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 ...

. He is best known for the

manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) 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 prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is use ...

Those Who Hunt Elves is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yu Yagami. The plot revolves around three travellers, the eponymous "Elf Hunters", and the elven sorceress Mistress Celcia. The anime was released in North America on VHS and DVD by ...

'', which was adapted as an

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

series. His works ''Those Who Hunt Elves'', ''

Dokkoida?! ''Dokkoida?!'', known in Japan as is a comedic Japanese light novel series about a boy, , who is hired by a preteen space alien girl, Tanpopo, to try out an experimental new suit developed by the intergalactic toy company that she works f ...

'', ''

Go West! Go, GO, G.O., or Go! may refer to: Arts and entertainment Games and sport * Go (game), a board game for two players * ''Travel Go'' (formerly ''Go – The International Travel Game''), a game based on world travel * Go, the starting position l ...

'', and '' Hikkatsu! Strike a Blow to Vivify'' have been licensed in English. Yagami's works are predominantly

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or 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. The term ori ...

shōnen manga with

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imagination, imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, Paral ...

high fantasy High fantasy, or epic fantasy, is a subgenre of fantasy defined by the epic nature of its setting or by the epic stature of its characters, themes, or plot. Brian Stableford, ''The A to Z of Fantasy Literature'', (p. 198), Scarecrow Press, ...

settings—for example, ''Dokkoida?!'' is a superhero parody series and ''Go West!'' a

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US * Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that i ...

parody. Many feature protagonists that use martial arts, usually some form of

karate (; ; Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the influence of Chinese martial arts, particularly Fuj ...

, such as Junpei in ''Those Who Hunt Elves'' and Shota in ''Hikkatsu! Strike a Blow to Vivify''). Yagami himself is a karate aficionado, and is a member of the

Kendokai Karate-do is a karateka from the Korean Peninsula. The first president of the Karatedo Kendokai, rank 10th dan. Biography * June 16, 1913 - Born in Pyongyang, the Korean Peninsula, which was Japanese territory at the time. * 1921 - Began practising martial ...

. Most of his works are published by MediaWorks and serialized in their ''

Dengeki Comic Gao! , also known as ''Dengeki Gao!'' was a Japanese shōnen manga magazine that primarily contained manga and information about series featuring bishōjo characters. It was published from December 1992 to February 2008 by MediaWorks. The ''Gao'' in ...

'' magazine.

Works

Manga

Illustrations

Yagami did the illustrations for , a series of six light novels by

Taro Achi is a Japanese light novelist and screenwriter from Nagano Prefecture. He won the Silver Prize in the 4th Dengeki Novel Prize for Boku no Chi o Suwanaide. Two of his series (Dokkoida?! and Kage Kara Mamoru!) have been made into anime i ...

published by MediaWorks in the Dengeki Bunko imprint between 1999 and 2003.

Style

Yagami's work in ''Those Who Hunt Elves'' is featured prominently in Volume 2 of the popular manga drawing instructional series ''

How to Draw Manga ''How to Draw Manga'' ( ja, マンガの描き方) is a series of instructional books on drawing manga published by Graphic-sha, by a variety of authors. Originally in Japanese for the Japanese market, many volumes have been translated into Englis ...

'', “Compiling Techniques”. Several frames from the manga are held up as examples of good use of

screentone Screentone is a technique for applying textures and shades to drawings, used as an alternative to hatching. In the conventional process, patterns are transferred to paper from preprinted sheets. It is also known by the common brand names Zip-A-T ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yagami, Yu 1969 births Living people Manga artists from Hyōgo Prefecture People from Amagasaki