is a Japanese

Japanese people

The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...

 manga artist

Mangaka

is the Japanese word for a comic artist or cartoonist. Outside of Japan, manga usually refers to a Japanese comic book and mangaka refers to the author of the manga, who is usually Japanese...

, visual designer, and graphic designer

Graphic designer

A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, printed or electronic media, such as brochures and...

 most notable for writing and illustrating the manga series Afro Samurai

Afro Samurai

, also written 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 September 1999 to May 2000...

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Biography

Takashi Okazaki was born in the Kanagawa Prefecture

Kanagawa Prefecture

is a prefecture located in the southern Kantō region of Japan. The capital is Yokohama. Kanagawa is part of the Greater Tokyo Area.-History:The prefecture has some archaeological sites going back to the Jōmon period...

 in 1974 and graduated from the Tama University of the Arts

Tama University

is a private university in Tama, Tokyo, Japan, established in 1989.-External links:*...

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Works

Takashi Okazaki was one of four people to debut in the self-published Nou Nou Hau

Nou Nou Hau

, stylized NOU NOU HAU, abbreviated NNH, was an avant-garde dōjinshi manga anthology first published on November 1998. The magazine is most notably known for serializing the manga series Afro Samurai.-History:...

manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

 magazine on November 1998. Takashi Okazaki's first series Afro Samurai

Afro Samurai

, also written 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 September 1999 to May 2000...

was first published as a dōjinshi

Dojinshi

is the Japanese term for self-published works, usually magazines, manga or novels. Dōjinshi are often the work of amateurs, though some professional artists participate as a way to publish material outside the regular industry. The term dōjinshi is derived from and . Dōjinshi are part of a wider...

in the preparatory issue zero of the magazine, which was also featured as the cover. Afro Samurai was serialized till the magazine's end on September 2002. Since then, the Afro Samurai manga has been adapted into a five-episode anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

 series and a made-for-TV feature film named Afro Samurai: Resurrection. After the release of the anime series, Takashi Okazaki went back and recreated the original dōjinshi into a two-volume manga series which has only been released in the United States by Tor Books

Tor Books

Tor Books is one of two imprints of Tom Doherty Associates LLC, based in New York City. It is noted for its science fiction and fantasy titles. Tom Doherty Associates also publishes mainstream fiction, mystery, and occasional military history titles under its Forge imprint. The company was founded...

 and Seven Seas Entertainment

Seven Seas Entertainment

Seven Seas Entertainment is a publishing company located in Los Angeles, California. It was originally dedicated to the publication of original manga, but now publishes licensed manga and novels, as well as select webcomics...

. Also, the first volume has been released in Germany, the second to be released in August 2011. On November 23, 2004, Takashi Okazaki wrote and illustrated a 9-panel manga published in the pamphlet of the Blade: Trinity

Blade: Trinity

Blade: Trinity is a 2004 American superhero vampire action film, written and directed by David S. Goyer, who also wrote the screenplays to the first two Blade films...

soundtrack. Takashi Okazaki also illustrated the ending of the series serialized in a flyer handed out at the Japanese club "UNIT". Cho-Kōryu-Gōjin Danke Choen was created by Kugelblitz—a collaborative effort between Nou Nou Hau and the German comic magazine Moga Mobo.

Publications

• Afro Samurai
  Afro Samurai
  , also written 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 September 1999 to May 2000...
  
  ! (amateur comic, 1998–2002)
• 9-panel Blade: Trinity
  Blade: Trinity
  Blade: Trinity is a 2004 American superhero vampire action film, written and directed by David S. Goyer, who also wrote the screenplays to the first two Blade films...
  
  comic (2004) (2005)
• Afro Samurai Maniaxxx!!! (2007)
• Afro Samurai (recreation, 2008–2009)

External links