Tsutomu Nihei

File:Tsutomu Nihei - Lucca Comics & Games 2015.JPG

Tsutomu Nihei at Lucca Comics & Games 2015

Tsutomu Nihei (弐瓶 勉, Nihei Tsutomu, born 1971) is a Japanese manga artist. His cyberpunk-influenced artwork has gained a strong cult following. He has a relatively large community of fans in Germany where his manga Blame!, NOiSE and Biomega were published by Ehapa. Blame! was also published in France and Spain by Glénat, in the US by Tokyopop and in Italy by Panini Comics. In 2009 Abara was released in Brazil also by Panini Comics.

At first he studied architecture and later this influence has shown up in his manga works in his depiction of huge structures. This has become one of the general themes that make his manga unique. His works are usually in black and white.

Works

Serialized works

• Blame! - Nihei's first work, detailing the adventures of Killy as he searches for a human with compatible genes to save the world. Originally published in Afternoon, it also gained a 6 episode ONA.
• NOiSE - A prequel to Blame!, in which a police officer investigates the murder of a gang. Originally publishing in Afternoon.
• Abara - Published in Ultra Jump, Abara follows Denji Kudou, a man able to transform into a Gauna – a creature with bone-like armor and weaponry.
• Biomega - Zouichi Kanoe and the AI in his motorbike set out to find humans resistant to N5S, a virus that turns people into zombie-like "Drones". Originally appeared in Young Magazine.
• Knights of Sidonia - Nihei's latest series set in the far future about a human colony ship's war against an elusive alien race known as the "Gauna". It is currently running in Afternoon and is the first of Nihei's works to be adapted into a TV series. In 2015, Knights of Sidonia won the "General" category of the prestigious Kodansha Manga Awards.

One-shots and additional works

• Abba / Parcel - A short one-shot about a man looking for his brother.
• Blame - A one-shot prototype for Blame!, collected in NOiSE.

• Blame!² - A full color, 16 page one-shot published in Kodansha's Mandala Vol.2, following up on the story of Blame! with one of Pcell's future incarnations.
• Blame! Academy - A comedy featuring the characters from Blame! as students in a school. Published infrequently.
• Dead Heads - First issue of a canceled series; collected, as thumbnails, in Blame! and So on.
• Digimortal - A two part one-shot about a mercenary hired to assassinate a leader of a new Inquisition. Originally appeared in Ultra Jump, published in Vol.2 of Abara.
• Halo: Breaking Quarantine - Set in the Halo series, the untold story of Sergeant Avery J. Johnson and his escape from the bowels of Halo and the Flood.
• Negative Corridor - A short one-shot, collected in NOiSE.
• NSE: Net Sphere Engineer - A sequel to Blame!, about the Net Sphere. Series ongoing, though only one chapter has been published to date.
• Numa no Kami - A short one-shot about a man encountering a lake Goddess.
• Pump - A short one-shot about the last Humans reproduction process.
• Sabrina - A short one-shot about a man coming across a girl whose arm is stuck in a hole.
• Wolverine: Snikt! - A 5 issue limited series of the X-Men character Wolverine. Originally published by Marvel Comics.
• Winged Armor Suzumega / Sphingidae - A short one-shot about a battle between alien beings.
• Zeb-Noid - A short one-shot about a hostile encounter between two different species that takes an unexpected turn.

Artbooks

• Bitch's Life - An erotic illustrations book, featuring contributions from over twenty manga artists; four of which come from Nihei.
• Blame! and So On - Published in 2003, Blame! and So On contains artwork and sketches for Blame!, Noise, and Wolverine: Snikt!, amongst others; it also contains the illustrations Nihei provided for Bitch's Life and the aborted Dead Heads as thumbnails.