SAMURA, Hiroaki 1970-

PERSONAL:

Born February 17, 1970, in Chiba, Japan.

ADDRESSES:

Agent—c/o Author Mail, Dark Horse Comics, 10956 Southeast Main St., Milwaukie, OR 97222.

CAREER:

Author and illustrator.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Will Eisner Award; Media Arts Award (Japan), 1998.

WRITINGS:

"BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL" MANGA GRAPHIC-NOVEL SERIES; SELF-ILLUSTRATED; TRANSLATED BY DANA LEWIS AND TOREN SMITH

Blood of a Thousand, Dark Horse Comics (Milwaukie, OR), 1997.

Cry of the Worm, Dark Horse Comics (Milwaukie, OR), 1998.

Dreamsong, Dark Horse Comics (Milwaukie, OR), 1999.

On Silent Wings, Dark Horse Comics (Milwaukie, OR), 1999.

On Silent Wings II, Dark Horse Comics (Milwaukie, OR), 2000.

Dark Shadows, Dark Horse Comics (Milwaukie, OR), 2000.

Heart of Darkness, Dark Horse Comics (Milwaukie, OR), 2000.

The Gathering, Dark Horse Comics (Milwaukie, OR), 2001.

The Gathering II, Dark Horse Comics (Milwaukie, OR), 2001.

Secrets, Dark Horse Comics (Milwaukie, OR), 2002.

Beasts, Dark Horse Comics (Milwaukie, OR), 2002.

Autumn Frost, Dark Horse Comics (Milwaukie, OR), 2003.

Mirror of the Soul, Dark Horse Comics (Milwaukie, OR), 2004.

"Blade of the Immortal" graphic novels originally published in monthly installments in Japanese magazine Kodansha, beginning 1994; English translations by Studio Proteus published in comic-book format by Dark Horse Comics, beginning 1996.

SIDELIGHTS:

Hiroaki Samura is the author and illustrator of the long-running "Blade of the Immortal" comic-book series. The books, which have also been published in graphic-novel format, are about Manji, a wandering samurai with a reputation for treachery and bloodshed. Manji was cursed by a nun who made him immortal by introducing holy bloodworms into his body that magically heal his wounds. The nun will not remove the curse and allow Manji to pass away until he has killed one thousand men who deserve to die. To give Manji a steady supply of just such evil men, she introduces him to Rin Asano, a girl seeking revenge for the death of her father at the hands of the Myutenichi-ryu sword school. The "Blade of the Immortal" series struggles with the questions of morality inherent in this project, and while the body count is high as Manji strives to reach his goal, "genuinely funny moments are liberally mixed in to lighten the mood," Johnathan Mason commented in an Online review for newmoanyeah.com. "For instance, the day-to-day interaction between the often coarse Manji and naive Rin are priceless." As Brandon Blatcher wrote about the first graphic-novel collection, 1997's Blood of a Thousand on PopImage.com, Samura's violent depictions of the killings have artistic value: "your senses might be overloaded by the explicitness of the actions, but it's depicted with such beauty you'll find yourself endlessly fascinated by the scenes." A Publishers Weekly contributor made a similar comment about 2000's Beasts, writing that "in the work of a lesser artist [a character's] torture and rape could become kinky titillation, but instead, they are vividly, unbearably awful."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Publishers Weekly, November 4, 2002, review of Secrets, pp. 64-65; April 28, 2003, review of Beasts, p. 51.

ONLINE

Dark Horse Comics Web site,http://www.darkhorse.com/ (June 15, 2004), "Interviews: Hiroaki Samura."

Line of Fire Reviews,http://www.silverbulletcomicbooks.com/ (June 15, 2004), Craig Lemon, review of Beasts.

Mangamaniacs.org,http://www.mangamaniacs.org/ (June 15, 2004), review of Blade of the Immortal.

newmoanyeah.com,http://www.newmoanyeah.com/ (October 7, 2002), Johnathan Mason, review of Blade of the Immortal.

PopImage.com,http://www.popimage.com/ (June 15, 2004), Brandon Blatcher, reviews of Blood of a Thousand and Dreamsong; Damon Crumpler, reviews of On Silent Wings, On Silent Wings II, and Dark Shadows.*