Updates, discussion, events and news about Death Note.
Death Note News
  • News
  • Death Note Month of...
    • Kira Month
    • Matsuda Month
    • Misa Month
    • Naomi Misora Month
    • Wammy Month
  • Death Note Interviews
    • Drew Nelson Interview
    • No Need to Stay Interview
  • Death Note Gifts
    • Death Note Books
    • Death Note Cosplay
    • Death Note DVDs
    • Death Note Music
    • Death Note Accessories
    • Death Note Mugs and Water Bottles
    • Death Note Christmas Gifts >
      • It Matters Death Note Christmas Gifts
    • Character Stores >
      • Death Note Light Yagami Gifts
      • Death Note Matt Gifts
      • Death Note Mello Gifts
      • Death Note Teru Mikami Gifts
      • Death Note Misa Gifts
      • Death Note Naomi Misora Gifts
      • Death Note Wammy Gifts
  • News Summary
    • On This Day in Death Note
  • About
  • Contact
  • News
  • Death Note Month of...
    • Kira Month
    • Matsuda Month
    • Misa Month
    • Naomi Misora Month
    • Wammy Month
  • Death Note Interviews
    • Drew Nelson Interview
    • No Need to Stay Interview
  • Death Note Gifts
    • Death Note Books
    • Death Note Cosplay
    • Death Note DVDs
    • Death Note Music
    • Death Note Accessories
    • Death Note Mugs and Water Bottles
    • Death Note Christmas Gifts >
      • It Matters Death Note Christmas Gifts
    • Character Stores >
      • Death Note Light Yagami Gifts
      • Death Note Matt Gifts
      • Death Note Mello Gifts
      • Death Note Teru Mikami Gifts
      • Death Note Misa Gifts
      • Death Note Naomi Misora Gifts
      • Death Note Wammy Gifts
  • News Summary
    • On This Day in Death Note
  • About
  • Contact

All the latest information about Death Note: reports, gossip, releases, analyses, speculation and discussion.

Death Note news articles

Spotlight on Takeshi Obata: Death Note Artist

6/5/2014

1 Comment

 
We've all delighted in his artistry. We've debated long and hard over the decisions that he made visually.  But until you glanced at that photograph, did you even know what Takeshi Obata looked like?

It's perhaps the mark of a true artist that his life is judged by its creativity, rather than his biography. 

Nevertheless, as soon as it occurred to me that I knew nothing about him, I had to go on a voyage of discovery. Coming with me?

Biography of Takeshi Obata - Mangaka of Death Note

Takeshi Obata was born on February 11th 1969, in the city of Niigata, on the eponymously named Niigata Perfecture, in Japan. (For those of you with as dodgy a grasp of geography as myself, that's a port on the north-west coast of Japan's largest island.)

In 1985, he entered his one shot 500 Kōnen no Shinwaa into a competition run by Weekly Shonen Jump. The Tezuka Award was established to discover and showcase new artists. Takeshi certainly fit the bill. He walked away with the top prize AND a job at the magazine.
Takeshi Obata
Manga artist Makoto Niwano took the young Obata under his wing, mentoring him and allowing him some practical hands on experience under his guidance. It was probably on works like The Momotaroh, which was being published around that time.

By 1989, the executives at Shonen Jump felt that Takeshi's art had matured enough to give him his big break. That came with Takeshi Obata's debut series Cyborg Jii-chan G, which he both wrote and illustrated.

That was followed by Arabian Majin Boukentan Lamp (1991), Rikijin Densetsu (1993) and Ayatsuri Sakon (1995). Each of those had their own writer, Takeshi supplied only the artwork.
Hikaru No Go Manga Volume 1
Hikaru No Go, Vol. 1
His name was really made in 1998, when Takeshi teamed up with Yumi Hotta for the wildly successful Hikaru no Go.

The coming of age tale earned Takeshi and Yumi a joint Shogakukan Manga Award in 1999 - one of the genre's most prestigious accolades.

Takeshi Obata's fame, whilst working Hikaru no Go, was such that he was one of the artists chosen to contribute to Adidas Manga Fever - an anthology of stories created to mark the FIFA World Cup 2002.
In addition Shueisha asked him to contribute the artwork for its manga Hajime.

In 2003, Obata and Hotta took home the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize's Creative Award for their manga series. It must have seemed that nothing in Takeshi Obata's career could ever top thatmoment.

And that was when he was approached to illustrate Death Note.

I think it's pretty safe to assume that this has been the highest point of an already soaring career to date. It assured world wide celebrity for the artist and, amongst other things, spawned this blog. It also saw Takeshi nominated for the 2008 Eisner Award for Best Artist (comic/manga industry's equivalent to the Oscars), but he unfortunately lost out to Chris Ware for Acme Novelty Library #18. (Who?)

In addition to the main manga serialization of Death Note, Takeshi Obata also provided the cover artwork for its spin-off novels: Another Note and L Save the World.
But we won't hold that against him.

