Mitsuru Adachi

Mitsuru Adachi
あだち充
Born
安達 充

(1951-02-09) February 9, 1951 (age 73)
NationalityJapanese
EducationAssistant to Shinji Nagashima
Assistant to Isami Ishii
Notable workNine
Touch
Rough
H2
Katsu!
Cross Game
Mix
AwardsShogakukan Manga Award (1982, 2008)

Mitsuru Adachi (Japanese: あだち 充 or 安達 充, Hepburn: Adachi Mitsuru, born February 9, 1951) is a Japanese manga artist. After graduating from Gunma Prefectural Maebashi Commercial High School in 1969, Adachi worked as an assistant for Isami Ishii.[1] He made his manga debut in 1970 with Kieta Bakuon, based on a manga originally created by Satoru Ozawa. Kieta was published in Deluxe Shōnen Sunday (a manga magazine published by Shogakukan).

Adachi is well known for romantic comedy and sports manga (especially baseball) such as Touch, H2, Slow Step, Miyuki and Cross Game. He has been described as a writer of "delightful dialogue", a genius at portraying everyday life,[2] "the greatest pure storyteller",[3] and "a master manga artist".[4] He is one of the few manga artists to write for shōnen, shōjo and seinen manga magazines, and be popular in all three.

His works have been carried in manga magazines such as Weekly Shōnen Sunday, Ciao, Shōjo Comic, Big Comic and Petit Comic, and most of his works are published through Shogakukan and Gakken. He was one of the flagship authors in the new Monthly Shōnen Sunday magazine which began publication in June 2009. Two short story collections, Short Program and Short Program 2 (both through Viz Media), have been released in North America, and Viz Media scheduled to begin publishing Cross Game in October 2010.[5] The first volume was released on October 12.[6]

He modeled the spelling of あだち (rather than 安達) for his family name after the example of his older brother, manga artist Tsutomu Adachi. In addition, it has been suggested that the accurate portrayal of sibling rivalry in Touch may come from Adachi's experiences while growing up with his older brother. Adachi did the character designs for the OVA anime series Nozomi Witches, so he is sometimes incorrectly given credit for creating the original series.

  1. ^ Duffield, P. (September 2002). "Japan's Love Affair with Baseball in Manga and Anime". Animerica. 10 (9): 30–32.
  2. ^ Kimlinger, Carl (April 3, 2009). "The Spring 2009 Anime Preview Guide: Carl Kimlinger: Cross Game". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on March 4, 2010. Retrieved April 7, 2009.
  3. ^ Santos, Carlo (April 3, 2009). "The Spring 2009 Anime Preview Guide: Carlo Santos: Cross Game". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on April 19, 2010. Retrieved September 9, 2009.
  4. ^ Brienza, Casey (April 4, 2009). "The Spring 2009 Anime Preview Guide: Casey Brienza: Cross Game". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on September 5, 2009. Retrieved September 9, 2009.
  5. ^ "News: Viz Media to release Mitsuru Adachi's Cross Game Manga in October". Anime News Network. March 18, 2010. Retrieved March 5, 2011.
  6. ^ "Cross Game, Vol. 1". Viz Media. Archived from the original on May 8, 2011. Retrieved March 5, 2011.