EWF) is an American band formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1969. Their music spans multiple genres, including jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, Latin and Afro-pop. They are among the best-selling ba ...

, with psychedelic imagery parodying "

Let's Groove "Let's Groove" is a song by American band Earth, Wind & Fire, released as the first single from their eleventh studio album, ''Raise!'' (1981). It is written by Maurice White and Wayne Vaughn, and produced by White. The song was a commercial suc ...

," also by Earth, Wind & Fire. Smelly's work combines art, music, theater, and comedy all in one and has also stated that he gets much of his influence from Michael Jackson and that he would gladly pay $400 for a ticket to one of his shows. Smelly has also released some merchandise, such as "Smelly's book" and "Smelly's puzzle box". Smelly also wrote volume 5 of entitled "Dancing All Night" which appeared as a part of the serial in a monthly flyer for the Japanese club "UNIT". Dai produced and designed his own personal website named "handicappers" on biglobe.ne.jp from 1998 to 2003. Dai Okazaki lost domain name and the website now appears as a broken link.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smelly Manga artists Japanese male comedians Outsider musicians Living people 1971 births