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The Most Famous

COMIC ARTISTS from Japan

This page contains a list of the greatest Japanese Comic Artists. The pantheon dataset contains 174 Comic Artists, 68 of which were born in Japan. This makes Japan the birth place of the most number of Comic Artists.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Japanese Comic Artists of all time. This list of famous Japanese Comic Artists is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Japanese Comic Artists.

1. Osamu Tezuka (1928 - 1989)

With an HPI of 69.96, Osamu Tezuka is the most famous Japanese Comic Artist. His biography has been translated into 57 different languages on wikipedia.

Osamu Tezuka (手塚治虫, born 手塚治, Tezuka Osamu, (1928-11-03)3 November 1928 – 9 February 1989) was a Japanese manga artist, cartoonist and animator. Born in Osaka Prefecture, his prolific output, pioneering techniques and innovative redefinitions of genres earned him such titles as "the Father of Manga" (マンガの父, Manga no Chichi), "the Godfather of Manga" (マンガの教父, Manga no Kyōfu) and "the God of Manga" (マンガの神様, Manga no Kami-sama). Additionally, he is often considered the Japanese equivalent to Walt Disney, who served as a major inspiration during Tezuka's formative years. Though this phrase praises the quality of his early manga works for children and animations, it also blurs the significant influence of his later, more literary, gekiga works. Tezuka began what was known as the manga revolution in Japan with his New Treasure Island published in 1947. His output would spawn some of the most influential, successful and well-received manga series including the children's mangas Astro Boy, Princess Knight and Kimba the White Lion, and the adult-oriented series Black Jack, Phoenix and Buddha, all of which won several awards. Tezuka died of stomach cancer in 1989. His death had an immediate impact on the Japanese public and other cartoonists. A museum was constructed in Takarazuka dedicated to his memory and life works, and Tezuka received many posthumous awards. Several animations were in production at the time of his death along with the final chapters of Phoenix, which were never released.

2. Akira Toriyama (1955 - )

With an HPI of 64.60, Akira Toriyama is the 2nd most famous Japanese Comic Artist. His biography has been translated into 52 different languages.

Akira Toriyama (Japanese: 鳥山明, Hepburn: Toriyama Akira, April 5, 1955 – March 1, 2024) was a Japanese manga artist and character designer. He first achieved mainstream recognition for creating the popular manga series Dr. Slump, before going on to create Dragon Ball (his most famous work) and acting as a character designer for several popular video games such as the Dragon Quest series, Chrono Trigger, and Blue Dragon. Toriyama came to be regarded as one of the most important authors in the history of manga with his works highly influential and popular, particularly Dragon Ball, which many manga artists cite as a source of inspiration. He earned the 1981 Shogakukan Manga Award for best shōnen/shōjo manga with Dr. Slump, and it went on to sell over 35 million copies in Japan. It was adapted into a successful anime series, with a second anime created in 1997, 13 years after the manga ended. His next series, Dragon Ball, would become one of the most popular and successful manga in the world. Having sold 260 million copies worldwide, it is one of the best-selling manga series of all time and is considered to be one of the main reasons for the period when manga circulation was at its highest in the mid-1980s and mid-1990s. Overseas, Dragon Ball's anime adaptations have been more successful than the manga and are credited with boosting anime's popularity in the Western world. In 2019, Toriyama was decorated a Chevalier of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for his contributions to the arts.

3. Tsugumi Ohba (1950 - )

With an HPI of 61.18, Tsugumi Ohba is the 3rd most famous Japanese Comic Artist. His biography has been translated into 31 different languages.

Tsugumi Ohba (Japanese: 大場つぐみ, Hepburn: Ōba Tsugumi) is the pen name of a Japanese manga writer, best known for authoring the Death Note manga series with illustrator Takeshi Obata from 2003 to 2006, which has 30 million collected volumes in circulation. The duo's second series, Bakuman. (2008–2012), was also successful with 15 million in circulation. In 2014, Ohba collaborated with My Little Monster creator Robico for the one-shot "Skip! Yamada-kun". Another series with Obata, Platinum End, was serialized in the monthly Jump SQ from November 4, 2015, to January 4, 2021.

4. Rumiko Takahashi (1957 - )

With an HPI of 60.19, Rumiko Takahashi is the 4th most famous Japanese Comic Artist. Her biography has been translated into 41 different languages.

Rumiko Takahashi (高橋留美子, Takahashi Rumiko, born October 10, 1957) is a Japanese manga artist. With a career of several commercially successful works, beginning with Urusei Yatsura in 1978, she is one of Japan's best-known and wealthiest manga artists. Her works are popular worldwide, where they have been translated into a variety of languages, with over 200 million copies in circulation; making Takahashi one of the best-selling authors of all time. She has won the Shogakukan Manga Award twice, once in 1980 for Urusei Yatsura and again in 2001 for Inuyasha, and the Seiun Award twice, once in 1987 for Urusei Yatsura and again in 1989 for Mermaid Saga. She also received the Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême in 2019, becoming the second woman and second Japanese to win the prize. In 2020, the Japanese government awarded Takahashi the Medal with Purple Ribbon for her contributions to the arts.

