Yukito Kishiro
"Gunnm" is Yukito Kishiro's most successful manga. All the ideas present there are the result of previous deliriums he hadn't had a chance to use. This young artist who is passionate about monsters has become one of the best known mangakas. Yukito Kishiro was born in Tokyo on March 20th, 1967, but he spent his teenage years in Chiba. Since he was very young ("the age of reason", as the legend says) he started to draw. Unlike others, however, he doesn't sketch human beings, but various bizarre creatures. Using pencil only, his first amateur mangas were drawn on cardboard paper, and were populated by monsters in which events took place throughout bloody and violent scenes. In elementary school he fills 17 notebooks with a manga whose main character is a monster who pilots a giant robot. It is at that time when the idea of a post-apocalyptic universe rattles in his brain. When he goes into junior high school he buys pen and ink, but the technique is very different and he leaves aside these more professional tools without persevering. He draws 300 monster-filled pages using pencil. Never having drawn humans he continues drawing strange creatures. It is at the lyceum where Yukito finally overcomes his lack of patience and starts using pen. For the first time he begins drawing human figures. These 200 pages are part of a project of 1000 which would never be published. During the third year at the lyceum he sends a manuscript to an editor and "Kikai" wins Shogakukan's young artist award in 1984. He also writes short stories for a fanzine. He creates "Out Rigger". After other experiences with fandom, he debuts professionally in 1988 with "Bugbuster", which paradoxically is commissioned by a fanzine. An avalanche of titles follows: "Kaiyosei", "Hito", "Dai Majin", "Mirai Tokyo Headman" and "Kaisuku Shonen-Dan". Many ideas which didn't make it into these titles are subsequently re-taken by Yukito and used to create "Gunnm". Kishiro is a collector of police novels, and in his story lines there is a tendency towards mystery. If the fight scenes are realistic and dynamic it is because Yukito admires Bruce Lee and Masutatsu Oyama, this last one founder of the Kyokushinkai school where blows are actually landed, which is strange in martial arts. This background makes Kishiro's drawings truly careful studies on martial arts techniques.