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Hiro Mashima (真島 ヒロ Mashima Hiro) is a Japanese manga artist, best known for his fantasy manga, Rave Master, Fairy Tail, Monster Hunter Orage, and Edens Zero.


Early Life

Mashima grew up in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. As a child, his grandfather would often find him discarded manga to read, and he would trace the pictures. For as long as he could remember, Mashima had always wanted to become a manga artist.

In particular, he drew inspiration to become a professional from two manga series: Dragon Ball, a well-known manga by Akira Toriyama, and Ultimate Muscle by Yudetamago. With regards to the stories, Mashima said that he especially loves how the protagonists encounter a lot of hardships, but always manage to triumph in the end. He also admitted enjoying fiery battle scenes.[1]

After graduating from high school, Mashima attended an art school, believing it will help him learn how to improve his art style. However, he ended up detesting the approach, and resorted to teaching himself instead.[2] During this period, Mashima had watched several movies which taught him about framing and angles. He said that the movies which held the strongest influence on him were Braveheart and Lord of the Rings.[3]

Manga Career

Pre-Debut (1998)

Mashima, then only 21 years old, created a 60-page original work entitled Magician, which he submitted to editors for reviewing. This has won him in an amateur manga artists competition. Afterwards, Mashima began presenting materials to the editors, and, eventually made his official debut as a professional manga artist, one year later.[3]

Rave Master (1999-2005)

Main article: Rave Master Series
In an interview, Mashima revealed that the inspiration for writing the Rave Master series was because he thought how cool it would be to travel around the world. He admitted that because Rave Master had spanned for a long time, he had some difficult times writing it. Looking back now, however, he could only remember how much fun he's had while working with the series.[3]

The Rave Master manga was serialized in Shōnen Magazine from July 1999 through July 2005, and published in thirty-five tankōbon by Kodansha.[4] It had an anime adaptation by Studio Deen that spawned 51 episodes. The series also preimered on TBS on October 13, 2001, and ran until September 28, 2002.

Only the first 12 volumes of the Rave Master manga series were adapted into anime. Tokyopop has also licensed the anime adaptation, and on June 4, 2004, an English dubbed version of the anime serialized on Network Cartoon Network in the United States as part of the Toonami programming block. It was re-broadcast on Syfy in 2009.[4]

Rave Master is also known as "RAVE" and "Groove Adventure Rave".

Mashima-en Vol.1 & 2 (2003)

Mashima complied several of his one-shot titles, in two volumes.

Vol 1:

  • Magician
  • Fairy Tail (a prototype for his current series)
  • Cocona (2003)
  • Plue's Adventures Pt. II

Vol 2:

  • Bad Boys Song
  • Magic Party
  • Xmas Hearts
  • Fighting Group Mixture

Monster Soul (2006–2007)

A shōnen manga which serialized in Comic Bom Bom from January 2006 until March of the same year. In June 2007, the issue's "second stage" began, and ran until September 2007. As of July 2007, Monster Soul has six chapters, three for each of the stages, and one tankubon volume on the first stage.[5]

Fairy Tail (2006-2017)

Main article: Fairy Tail Series

Hiro Mashima

Hiro Mashima as the notable guest at the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con.

The second longest running series by Hiro Mashima, Fairy Tail has been serialized in Weekly Shōnen Magazine since August 23, 2006. Kodansha has published a total of 30 tankōbon volumes as of January 2012, and an ongoing anime series has been released by A-1 Pictures and Satelight in Japan on October 12, 2009.[6] The Fairy Tail anime series has spawned three original video animations.

In an interview, Mashima has stated that his favorite part about having an anime adaptation for Fairy Tail is seeing Natsu and Happy move around. Because there is a limit to the effects he could draw with regards to depicting magic in the manga, he enjoyed seeing it animated. He comments how beautiful it looks onscreen, and made him realize how fun it is to see his characters moving around.

Mashima revealed that the inspiration for Fairy Tail did not come movies or books per se, but out of his interest towards magicians and wizards. He also added that the idea for Fairy Tail dawned him when he was hanging out with his friends. Liking the atmosphere, Mashima imagined how it would be if a group of magicians enjoyed the same laidback ambiance instead.[7]

Monster Hunter Orage (2008–2009)

This series is based off on the Monster Hunter video game franchise. This was serialized in Kodansha's Shōnen Rival in April 0f 2008.[8]

In an interview, Mashima was asked how he felt depicting a world he did not make. He said that because it was not his original idea, he was not allowed to "destroy" the world created by the authors, and he respected such limitations. However, because of the many similarities the Monster World shared with the worlds Mashima often depicted, it wasn't very hard for him to adapt the manga he created.[7]

Others[2]

  • Plue's Dog Diaries (2002–2007)
  • Sangokushi Taisen: card illustration
  • Respect Gundam: contribution
  • Nishikaze to Taiyou (2010)
  • Edens Zero (2018)

Interviews

2011 New York Comic-Con

Interview by Nerd Caliber[9]

Assistants

Current

  • Ueda I
  • Sho Nakamura
  • Bobby Osawa
  • Kobayashi Kina
  • Kain

Former

Trivia

  • The protagonists in his series are all named after seasons:[2]
Haru = Spring (Rave Master)
Natsu = Summer (Fairy Tail)
Aki = Autumn (Monster Soul)
Shiki = Four Seasons (Monster Hunter Orange)
SDCC_2008_Hiro_Mashima_Drawing

SDCC 2008 Hiro Mashima Drawing

Hiro Mashima draws during the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con

  • In the manga community, Mashima is renowned for his speed in drawing and production of manga. He has a record of having completed 65 pages within a week, three of which were colored. In the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con, he has publicly demonstrated his drawing speed.[10]
  • As a child, Mashima had never imagined he would fulfill his dreams of becoming a professional manga artist.[11]
  • Contrary to popular belief, Hiro Mashima has never been Eiichiro Oda's assistant. In fact, he was never an assistant to any other manga artist at all.[12]
  • Mashima is a huge fan of pasta, and his favorite is meat sauce.[13]
  • When asked why Plue appears in Rave Master, and once again in Fairy Tail, Mashima says that because in his mind, Plue is everywhere. He adds that Plue could actually exist in the real world, and that he is his personal pet.[1]
  • The reason why he despises caterpillars (mentioning all those he sees in his way are asking to be squashed) is because everyday when he gets home, he is greeted by a lot of them. [11]
  • When he was younger, Mashima was a latchkey kid.[11]
  • Hiro Mashima makes a cameo appearance in the final Rave Master episode, The Vow to the Future.[14]

References

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