Since Death Note, he's never been out of work. There was

Blue Dragon: Ral Ω Grado (2006), Hello Baby (2007), Urooboe Uroboros! (2008), Otter No 11 (2010) and now All You Need Is Kill (2014). 

In the middle of all that, he teamed up again with his Death Note co-creator Tsugumi Ohba to produced their how-to-be-a-manga-writer-and-artist guidebook disguised as a manga story - Bakuman. It debuted in 2008 and, though its never received anything like the attention of Death Note, it's been fairly well read.

And that's about it! It turns out that there wasn't much to learn behind the art after all, unless anyone else here has any facts or gossip that they want to share. In the meantime, here is Takeshi Obata doing what he does best.

Watch Takeshi Obata at Work on Bakuman



1 Comment
deathnotelover
10/1/2025 23:26:55

what was his family like

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Death Note spoiler disclaimer
    Never miss an update - subscribe to Death Note News feed and/or check out an extended list of the latest Death Note news headlines.
    Death Note News categories banner

    Death Note News Categories

    All
    10th Anniversary
    10th Anniversary Website
    Academia
    Actors And Acting
    Adam Wingard (Dir.)
    Aiber
    Akiko-himura
    Ami-hamazaki
    Another-note
    Another-note-novel
    Anthony-rester
    Art And Fan Art
    Astrology
    Bakuman
    Beyond Birthday
    Blood Type
    Business And Marketing
    Calendar Death Note
    Columnists For Death Note News
    Cosplay
    Death Note (2003-6 Manga)
    Death Note (2006-7 Anime)
    Death Note (2006 Movie)
    Death Note (2008 Manga One Shot Special)
    Death Note (2015 Musical)
    Death Note (2015 TV)
    Death Note (2016 Movie AMG)
    Death Note (2017 US Movie)
    Death Note: Light Up The NEW World (2016 Movie)
    Death Note Month Of...
    Death Note News Digest
    Death Note Relight (2007-2008)
    Death Note Relight (2007-8)
    Death Note Relight (2007-8 Anime)
    Death Note Tarot Tales
    Death Note: The Last Name (2006 Movie)
    Death Note: Year One (Movie)
    Demegawa (Hitoshi) (Char.)
    Dr.
    Eriko Aizawa
    Events
    Fan Fiction
    Fans And Fandom
    Focus On A Fan
    Food And Drink
    Franchise
    Games And Gaming
    Gifts And Merchandising
    Gus Van Sant
    Hal-lidner
    Hirokaku-ukita-char
    Horipro
    It Matters Series
    Jump-comics
    Kanzo-mogi
    Kenichi Mikuriya
    Kimiko-kujo
    Kira Worshipper
    Kiyomi Takada
    Koji-yoshida
    L
    Lawliet-movie
    L-change-the-world-2008-movie
    L-change-the-world-novel
    Lei-k-columnist
    Light Yagami
    Linda
    Lucas-king-music-columnist
    Madhouse
    Maki-nikaido
    Manga Entertainment
    Matt
    Mello
    Misa Amane
    Morality-and-ethics
    Movies And Films
    Mrs-mikami
    Music And Soundtracks
    Naomi-misora
    Nathaniel-overthinks-death-note
    Near
    Netflix
    Nippon-television-ntv
    NisiOisiN
    Nori
    Panini-comics
    Philosophy And Theology
    Platinum-end
    Podcast
    Psychology
    Quillsh-wammy
    Real-world-death-notes
    Real World Influence
    Rem
    Rod-ross
    Roger Ruvie
    Ryuk
    Ryūzaki
    Sachiko Yagami
    Sakura Aoi (Char.)
    Sayu Yagami
    Science And Mathematics
    Selecta Visión
    Shane Black
    Shinsuke Sato (Dir.)
    Shiori Akino
    Shō Nanase
    Shō Nanase
    Shonen Jump
    Shueisha
    Shuichi Aizawa
    Site News
    Sociology
    Soichiro Yagami
    Spin-Off Matsuda (2008 Movie)
    SPK
    Squad Six Cosplayers
    Takeshi Obata (Artist)
    Takeshi Ooi (Char.)
    Teru Mikami
    Tetsuro Araki (Dir.)
    The Cosplayer Chronicles
    Toko
    Touta Matsuda
    Tsugumi Ohba (Author)
    Tsukuru Mishima
    Viz Media
    Wammy's House
    Warner Bros
    Wedy
    Yotsuba
    YouTube And Videos
    Yūgi Shion
    Yumi Aizawa
    Yuri

    Visit Death Note News's profile on Pinterest.

    Monthly Archives

    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014

    Disclosure: This page generates income for the author based on affiliate relationships with her partners, including Amazon and VigLink.
    Site Claim and Authorship Verification: All that follows is for me to prove my authorship of Death Note News in various places. Hoop jumping stuff for me; boring for everyone else.
    Google+
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.