Biography
Nobuhiro Watsuki is best known for his manga works Rurouni Kenshin and Busou Renkin. He works for Shueisha, and has mainly produced works for the highly popular magazine Weekly Shounen Jump.
Nobuhiro Watsuki was born on May 26th 1970 in the Niigata prefecture, but grew up in Tokyo. He got in contact with manga drawing through his elder brother, and continued with this hobby even after his brother had moved on, drawing inspiration from various manga as well as from American comics.
In 1987, Watsuki won Shueisha's Hop Step Award, a prize awarded to promising new mangaka.
He continued with a few short stories, eventually developing the story that would become his first series, as well as his greatest hit to date: Rurouni Kenshin.
First success
Rurouni Kenshin, the epic tale of a swordsman trying to come to terms with his past, set in the Meiji era, won Watsuki much acclaim and was extremely successful not only in Japan, but in other parts of the world as well. It was translated in various languages and adapted in Drama CDs, several anime, novels and countless different pieces of merchandise.
Watsuki ended the manga after 255 chapters (28 volumes), feeling that Kenshin's story was told and he could move on to something more light-hearted.
Backlash
But the next series in 2001 did not find its readers and was quickly ended after 28 chapters (3 volumes). Gun Blaze West is Watsuki's greatest failure, and can possibly be attributed to the radical changes in mood, drawing style and conception, but also to great problems in the planning stages.
Comeback
In 2003, Nobuhiro Watsuki surprised with a third series, Busou Renkin, which finally brought him success again, even though it still never came close to Rurouni Kenshin's popularity. In 2005 Busou Renkin ended after 78 regular chapters (10 volumes including bonus chapters), and was adapted to Drama CDs, an anime series and a novel the following year.
Characteristics
While Rurouni Kenshin had its dark background and sad elements, it was overall an optimistic story, and ended with a happy end. If there is one thing that is typical for Nobuhiro Watsuki's works, it is that he likes happy endings and stories that make one feel good and happy. Busou Renkin was in the same vein, cheerful and positive. It also included a lot of very bold humour that one had not previously expected from Nobuhiro Watsuki.
Of course, there is always darkness in his stories. And it was even happy-go-lucky Busou Renkin that included, in my opinion, one of the bleakest little stories: the Hayasaka twins' childhood, scary because things like this actually happen. But despite such chiling moments, you can be certain that such darkness will be overcome by the characters in a constructive manner.
Collaboration
The credits of Busou Renkin also include Kaoru Kurosaki, who developed the story along with her close friend Watsuki-sensei. It is speculated that they are in fact a couple, which seems to be very likely.
The author's notes in Gun Blaze West already mentioned a "K-san", an author friend of Watsuki's, who gave him a few ideas for his story. In all likeliness, this refers to Kurosaki-sensei.
She also wrote the novelization of Busou Renkin and appeared several times on Shueisha's web radio show Shueigumi to promote the novel and the anime. Without a doubt, she is an important influence, and seems like a cool person as well.
The future
Shortly after the end of Busou Renkin, still in 2005, Watsuki surprised his readers with the manga oneshot Embalming - Dead Body and Bride. At first glance, this seemed radically different from his previous works, an unusually darker story with characters that mostly lacked the idealism and friendliness of Kenshin, Viu or Kazuki.
A sequel followed almost exactly a year later, in 2006, with Embalming II - Dead Body and Lover, another oneshot. Not a direct sequel, this oneshot starred a new set of characters - whom I found it easier to root for than for the first oneshot's characters. Since both oneshots were connected in a surprising twist revelation, and since both left many questions and conflicts open, it seemed obvious from the start that Nobuhiro Watsuki was planning to turn this into a series.
In November 2007, Embalming - The Another Tale of Frankenstein started in Jump Square, a brand-new monthly magazine. This is the first time Watsuki-sensei is working in a monthly rhythm, and Embalming is shaping up to be an interesting, character-driven story with great artwork and themes.
August 17th, 2002 - 2008 by Kaeli (kaeli@gmx.de)
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