is the

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

of , a Japanese novelist, mangaka and anime screenwriter who primarily writes fantasy and science fiction. His major works include '' Mardock Scramble'', ''

Le Chevalier D'Eon is a Japanese anime television series produced by Production I.G based on an original story by Tow Ubukata. The anime originally aired in Japan on WOWOW from August 19, 2006, to February 2, 2007. The story has also been adapted into a man ...

'' and '' Heroic Age''. He also did series composition for the ''

Fafner in the Azure is a Japanese mecha anime franchise created by Xebec in collaboration with Starchild Records. The story focuses on a group of children who pilot the titular Fafners in an escalating war against giant aliens called Festum. The first ...

'' series, '' Ghost in the Shell: Arise'', ''

Psycho-Pass 2 ''Psycho-Pass 2'' is a 2014 anime television series by Tatsunoko Production that serves as a direct sequel and ''de facto'' second season to the 2012 anime television series ''Psycho-Pass''. It was directed by Naoyoshi Shiotani and Kiyotaka ...

'' and ''

Psycho-Pass 3 ''Psycho-Pass 3'' is a 2019 anime television series that serves as a direct sequel to the 2014 anime television series '' Psycho-Pass 2'' and the '' de facto'' third season of the ''Psycho-Pass'' anime series. It aired in Japan's Fuji TV's ...

''.

Early life

Ubukata was raised in Singapore and Nepal.

Career

In high school, Ubukata received several writer's awards. In 1996, he debuted as a writer of short stories and won the Kadokawa Sneaker Award with his story ''Black Season''. In 2009, he won the Eiji Yoshikawa Award for New Writers with his story ''Tenchi Meisatsu''. In 2012, he won the Fūtarō Yamada Award for his story ''Mitsukuni-den''. Ubukata writes for the Japanese visual culture magazine ''

Newtype is a monthly magazine originating from Japan covering anime and, to a lesser extent, manga, voice actors, science fiction, , and video games. It was launched by publishing company Kadokawa Shoten on March 8, 1985, and has since been released in ...

''. His serialized segments, called "A Gambler's Life", are comedic, often-satiric expository pieces. They chronicle his day-to-day experiences and interactions with people, such as his wife. In these segments, he dubs himself "The Kamikazi Wordsmith". These segments were also published in the American counterpart, Newtype USA, which is now discontinued. Ubukata won the 24th

Nihon SF Taisho Award The is a Japanese science fiction award. It has been compared to the Nebula Award as it is given by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of Japan or SFWJ. The Grand Prize is selected from not only Science Fiction novels, but also various SF mo ...

in 2003. Ubukata has written the novelization and the script for the manga version of ''

'', and has contributed to the screenplay and the overall story plot of the animated version.

Personal life

On August 21, 2015, Ubukata allegedly hit his then-wife in her jaw and mouth area at their home in Aoyama, Minato Ward of Tokyo, breaking her front tooth. She reported the incident to the police the next day, leading to his arrest on August 24, 2015. Ubukata admitted they had an argument but denied hitting her. On August 26, 2015, Mito City mayor Yasushi Takahashi decided to put

NHK , also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee. NHK ope ...

's offer to film a live-action ''taiga'' drama adaptation of Ubukuta's novel, ''Mitsukuni-den'', in the city itself on hold. Ubukata was released on September 1, 2015 without indictment. The Public Prosecutors Office dropped charges against him in October 2015, with one reason being that his wife did not want to press charges. Following the incident, Ubukata announced that he planned on writing a memoir based on his experiences in jail, titled ''9 Days Trapped''. In 2016, one year after his arrest and release, Ubukata revealed that he and his wife had divorced, with his wife taking custody of their children.

Bibliography

*''Tenchi Meisatsu'', 2009 () *''Mitsukuni-den'', 2012 () *''12 Suicidal Teens'', 2016 () *''Ikusa no Kuni'', 2017 () *''Kirinji'', 2018 () *''Moonrise'', 2018 () English Ebook prologue *''Tsuki to Hi no Kisaki'', 2021 () *''SGU Metropolitan Police Department Special Gun Unit'', 2023 () *'' 11 Rebels'', 2024 () *''Moonrise'', 2025 () Trilogy

Filmography

Anime series

{, class="wikitable" , -{, class="wikitable sortable" ! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable", , - , 2006 , ''

'' , Series Composition, Script , , - , 2006 , ''

'' , Original Creator, Series Composition, Script , , - , 2007 , '' Heroic Age'' , Original Creator, Series Composition , , - , 2013 , '' Ghost in the Shell: Arise'' , Series Composition, Script , , - , 2014 , ''

'' , Series Composition , , - , 2019 , ''

'' , Series Composition, Script , , - , 2022 , '' RWBY: Ice Queendom'' , Series Composition, Script , , - , 2024 , '' Bye Bye, Earth'' , Original Creator , , - , 2025 , ''

Moonrise Moonrise and moonset are times when the upper limb of the Moon appears above the horizon and disappears below it, respectively. The exact times depend on the lunar phase and declination, as well as the observer's location. As viewed from outside ...

'' , Original Creator ,

Anime films

{, class="wikitable" , -{, class="wikitable sortable" ! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable", , - , 2010 , '' Mardock Scramble: The First Compression'' , Original Creator, Script , , - , 2011 , '' Mardock Scramble: The Second Combustion'' , Original Creator, Script , , - , 2012 , '' Mardock Scramble: The Third Exhaust'' , Original Creator, Script , , - , 2015 , '' Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie'' , Script , , - , 2019 , '' Human Lost'' , Script , , - , 2020 , '' Psycho-Pass 3: First Inspector'' , Series Composition, Script , , - , 2023 , '' Psycho-Pass: Providence'' , Series Composition, Script ,

Live action

{, class="wikitable" , -{, class="wikitable sortable" ! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable", , - , 2012 , '' Tenchi: The Samurai Astronomer'' , Original Creator , , - , 2019 , '' 12 Suicidal Teens'' , Original Creator , , - , 2021 , '' Kenjusho: Mitsukuni Ko to Ore'' , Original Creator , , - , 2023 , '' Farewell, Guns Special Firearms Unit, Metropolitan Police Department'' , Original Story ,

Video games

{, class="wikitable" , -{, class="wikitable sortable" ! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable", , - , 1999 , '' Shenmue '' , Free Scenario Plotter , , - , 2001 , ''

Segagaga is a 2001 role-playing video game, role-playing simulation video game developed by Sega AM3, Hitmaker and published by Sega for the Dreamcast in Japan. Described as a "Sega simulation", the player takes control of Sega Tarō, who must help save ...

'' , Story , , - , 2006 , '' Culdcept Saga'' , Script , , -

References

''Newtype USA''. . Miya, Shotaro ''et al''. "Le Chevalier D'Eon". ''Newtype USA''. 6 (1) pp. 52-53. . . Ubukata, Tow. "Taking on a TV interview". ''Newtype USA''. 6 (7) p. 30. . .

External links

*
Tow Ubkata animemanga
at Media Arts Database
Entry
in

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'' (''SFE'') is an English language reference work on science fiction, first published in 1979. It has won the Hugo Award, Hugo, Locus Award, Locus and BSFA Award, British SF Awards. Two print editions appea ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ubukata, Tow 1977 births Japanese expatriates in Nepal Japanese expatriates in Singapore Japanese science fiction writers Living people Writers from Gifu Prefecture Pseudonymous writers