Takeshi Obata author page

Takeshi Obata biography

Takeshi Obata is a Japanese manga artist best known for his work as an illustrator in the manga industry. He began his career after winning a prize in the 1985 Tezuka Award for his one-shot 500 Kōnen no Shinwa. Obata is recognised for his collaborations with various writers, contributing his distinctive art style to several popular manga series.

Obata gained widespread recognition as the illustrator of Hikaru no Go, written by Yumi Hotta, which was serialised in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1998 to 2003. The series received critical acclaim and won the Shogakukan Manga Award in 2000 and the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2003. He is also known for his collaboration with writer Tsugumi Ohba on the manga Death Note, which was serialised from 2003 to 2006. Death Note has been noted for its psychological themes and distinctive artwork.

Following the success of Death Note, Obata and Ohba worked together again on Bakuman, a manga series about aspiring manga creators, which ran from 2008 to 2012 in Weekly Shōnen Jump. Obata has also illustrated other manga, including Blue Dragon Ral Grad with Tsuneo Takano and All You Need Is Kill with Ryōsuke Takeuchi.

Obata’s work is characterised by detailed character designs and dynamic panel layouts. He has contributed to various art books and has been involved in character design for video games and anime adaptations of his manga. In 2014, Obata illustrated the manga adaptation of All You Need Is Kill, which was published by Shueisha.