5. Go Nagai (1945 - )

With an HPI of 59.87, Go Nagai is the 5th most famous Japanese Comic Artist. His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Kiyoshi Nagai (永井潔, Nagai Kiyoshi, born September 6, 1945), better known by the pen name Go Nagai (永井豪, Nagai Gō), is a Japanese manga artist and a prolific author of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and erotica. He made his professional debut in 1967 with Meakashi Polikichi, but is best known for creating popular 1970s manga and anime series such as Cutie Honey, Devilman, and Mazinger Z. He is credited with creating the super robot genre; designing the first mecha robots piloted by a user from within a cockpit with Mazinger Z; as well as helping pioneer the magical girl genre with Cutie Honey; the post-apocalyptic manga/anime genre with Violence Jack; and the ecchi genre with Harenchi Gakuen. In 2005, he became a Character Design professor at the Osaka University of Arts. He has been a member of the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize's nominating committee since 2009.

6. Leiji Matsumoto (1938 - 2023)

With an HPI of 58.98, Leiji Matsumoto is the 6th most famous Japanese Comic Artist. His biography has been translated into 27 different languages.

Leiji Matsumoto (Japanese: 松本零士, Hepburn: Matsumoto Reiji, born Akira Matsumoto (松本晟); January 25, 1938 – February 13, 2023) was a Japanese manga artist, and creator of several anime and manga series. His widow Miyako Maki is also a manga artist. Matsumoto was famous for his space operas such as Space Battleship Yamato and Galaxy Express 999. His style was characterized by mythological and often tragic storylines with strong moral themes, noble heroes, feminine heroines, and a love of strange worlds and melancholic atmosphere.

7. Hirohiko Araki (1960 - )

With an HPI of 57.83, Hirohiko Araki is the 7th most famous Japanese Comic Artist. His biography has been translated into 23 different languages.

Toshiyuki Araki (Japanese: 荒木利之, Hepburn: Araki Toshiyuki, born June 7, 1960), better known as Hirohiko Araki (荒木飛呂彦, Araki Hirohiko), is a Japanese manga artist. He is best known for his long-running series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, which began publication in Weekly Shōnen Jump in 1987 and has over 120 million copies in circulation, making it one of the best-selling manga series in history.

8. Masashi Kishimoto (1974 - )

With an HPI of 57.62, Masashi Kishimoto is the 8th most famous Japanese Comic Artist. His biography has been translated into 54 different languages.

Masashi Kishimoto (岸本斉史, Kishimoto Masashi, born November 8, 1974) is a Japanese manga artist. His manga series, Naruto, which was in serialization from 1999 to 2014, has sold over 250 million copies worldwide in 46 countries as of May 2019. The series has been adapted into two anime and multiple films, video games, and related media. Besides the Naruto manga, Kishimoto also personally supervised the two canonical anime films, The Last: Naruto the Movie and Boruto: Naruto the Movie, and has written several one-shot stories. In 2019, Kishimoto wrote Samurai 8: The Tale of Hachimaru which ended in March 2020. From May 2016 through October 2020 he supervised the Boruto: Naruto Next Generations manga written by Ukyō Kodachi and illustrated by Mikio Ikemoto. In November 2020 it was announced that he had taken over as writer on the series, replacing Kodachi. A reader of manga from a young age, Kishimoto showed a desire to write his own manga, citing authors Akira Toriyama and Katsuhiro Otomo as his main influences. As a result, Kishimoto spent several years working to write his own shōnen manga for Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine which he was a fan of.

9. Katsuhiro Otomo (1954 - )

With an HPI of 57.20, Katsuhiro Otomo is the 9th most famous Japanese Comic Artist. His biography has been translated into 26 different languages.

Katsuhiro Otomo (大友克洋, Ōtomo Katsuhiro, born April 14, 1954) is a Japanese manga artist, screenwriter, animator, and film director. He is best known as the creator of Akira, in terms of both the original 1982 manga series and the 1988 animated film adaptation. He was decorated a Chevalier of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2005, promoted to Officier of the order in 2014, became the fourth manga artist ever inducted into the American Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 2012, and was awarded the Purple Medal of Honor from the Japanese government in 2013. Otomo later received the Winsor McCay Award at the 41st Annie Awards in 2014 and the 2015 Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême, the first manga artist to receive the award. Otomo is married to Yoko Otomo. Together they have one child, a son named Shohei Otomo, who is also an artist.

10. Eiichiro Oda (1975 - )

With an HPI of 57.04, Eiichiro Oda is the 10th most famous Japanese Comic Artist. His biography has been translated into 45 different languages.

Eiichiro Oda (Japanese: 尾田栄一郎, Hepburn: Oda Eiichirō, born January 1, 1975) is a Japanese manga artist and the creator of the series One Piece. With more than 523.2 million tankōbon copies in circulation worldwide, One Piece is both the best-selling manga in history and the best-selling comic series printed in volume, in turn making Oda one of the best-selling fiction authors. The series' popularity resulted in Oda being named one of the manga artists that changed the history of manga. Since November 7, 2004, Eiichiro Oda has been married to Chiaki Inaba (稲葉ちあき, Inaba Chiaki), a former model and actress whom he met in late 2003 during Jump Festa festival 2004. Oda and Inaba have had two daughters; the eldest was born in mid-2006 and the youngest in 2009.

People

Pantheon has 68 people classified as comic artists born between 1920 and 2000. Of these 68, 55 (80.88%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living comic artists include Akira Toriyama, Tsugumi Ohba, and Rumiko Takahashi. The most famous deceased comic artists include Osamu Tezuka, Leiji Matsumoto, and Kentaro Miura. As of April 2022, 4 new comic artists have been added to Pantheon including Chica Umino, Sanpei Shirato, and Yōichi Takahashi.