Ryoichi Ikegami

Ryoichi Ikegami (池上 遼一, Ikegami Ryōichi, born 29 May 1944) is a manga artist. After graduating from junior high school he moved to Osaka and drew manga while working as a billboard sign painter^[1] debuting at the age of 17 writing rental comics^[2]. In 1966 he published a story called Tsumi no Ishiki (罪の意識) in the gekiga magazine Garo that caught the eye of fellow Garo contributor, manga artist Shigeru Mizuki, who offered him a job as his assistant. Ikegami accepted and moved to Tokyo and worked as Mizuki's assistant for two and a half years.^[3] In 2001, he won the Shogakukan Manga Award for general manga as the artist of Heat.^[4] He became a professor at Osaka University of Arts in 2005.^[5]

Ikegami has worked on several popular series, such as Mai, the Psychic Girl with writer Kazuya Kudo, Crying Freeman, with writer Kazuo Koike, as well as Sanctuary and Heat with writer Sho Fumimura. He also wrote and drew Spider-Man: The Manga, a manga version of Spider-Man and collaborated with Garon Tsuchiya for the manga BOX (BOX 暗い箱). His most recent work is Begin currently serialized in Big Comic Superior^[6].

• From young age he admired Takao Saito and Yoshiharu Tsuge and was delighted to work with Tsuge as Mizuki's assistant^[2]

• Ikegami is a fan of American comics particularly Neal Adams^[1].

• A character called Kēichi Kurata (played by Masataka Kubota) in the TV-drama GeGeGe no Nyōbō is modelled after him.

• He did a collaboration manga for the anime Girls und Panzer^[2][7].

• Yoshihide Fujiwara is his former assistant.

Selected works

• Spider-Man: The Manga (スパイダーマン, 1970-1971) - written by Kōsei Ono and Kazumasa Hirai
• I Ueo Boy (I・餓男 アイウエオボーイ, 1973 - 1977) - written by Kazuo Koike, serialized in general-interest magazine Shūkan Gendai
• Otoko Gumi (男組, 1974 - 1979) - written by Tetsu Kariya, serialized in Weekly Shōnen Sunday
• Otoko Oozora (男大空, 1980 - 1982) - written by Tetsu Kariya, serialized in Weekly Shōnen Sunday
• Wounded Man (傷追い人, 1981 - 1986) - written by Kazuo Koike
• Mai, the Psychic Girl (舞, 1985 - 1986) - written by Kazuya Kudō, serialized in Weekly Shōnen Sunday
• Nobunaga (信長, 1986 - 1987) - written by Kazuya Kudō
• Crying Freeman (クライングフリーマン, 1986 - 1988) - written by Kazuo Koike
• Offered (オファード, 1990 - 1991) - written by Kazuo Koike
• Sanctuary (サンクチュアリ, 1990 - 1995) - written by Buronson
• Samurai Crusader (王立院雲丸の生涯, 1991 - 1992) - written by Oji Hiroi
• Strain (ベスストレイン, 1996 - 1998) - written by Buronson
• Heat (HEAT-灼熱-, 1999 - 2004) - written by Buronson
• Bestia - ryuugetsushou (ティア～流月抄, 2000 - 2004)
• Lord (覇-LORD-, 2004 - 2011) - written by Buronson
• Adam to Eve (アダムとイブ, 2015–2016) - written by Hideo Yamamoto^[8]
• Begin (ビギン, 2016-) - written by Buronson

References

External links

• Ryoichi Ikegami Official Website (Japanese)
• Ryoichi Ikegami entry on lambiek
• Jason Thompson's article about the Spider-man manga
• The Illustrious Career of Ryoichi Ikegami