Makoto Raiku

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article refers to a person; for other uses, see Makoto (disambiguation)

Makoto Raiku (雷句誠 Raiku Makoto, born August 23, 1974) is a mangaka whose works have appeared prominently in Shogakukan's publication Shonen Sunday. Starting off an assistant for Kazuhiro Fujita on his manga Ushio & Tora, he started creating several one-shots for the shonen manga anthology such as Bird Man (about a young pilot), Hero Ba-Ban (about a cheerful, but weak superhero) and Genmai Blade (about a teenage medicinal exorcist, of which he created both a one-shot and a two-part story). By 1999, he had created the series New Town Heroes, which was published in Shonen Sunday Super, a seasonal publication featuring upcoming mangaka and one-shots from the main Sunday book.

In 2001, Raiku started the manga series Konjiki no Gash!!, which began publication in Shogakukan's Shonen Sunday, and in 2003, inspired an anime version (Konjiki no Gash Bell) produced by Toei Animation. Both versions are very popular in Japan. In the U.S., both the manga and anime are known as Zatch Bell!. In one chapter of the Zatch Bell! manga, Raiku in makes an appearance with his own story, and also plays the role of Ponygon's partner in the game, Zatch Bell!: Electric Arena.

Raiku's works include:

• Konjiki no Gash (Zatch Bell!)
• Bird Man
• Nyūtaun Hīrōzu ("Newtown Heroes") (ニュータウン・ヒーローズ)
• Genmai Blade (玄米ブレード) ("genmai" is uncooked rice)