Taiyō Matsumoto (Japanese: 松本 大洋, Hepburn: Matsumoto Taiyō, born October 25, 1967) is a Japanese manga artist.

Taiyō Matsumoto
松本 大洋
Born (1967-10-25) October 25, 1967 (age 57)
Area(s)Manga artist
Notable works
Awards

Career

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Matsumoto was born in Tokyo. Originally, he wanted to become a soccer player, but changed to artist as an occupation instead. After his initial success in the Comic Open contest, he began touring France in 1986, an event that became a significant point in his career.[9]

Matsumoto published his first manga in 1987 at the age of 20 in Kodansha's Morning magazine. While he published a few works there, he didn't gain enough popularity and was eventually not able to publish anymore in big magazines like Morning. Instead, he came in contact with Yasuki Hori, editor at Shogakukan, who pushed him to draw a manga about boxing, which became Zero and was published in the magazine Big Comic Spirits between 1990 and 1991.[10]

In 1993, he began work on the Tekkonkinkreet manga, which became a success in the Big Spirits magazine, and published a series of short stories in a collection called Nihon no Kyodai that was publicized at the time by Comic Aré magazine. Ping Pong appeared in Big Spirits in 1996, soon followed by the series No. 5 in Shogakukan's Monthly Ikki magazine in 2000.[9][11]

The Tekkonkinkreet anime was released in Japan in late 2006, and both the anime and manga have been published in English.[12]

Style

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The manga he produced covers a variety of topics, from sports manga to family comedies to science fiction epics. Manga critic Natsume Fusanosuke divided his manga series in 2021 into different distinct categories: Manga like Zero, Hanaotoko and Ping Pong that work within the artistic framework of shōnen manga and seinen manga and that were developed with the pressure of editors in mind that wanted him to fit into the industry's standards. However, dystopian science-fiction manga like Tekkonkinkreet and No. 5 as well as the autobiographical orphanage story Sunny in a lot of ways break with many conventions of the manga industry's norms. Fusanosuke analyzes that these manga follow a path that has been developed after the success of Katsuhiro Otomo and are influenced by French bande dessinée.[10]

His work is seen as "meta manga", often criticizing the genres within which they operate.[10]

Matsumoto draws free-hand, with sketchy wavering lines. He often uses extreme close-ups with perspectives inspired by a fisheye lens, which creates a cinematic effect. He also experiments with panel composition, using it for example in Ping Pong to evoke the feeling of speed.[13]

Matsumoto has cited Moebius, Enki Bilal, Katsuhiro Otomo, Shotaro Ishinomori and Tsuchida Seiki as influences on his work.[14] He has been influenced by the New Wave movement in manga.[15]

Reception

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Ping Pong and Blue Spring have been adapted into live-action feature films. Animation studio Studio 4°C adapted Tekkonkinkreet into an animated feature film, it was released in Japan in late 2006, and both the anime and manga have been published in English.

Matsumoto influenced younger manga artists like Eiichiro Oda,[16] Masashi Kishimoto,[17] and Daisuke Igarashi.[18]

He has won several awards, including the Shogakukan Manga Award, the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize and Eisner Award:

Award Year Category Recipient(s) Result Ref.
Japan Cartoonists Association Award 2001 GoGo Monster Won [19]
Japan Media Arts Festival 2001 Manga Award GoGo Monster Jury selection [20]
2003 Manga Award No. 5 Jury selection [21]
2007 Manga Award Takemitsuzamurai Won [22]
2016 Sunny Won [23]
Eisner Awards 2008 Tekkonkinkreet Won [24]
2020 Cats of the Louvre Won [25]
Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize 2011 Takemitsuzamurai Won [26]
Cartoonist Studio Prize 2014 Sunny Won [5]
Shogakukan Manga Award 2016 Sunny Won [27]

Personal life

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Matsumoto's wife is manga artist Saho Tono, who collaborated with him on Sunny.[28] He is the cousin of Santa Inoue, another manga artist.

