Shuichi Shigeno (重野 秀一 or しげの 秀一 Shigeno Shūichi, born March 8, 1958) is a Japanese manga author famous for his manga Initial D.
Before writing Initial D he also created Bari Bari Densetsu ("Bari Bari Legend"), for which he received the Kodansha Manga Award for Shōnen in 1985.
Profile[]
Despite living in Niigata, he convinced his parents to let him attend college in Tokyo. He was into motorcycles as a teenager, and this likely inspired him to write Bari Bari Densetsu[1].
He bought himself a Toyota AE86 with the first royalty check from Bari Bari Densetsu. He says he chose the car as he wanted something stylish, instead of an old sedan, and that he only bought a car so he could talk to the girl he was dating at the time when driving, which he couldn't do on a motorcycle. He later crashed this AE86 into a guardrail while driving on a mountain pass, and he has said this experience was useful when he later wrote Initial D[1].
After finishing Bari Bari Densetsu, he wrote several short manga, but none of them were popular enough to be picked up for a long term release. A good friend of his suggested that he write a series about cars, which Shigeno initially resisted, as he thought it would be too easy to go from writing about motorcycles to writing about cars[1].
He has owned several cars featured in the series, most notably a Toyota Sprinter Trueno GT-APEX (AE86) with a carbon bonnet, the same as Takumi Fujiwara's AE86[1][3], which would later be featured in the Gran Turismo series. He has also owned a Mazda RX-7 (FD3S)[4] and a Subaru Impreza WRX STi Coupe Type R Version V (GC8F) with a STi sports bumper, the same as Bunta Fujiwara's Impreza[3]. He has said that the Impreza is the best car he has owned[5][better source needed].
Despite writing a series with the Trueno as the main car, he has said that he prefers the Levin, singling out its look and its reduced weight (due to its headlights being fixed, and thus lacking the pop up mechanism)[5][better source needed]. Despite it's age, Shigeno still owns his Trueno, and while he has had a variety of other cars, its the only car he hasn't gotten rid of[1].
His favourite Initial D character is Koichiro Iketani. His favourite moments in the series are when Takumi discovers Natsuki Mogi with her Papa, and the battle between Ryosuke Takahashi and Rin Hojo.[5][better source needed]
He was previously the assistant of Makoto Kobayashi, Akira Hio[5][2][better source needed] and Masami Yuki[6]. He has had several notable assistants, such as Takeshi Kobayashi, Maakou, and Jyoji Morikawa[5][2][better source needed]. He was dating, and was at some point married to, fellow Mangaka Yoku Hayami before her passing in 2015[2][better source needed].
Works[]
- Baribari Legend (1983-1991, serialized in Shonen Magazine, Kodansha)
- Tunnel Nuketara Sky*Blue (1992, serialized in Young Magazine, Kodansha)
- Shō (1992, serialized in Shonen Magazine, Kodansha)
- DO-P-KAN (1993-1995, serialized in Young Magazine, Kodansha)
- Initial D (1995-2013, serialized in Young Magazine, Kodansha)
- Amazing Hana (2014, serialized in Young Magazine, Kodansha)
- Sailor Ace (2015-2017, serialized in Young Magazine, Kodansha)
- MF Ghost (2017-ongoing, serialized in Young Magazine, Kodansha)
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Gallery[]
Appearances[]
| Volume 06 | ||||||||||||
| Chapter 055: | Absent | Chapter 060: | Absent | |||||||||
| Chapter 056: | Absent | Chapter 061: | Absent | |||||||||
| Chapter 057: | Absent | Chapter 062: | Absent | |||||||||
| Chapter 058: | Absent | Chapter 063: | Absent | |||||||||
| Chapter 059: | Absent | Chapter 064: | Absent | |||||||||
| Chapter 065: | Absent | |||||||||||
| Bonus: | Introduced | |||||||||||
| Volume 13 | ||||||||||||
| Chapter 134: | Absent | Chapter 140: | Absent | |||||||||
| Chapter 135: | Absent | Chapter 141: | Absent | |||||||||
| Chapter 136: | Absent | Chapter 142: | Absent | |||||||||
| Chapter 137: | Absent | Chapter 143: | Absent | |||||||||
| Chapter 138: | Absent | Chapter 144: | Absent | |||||||||
| Chapter 139: | Absent | Chapter 145: | Absent | |||||||||
| Bonus: | Appears | |||||||||||
| Volume 16 | ||||||||||||
| Chapter 171: | Absent | Chapter 178: | Absent | |||||||||
| Chapter 172: | Absent | Chapter 179: | Absent | |||||||||
| Chapter 173: | Absent | Chapter 180: | Absent | |||||||||
| Chapter 174: | Absent | Chapter 181: | Absent | |||||||||
| Chapter 175: | Absent | Chapter 182: | Absent | |||||||||
| Chapter 176: | Absent | Chapter 183: | Absent | |||||||||
| Chapter 177: | Absent | Chapter 184: | Absent | |||||||||
| Bonus: | Appears | |||||||||||
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Gazoo.com - Shuichi Shigeno, author of the manga "Initial D," on the appeal of cars
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Mentioned on Baka Updates - additional sources would be preferred
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 As seen in the Initial D Art Book
- ↑ Shigeno's FD3S is currently part of the Ikaho Toy Car and Doll Museum's collection - http://www.ikaho-omocha.jp/museum/86fujiwara.html
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Information taken from his Japanese Wikipedia page - additional sources would be preferred.
- ↑ Mentioned by Yuki in a 2009 interview with Hiromu Arakawa - https://web.archive.org/web/20090904182233/http://spi-net.jp/monthly_taidan/index2.html
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Volume 06 - Bonus Pages