Spotlight: Tsukasa Hojo

[Deathscythe]

Written and Submitted by Eclipse

Tsukasa Hojo

Born: March 5, 1959
Blood Type: O
Works:
Space Angel 1979
Orewa otogo da! 1980
(I am a Man!)
Third Deka 1981
Cat's Eye 1981-1984 18 vol
Space Angel 1982
City Hunter 1985-1991 35 volumes
Nekoman Maokawari 1986
Splash! 1987
Tenshi no Okurimono 1988
Taxi Driver 1990
Sakura no hana saku koro 1993
Komorebi no moto de...
(Under the Dappled Shade) 1993-1994 3 volumes
Rash!! 1995 2 volumes
Shotenachi no ita Natsu 1996
-Melody of Jennny-
F.compo (FAMILY COMPO) 1997-2001 14 volumes
Angel Heart 2001 – now 2 volumes thus far



Tsukasa Hojo was born on May 5th 1959 on the Japanese Island,
Kyushu. Despite the tendency at the time to create more
“western” manga to satisfy the ever-increasing demand of the
international market, Hojo instead succeeds in combining his
original fiction elements with strict Japanese outlines. The realism
of Hojo’s drawing is similar in style to that of gekiga, meaning
"theatrical pictures". The female characters in particular, are
drawn very beautifully, which has done much to boost Hojo’s
reputation.

Tsukasa Hojo discovered his love for drawing manga while
studying Technical design in university. In 1979 he was a
runner-up for Shonen Jump Magazine’s 18th annual Tezuka Prize
for his submission of “Space Angel”, his first production. In 1980
he debuted the title “I’m a Man!” in Shonen Jump. In 1981, he
debuted what turned into his first hit title “Cat’s Eye”, which
was very successful as a weekly manga, tankobon, and a live
action movie in 1997. He didn’t stop there, in 1985 Tsukasa
Hojo followed this with the smash hit “City Hunter”, which
ended in 1991 after 35 volumes. While writing City Hunter
Hojo also created numerous short manga, such as
“Splash!”(1987-1989) and “Taxi Driver”(1990). With
"Family Compo", which was still under work in 1997, he details
the lives of a family of transvestites. This is considered to
be one of Hojo’s under-rated gems. Today, “Angel Heart” is
being published in Comic Bunch.

City Hunter

If you're desperate and need a risky job done, write "XYZ"
on the bulletin board at Shinjuku Station. That's the signal
to hire City Hunter, made up of Ryo Saeba and Kaori
Makimura. At first sight, Ryo seems to be a bit crazy, but
when you start to know him better, you realize how calm,
cool and overall an amazingly accurate shot he is. Kaori
on the other hand, is Ryo's deceased partner's sister
and runs the business side of City Hunter. The jobs
range from being a bodyguard to virtual espionage.

In 1983 Hojo started "City Hunter" and published
two short stories, but the series officially started
in 1985 and ended in 1991 after 35 volumes. Soon
after its release, City Hunter became one of the
favorite manga in Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

City Hunter’s adventures are usually funny and
original. The characters have different personalities,
and the new story elements always stick out when
you never expect they will.

Cat’s Eye

Cat’s Eye is Hojo’s first long-running series. In terms
of skill it’s not as good as City Hunter, but during its
time, it’s new style attracted many readers, and
became Hojo’s first successful series.

In the manga we find ourselves in Tokyo, at the start
of the 1980’s. Michael Heinz, a German painter and
art collector, disappeared many years ago along with
his art collection. His daughters, the three sisters Ai,
Hitomi, and Rui Kisugi are now trying to find him. Most
of the artworks are now in the hands of criminal
collectors. Hitomi and her sisters feel that they have
to resort to theft if they want to see their father again.
Acting under the name of "Cat's Eye" (which is their
café's name as well), the three girls start their criminal
career, supported by a close friend of the family Mr.
Nagaishi.

The first episode was published in Shonen Jump on
1981, followed by 18 volumes from 1981 to 1984,
and an additional short appearance in 1985.

Angel Heart

A young Taiwanese assassin codenamed "Glass Heart"
committed suicide by jumping off a building, and a
metal fence pierced her heart. Miraculously, her life
was saved by heart transplantation, and during her
recovery, she began to experience strange dreams,
which led her to Japan looking for the previous owner
of her heart, who happens to be Kaori Makimura,
former partner of City Hunter.