Works

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Title Year Notes Refs[29]
Straight (ストレート) 1989 Morning, Kodansha Comics, 2 volumes
Zero 1990–91 Big Comic Spirits, 2 volumes
Chaoanfanteriburu (チャオアンファンテリブル, Chao Anne fan Terrible)
Taiyo Matsumoto / Katsuki Tanaka / Hiro Sugiyama
1992 Tokyo Comic Insider, 1 volume [30]
Hanaotoko (花男, A Boy Meet a Papa and Baseball) 1992 Big Comics, Big Spirits Comics Special, 3 volumes
Blue Spring 1993 Anthology collection of short stories
Published by Shogakukan, 1 volume
[31]
Tekkonkinkreet (鉄コン筋クリート, Tekkonkinkurīto)/Black & White 1993–94 Serialized in Big Comic Spirits
Published by Shogakukan, 3 volumes
[32]
Nihon no Kyōdai (日本の兄弟, Brothers of Japan) 1995 Mag Comics, 1 volume
100 1995 Big spirits comic special, 2 volumes
Ping Pong 1996–97 Serialized in Big Comic Spirits
Published by Shogakukan, 5 volumes
[33]
GoGo Monster 2000 Published by Shogakukan, 1 volume [34]
No. 5 2000–05 Serialized in Monthly Ikki magazine
Published by Shogakukan in 8 volumes
[11][35]
Hana (, Flower) 2002 stage play adapted to manga novella, 1 volume
Takemitsuzamurai (竹光侍)
with Issei Eifuku (writer)
2006–10 Serialized in Big Comic Spirits
Published by Shogakukan, 8 volumes
[36]
Sunny 2010–15 Serialized in Monthly Ikki and Monthly Big Comic Spirits
Published by Shogakukan, 6 volumes
[37][38]
Cats of the Louvre (ルーヴルの猫, Rūvuru no Neko) 2016–17 Issued by the Louvre museum, 2 volumes [39][40][41]
Tokyo These Days (東京ヒゴロ, Tokyo Higoro) 2019–2023 Serialized in Big Comic Original Zōkan [42]
Mukashi no Hanashi (むかしのはなし)
with Issei Eifuku (writer)
2020–present Serialized in Big Comic Superior magazine [43][44][45]

