|
Masamune Shirow (real name Masanori Ota) was born in Japan on Nov. 23, 1961."Masamune Shirow"
is a pen name, based on a famous swordsmith, Masamune . He attended Osaka University
of Art. While there, he wrote and drew his first published comic, Black Magic, for the fanzine
Atlas.
After graduating, Shirow taught high-school art. During this time he created Appleseed, the first volume of
which was published in 1985 by Seishinsha. In 1986 Appleseed won the Galaxy Award - equivalent to the U.S. Hugo - for best
science-fiction comic. In all, he published 4 volumes of Appleseed between 1985-89. From 1988 to
1992 Studeo Proteus released the English language translation of Appleseed, which immediately became
one of the best selling mangas ever published in the U.S. Appleseed when on to win the SPJA Anime
Award for best translated manga. It is now published in English by
Dark Horse. A single anime based on Appleseed was also released.
In
1986 Shirow published Dominion, known in English as Dominion: Tank Police. In 1995 he followed this work with Dominion: Conflict
1.
Shirow's
Black Magic was also released as an anime, Black Magic M-66.
Shirow's first episode of Ghost in the Shell appeared in 1990 in Kodansha's Young Magazine Kaizokuban.
It was subsequently collected into tankoubon format. The movie version of Ghost in the Shell was released simultaneously in
Japanese and English in 1996. The movie was directed by the award-winning Mamoru Oshii. Shirow followed up this first work
with the first Japanese episode of the second Ghost in the Shell series in 1995. This was finally collected into a tankoubon,
as Ghost in the Shell2-Man/Machine Interface, June, 2001.
Two
major collections of Shirow artwork and details about his works have been published as Intron Depot and Intron Depot 2: Blades.
In the mid-1990's he also worked on the "Neurohard series, considered a "bible for a shared world" in which, when complete,
would serve as a blueprint other creators can follow to make animation, games, comics, etc., based on the world Shirow has
created. Masamune
Shirow is an extremely private individual. His name is a pseudonym. He has never allowed himself to be photographed as Shirow
and has not appeared in public. He lives in Hyogo, Japan, after he suffered the loss of his house in the 1995 Kobe earthquake.
Currently he works for the Osaka University Of Arts, Oil Painting Department. He enjoys reading and keeps numerous spiders
as pets.
|
