Mangaka Profile: Kubo Tite

久保 帯人 (Kubo Tite)
Real Name: 久保 宣章 (Kubo Noriaki)
Gender: Male
Age: 32
Birth date: June 26, 1977
Birth place: Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan
Notable Work/s: Bleach, Zombie-Powder
Genre: Shounen, Supernatural, Adventure, Action, Fantasy


BACKGROUND
The son of a town council member in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima, Kubo graduated from the local high school. In an interview, Kubo has stated that he entered a magazine's manga contest, and that although he did not win, one of the magazine's editors noticed his talent. They subsequently worked together on joint projects. Not long afterward, his first manga short, "Ultra Unholy Hearted Machine", was published in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump Special in 1996. This was followed by two more shorts, and in 1999 his first serial, Zombie-powder, began in Weekly Shōnen Jump and ran for four volumes until 2000, when it was cancelled. According to the author's commentary in the cover leaf of the third tankōbon, Kubo was in a state of severe emotional trauma when he wrote it.

His next series, Bleach, began running in the same magazine in 2001. As of 2004, an anime adaptation of Bleach began running in Japan. The manga was named a winner of the Shogakukan Manga Award for its category in 2005. Kubo and Makoto Matsubara have co-authored two novelizations of the Bleach series, which were published by Shueisha under their Jump Books label. A Bleach movie was released in Japan on December 16, 2006, followed by a second movie on December 22, 2007. Kubo also appeared in the episode 112 of the Japanese radio program of Bleach B-Station. In that program, Kubo was interviewed by Masakazu Morita, voice actor of Ichigo Kurosaki, the main character of Bleach, and answered several questions from fans. On July 26, 2008, Kubo went to the United States for the first time and made an appearance at the San Diego Comic-Con International.

WORKS
One-Shots:

• Fire in the Sky (1995, Shueisha's Hop Step Award finalist.)
• Ultra Unholy Hearted Machine (1996, Weekly Shōnen Jump Special. Appears in volume 2 of Zombiepowder..)
• Rune Master Urara (1996, Weekly Shōnen Jump. Appears in volume 3 of Zombiepowder..)
• Bad Shield United (1997, Weekly Shōnen Jump. Appears in volume 4 of Zombiepowder.. Also makes a cameo in Bleach as the fictitious movie Bad Shield United 2.)

Serials:

• Zombie Powder (1999–2000, Weekly Shonen Jump, Shueisha. Collected in four volumes in 2000 and discontinued.)
• Bleach (2001-Ongoing, Weekly Shonen Jump, Shueisha. Collected in 43+ volumes.)

Artbooks:

• Bleach All Colour But The Black
• Bleach Official Bootleg

Other works:

• Bleach Official Character Book SOULs
• Bleach Official Anime Guide Book VIBEs

Influences:
Note: listed are his sources of influences. inside parentheses is what was influenced.

• desire to draw shinigami in kimono (basis for the design of the shinigami in the series, Bleach)
• GeGeGe no Kitaro by Mizuki Shigeru (his interest in drawing the supernatural and monsters, also in becoming a mangaka)
• Saint Seiya by Kurumada Masami (interesting weaponry and battle scenes, also in becoming a mangaka)
• cinema (action style and storytelling in Bleach)
• rock music (making of battle scenes)
• foreign languages (terms used in Bleach, particularly German for Quincy and Spanish for Hollows and Arrancar)
• famous Spanish architects and designers (names of the arrancar in Bleach)

PERSONAL COMMENTS
What can I say? Thank you Kubo for giving us Bleach! Well, anyway, there were more information about Kubo Tite that I read in a magazine before. I tried to look for it so I can add it here but when I went looking, I couldn't seem to get the right issue! lol! But I'll definitely continue searching for it! I'll update this post once I do so look forward to it!