[Innocent-translator]

Am I allowed to add anything? Just wanted to mention that there was such a huge outcry from the fans when the mangaka killed off Kaori in Angel Heart that he had to write several times that the action takes place in an alternate universe.

EDIT: Plus the City Hunter Complete Collection volumes are totally gorgeous so go buy them now!

[Deathscythe]

The point of the thread is to comment :P

[Neuroretardant]

You may also want to note that several of Hojo's assistants went on to become popular artists in their own right, including Inoue Takehiko (Slam Dunk) and Umezawa Haruto (he of Hareluya II Boy, Bremen, Sword Breaker etc. Which is why I said "popular" and not "having any semblance of intelligence or taste")

[Innocent-translator]

I never knew that about the assistants, good stuff!
However I do think Inoue Takehiko is extremely talented. He wasn't quite able to get me into basketball with Slam Dunk! but I'll never forget Hanamichi and Rukawa. Vagabond is really good too, as well it should be, being an adaptation of an equally good book.

Umezawa Haruto...he has the popularity alright but his more recent works make me doubt his talent. The comedy is always funny in the beginning but after a few volumes it gets very repetitive and the lack of a cohesive plot usually starts to show. I enjoyed Hareluya II Boy anyway, though.

Back to Tsukasa Hojo, I love City Hunter. The best bits are the darker portions in the earlier and later volumes. Not that cross-dressing mokkori Saeba isn't funny either though, but after all the laughter there's got to be some depth. I'll recommend the Complete Collection again, it has colour pages!! And non-mangled jokes! And it's big! And the paper is smooth and white! (And it's expensive!)

[Eclipse]

Did anyone enjoy this article, or find it useful? Feel free to make suggestions, what did you like and what not, should I talk more about the mangaka's work next time, or should I focus more on his life? Just want some opinions.

[brewthatistrue]

I thought the article was great.
The judicious use of pictures was also a nice touch.

In general, I like links.
This is the internet (or www, more specifically) and it's great to provide links for verification/more information.

If this is not possible, if there is no authoritative source of information for this on the net, then perhaps links are not needed. Perhaps our site will be able to partially address that lack thanks to contributors such as yourself.

- Another suggestion would be to transition between biography and manga summary a bit more explicitly.

- It might also be a bit nice to to give a hint to the order in which manga highlights are chosen (e.g. chronologically, most popular first, personal preference, alphabetically, random roll of dice, etc.)

p.s. I second the comments about outcry surrounding kaori, and the proliferation of his aides as mangaka in their own rights.

[Eclipse]

Here are some interesting little stories I heard about Tsukasa Hojo:

On the day his son (or was it his daughter?) was born, TH was away at a movie theater watching Godzilla, what a "responsible" father.

Also his wife was on a diet, but TH is a Mr-no-like-uber-skinny-women kind of guy, so he worked on a "plan" to stop his wife, how that turned out, I don't know.

For my next article I'm planning to do something on the history of manga ! Well, a "brief" history that won't put you to sleep . So is there anything in praticular you want to see, or some suggestions in general? All are welcome.

[Bobbyanime]

Originally Posted by Innocent-translator

I never knew that about the assistants, good stuff!
However I do think Inoue Takehiko is extremely talented. He wasn't quite able to get me into basketball with Slam Dunk! but I'll never forget Hanamichi and Rukawa. Vagabond is really good too, as well it should be, being an adaptation of an equally good book.

Umezawa Haruto...he has the popularity alright but his more recent works make me doubt his talent. The comedy is always funny in the beginning but after a few volumes it gets very repetitive and the lack of a cohesive plot usually starts to show. I enjoyed Hareluya II Boy anyway, though.

Back to Tsukasa Hojo, I love City Hunter. The best bits are the darker portions in the earlier and later volumes. Not that cross-dressing mokkori Saeba isn't funny either though, but after all the laughter there's got to be some depth. I'll recommend the Complete Collection again, it has colour pages!! And non-mangled jokes! And it's big! And the paper is smooth and white! (And it's expensive!)

[Bobbyanime]

Well They Look Alright But Gto Is Better