Katsura Hoshino

Katsura Hoshino (星野 桂 Hoshino Katsura , born April 21, 1980) is a Japanese manga writer and artist from Shiga Prefecture. She made her debut in July 2003 with the publication of her first manga series Continue and is known for her work, D.Gray-man, which began serialization in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump in May 2004.

The D.Gray-man manga series has been adapted into various forms, including an anime series and two novel adaptations. Three volumes placed in the top fifty of Japan's bestselling manga of 2008 and the series is one of Weekly Shōnen Jump's bestselling manga series. It has gained attention in North America; both the manga and anime adaptions are licensed for English language releases. The manga series has been well-received in France; it was awarded the prize for Best Manga Series 2006 at the Anime and Manga 2007 French Grand Prix organized by Animeland. It also won Webotaku's prize for Manga of the Year 2006.

Hoshino has been highly praised for her art, which has been compared to the works of Joe Madureira, Kelley Jones, and Chris Bachalo by one reviewer and described as "some of the best artwork in the business" by another. Her character designs received many positive comments ranging from "especially lovely" to "the most visually striking element" of her art and it is said that both male and female readers will enjoy the designs. However, she has been just as highly criticized for her lack of skill in drawing action scenes, which leads one reviewer to believe she will not or cannot draw physical combat.

Influences
Hoshino's most notable work D.Gray-man is greatly influenced by her previous titles. Characters are often carried over from unpublished manga Hoshino worked on early in her career. D.Gray-man and its predecessor Zone share many major concepts, such as the creation of demons known as akuma, the Exorcists' role to eliminate these demons, and the overall plot of both works. The main antagonist of Zone, known simply as the Millennium Earl, retains his appearance and name in D.Gray-man while the features of the female protagonist were changed to create the more masculine appearance of D.Gray-man's male protagonist Allen Walker.[45] The characters Lavi and Yu Kanda were carried over from two unpublished titles.[46] [47]

She uses unnamed famous scientists, Aleister Crowley and Yūsuke Santamaria as models for several of her characters.[48] [49] [50] [51] Characters are also based on her editor and the Tim Campi Design silver accessory brand.[50] [52] Hoshino collaborated with Kata Kizaki, the author of the novel adaptations, to create the character Bak Chan.[53] The role of Miranda Lotto changed, and was ultimately lengthened, after Hoshino realized the similarities the two shared.[54] Hoshino comically comments that Allen's hair has become very similar to the Super Saiyan, a transformation from Dragon Ball, in which the character's hair becomes spiky.[55] Towards the beginning of D.Gray-man's publication, Hoshino stated that Allen, Kanda, and Cross Marian are the hardest characters to draw while the Millennium Earl and Hevlaska are the easiest.[2]

Hoshino commented that most of her ideas for the series come after falling asleep in the bath for six hours.[56] An exception occurs in the plot for second volume of the series, which is based on a Noh play called Koi no Omoni.[57] As she works, she enjoys listening to Final Fantasy soundtracks, Dragon Ball CDs, the bands Porno Graffitti, L'Arc-en-Ciel, and jazz music.