References

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  1. ^ "協会賞案内 / 歴代受賞者" (in Japanese). Japan Cartoonists Association. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
  2. ^ "Coo, Gurren-Lagann, 'Kafka' Win Media Arts Awards". Anime News Network. December 4, 2007. Retrieved July 30, 2014.
  3. ^ Loo, Egan (July 26, 2008). "Tekkonkinkreet Wins Eisner Award". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on September 20, 2020. Retrieved June 27, 2020.
  4. ^ "15th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize Winners Announced". Anime News Network. May 2, 2011. Retrieved July 30, 2014.
  5. ^ a b Sherman, Jennifer (March 8, 2014). "Taiyo Matsumoto's Sunny Manga Wins Cartoonist Studio Prize". Anime News Network. Retrieved August 1, 2014.
  6. ^ "Manga Division – 2017 [20th] Japan Media Arts Festival Archive". Japan Media Arts Festival. Archived from the original on November 11, 2020. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
  7. ^ "Haikyu!!, My Love Story!!, Sunny Win Shogakukan Manga Awards". Anime News Network. Retrieved April 27, 2016.
  8. ^ Hodgkins, Crystalyn (July 24, 2020). "Cats of the Louvre, Witch Hat Atelier, Way of the Househusband Win Eisner Awards". Anime News Network. Retrieved July 25, 2020.
  9. ^ a b "Comic creator: Taiyo Matsumoto". Lambiek. Archived from the original on December 24, 2005. Retrieved December 28, 2010.
  10. ^ a b c Furanosuke, Natsume (September 20, 2021). "Making it Just in Time: Author-Creator Matsumoto Taiyō". The Comics Journal.
  11. ^ a b 本誌掲載作品一覧 (創刊号). Ikkist Paradise (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Archived from the original on September 2, 2010. Retrieved September 16, 2020.
  12. ^ Butcher, Christopher (July 8, 2008). "INTERVIEW: Taiyo Matsumoto (1995)". Comics212. Archived from the original on October 16, 2008. Retrieved December 28, 2010.
  13. ^ Amano, Masanao (2004). Wiedemann, Julius (ed.). Manga Design. Köln: Taschen. p. 468. ISBN 978-3-8228-2591-4.
  14. ^ Butcher, Christopher. "Interview: Taiyo Matsumoto - Page 2". About.com. Archived from the original on April 27, 2016. Retrieved September 19, 2020.
  15. ^ Mizumoto, Kentarō. 「ニューウェイブ」という時代. Sora Tobu Kikai. Archived from the original on January 23, 2003. Retrieved March 9, 2024.
  16. ^ 読者を信頼して描かれた自伝的作品 松本大洋『Sunny』. Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. January 17, 2018. Retrieved November 3, 2024.
  17. ^ "Naruto et Boruto : Retour sur la conférence de presse de Masashi Kishimoto et Mikio Ikemoto". Manga News (in French). August 26, 2024. Retrieved November 3, 2024.
  18. ^ "Conversation between Taiyo Matsumoto and Daisuke Igarashi". Brutus. 2012. (English translation)
  19. ^ 協会賞案内 / 歴代受賞者 (in Japanese). Japan Cartoonists Association. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
  20. ^ "Manga Division". JAPAN MEDIA ARTS FESTIVAL (in Japanese). Retrieved March 13, 2024.
  21. ^ "Manga Division". JAPAN MEDIA ARTS FESTIVAL (in Japanese). Retrieved March 13, 2024.
  22. ^ "Coo, Gurren-Lagann, 'Kafka' Win Media Arts Awards". Anime News Network. December 4, 2007. Retrieved July 30, 2014.
  23. ^ "Manga Division – 2017 [20th] Japan Media Arts Festival Archive". Japan Media Arts Festival. Archived from the original on November 11, 2020. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
  24. ^ Loo, Egan (July 26, 2008). "Tekkonkinkreet Wins Eisner Award". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on September 20, 2020. Retrieved June 27, 2020.
  25. ^ Hodgkins, Crystalyn (July 24, 2020). "Cats of the Louvre, Witch Hat Atelier, Way of the Househusband Win Eisner Awards". Anime News Network. Retrieved July 25, 2020.
  26. ^ "15th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize Winners Announced". Anime News Network. May 2, 2011. Retrieved July 30, 2014.
  27. ^ "Haikyu!!, My Love Story!!, Sunny Win Shogakukan Manga Awards". Anime News Network. Retrieved April 27, 2016.
  28. ^ Kosaka, Kris (November 26, 2016). "A dark, bittersweet childhood becomes a manga masterpiece". The Japan Times. Retrieved March 9, 2024.
  29. ^ 著者:松本大洋 [Author: Taiyo Matsumoto]. Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Japan: Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved February 22, 2016.
  30. ^ チャオアンファンテリブル. Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on December 9, 2021. Retrieved December 9, 2021.
  31. ^ 【青春映画】男性から大人気の映画『青い春』をご紹介します!. Entertainment Topics (in Japanese). HACK Media Solution, Co., Ltd. April 24, 2016. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  32. ^ 若月佑美、乃木坂46として最後の舞台「鉄コン筋クリート」開幕「未来が少し見えた」. Natalie (in Japanese). November 18, 2018. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  33. ^ Hodgkins, Crystalyn (January 16, 2014). "Kick-Heart's Yuasa to Direct Ping Pong Anime for Noitamina". Anime News Network. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  34. ^ GOGOモンスター (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Archived from the original on December 11, 2014. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
  35. ^ 月刊IKKI 3月号 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Archived from the original on March 25, 2005.
  36. ^ スピ「創魂」にたがみよしひさ。大洋「竹光侍」最終回. Natalie (in Japanese). March 15, 2010. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  37. ^ 松本大洋の新作「Sunny」ポストカード他、IKKI購入特典. Natalie (in Japanese). December 25, 2010. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
  38. ^ 松本大洋「Sunny」月スピにて完結!新鋭による“性春”ラブコメも始動. Natalie (in Japanese). July 27, 2015. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
  39. ^ ルーヴル美術館監修の企画展、新たに松本大洋、五十嵐大介らが参加. Natalie (in Japanese). March 10, 2016. Retrieved July 25, 2020.
  40. ^ 吉田戦車の“まんが一家”がBCオリジナルに帰還、新連載「出かけ親」. Natalie (in Japanese). July 20, 2017. Retrieved July 25, 2020.
  41. ^ "Le Louvre et la bande dessinée - Musée du Louvre Editions". editions.louvre.fr. Retrieved September 4, 2019.
  42. ^ Pineda, Rafael (April 12, 2019). "Taiyo Matsumoto Launches Manga About Manga Editor's Life After Early Retirement". Anime News Network. Retrieved December 8, 2021.
  43. ^ Hodgkins, Crystalyn (December 28, 2019). "Taiyo Matsumoto, Daruma Matsuura, More Launch New Manga in Big Comic Superior Magazine". Anime News Network. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  44. ^ Hodgkins, Crystalyn (April 24, 2020). "Start Dates Revealed for New Manga by Taiyo Matsumoto, Daruma Matsuura". Anime News Network. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  45. ^ ビッグ スペリオール 11号 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Archived from the original on December 20, 2020. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
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