Akihiro Yamada
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Akihiro Yamada | |
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山田 章博 | |
Born | |
Known for | Manga, Illustration |
Awards | 1996 Seiun Award |
Akihiro Yamada (山田 章博, Yamada Akihiro) (born February 10, 1957) is a Japanese illustrator and manga artist. He was born in Kōchi, Kōchi Prefecture on the island of Shikoku in Japan, and now resides in Kyoto. Yamada is known for delicate images reminiscent of suiboku and depiction of fantasy subjects. He is the 1996 Seiun Award winner in art category.[1]
Biography[]
While he has created many manga, Yamada is widely known as a novel illustrator and as a character designer.[2] As an illustrator his best known works are Fuyumi Ono's Twelve Kingdoms series and Mizuno Ryo's Record of Lodoss War. His character design credits include concepts for the anime series RahXephon as well as a variety of video games. He worked on concept design of the movie Shinobi: Heart Under Blade.
Yamada's character design credits for anime include RahXephon. His work on video games includes Saiyuki: Journey West for PlayStation, various Might and Magic and Wizardry titles for the PC Engine, both entries to Mystic Ark, Enix's role-playing video game for the Super Famicom and PlayStation and character designs for Shinkai Densetsu Meremanoid and . Yamada also worked on a game called Chaos Gear and a PC game, Black Rainbow.
Yamada's designs can also be found in Castlevania: Dracula X for the Super NES and in Front Mission 3 for the PlayStation. Yamada has produced many anime artbook compilations.
Yamada drew the manga Record of Lodoss War: The Lady of Pharis in conjunction with writer Ryo Mizuno, and is currently working on an Asian-themed solo manga, .
Yamada attracted attention outside Japan through his illustrations of Fuyumi Ono's long-running The Twelve Kingdoms light novel series. He specially designed the rich cover illustrations for the home DVD releases of the anime adaptation of this series. Within Japan he has illustrated covers for numerous translated anthologies of Cthulhu Mythos literature, and is currently working with on their translation of a four-volume Japanese anthology of Cthulhu Mythos literature, (秘神界, Hishinkai). Yamada is drawing covers that are exclusive to the English translation.
His work is also seen in the non-verbal theatre show GEAR, in Kyoto. His character designs and aesthetic are the basis for the costume design and set design of GEAR.
Video games[]
- (PC-98) [1990] - Cover Art, Character Designer
- (PC-98) [1992] - Cover Art, Character Designer
- Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra (PC Engine) [1993] - Cover Art (Japanese Ver.)
- (Super Famicom) [1993] - Cover Art, Character Designer
- Gaiapolis 黄金鷹の剣 (Arcade) [1993] - Promotional Art
- Wizardry I・II (PC Engine) [1993] - Cover Art
- Wizardry III・IV (PC Engine) [1994] - Cover Art
- 疾風魔法大作戦 Kingdom Grandprix (Arcade, Sega Saturn) [1994/1995] - Cover Art (Sega Saturn release), Character Designer
- Mystic Ark (Super Famicom) [1995] - Cover Art, Character Designer
- 悪魔城ドラキュラXX (Super Famicom) [1995] - Cover Art, Character Designer
- (Sega Saturn) [1996] - Cover Art, Character Designer
- (Super Famicom) [1997] - Cover Art
- Front Mission 3 (PlayStation) [1999] - Character Designer
- (PlayStation) [1999] - Cover Art, Character Designer
- Meremanoid (PlayStation) [1999] - Cover Art, Character Designer
- 西遊記 (PlayStation) [1999] - Cover Art, Character Designer
- Fire Emblem Heroes (Android, iOS) [2017] - Character Designer (Jagen, Ogma, Zephiel [Binding Blade ver.], Gunter, Bantu, Mila, Gatekeeper)
See also[]
- GEAR, theatre show based in Kyoto with design by Akihiro Yamada.
References[]
- ^ 星雲賞リスト (in Japanese). sf-fan.gr.jp. Retrieved April 14, 2010.
- ^ "Akihiro Yamada Video Game Credits and Biography". MobyGames. Retrieved 2020-09-21.
Related links[]
- Official website
- Akihiro Yamada at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Akihiro Yamada at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
- 1957 births
- Anime character designers
- Cthulhu Mythos writers
- Video game artists
- Japanese illustrators
- Living people
- People from Kōchi, Kōchi
- Manga artists from Kōchi Prefecture