Katsura Hoshino

born at April 21, 1980 in the Shiga Prefecture, Japan. She's a Japanese manga writer and artist best known for her creation "D.Gray-man". She made her debut by creating "Continue" which was published at July 2003. Her work D.Gray-man is currently be published by Jump Square, but originally her work got published by Weekly Shōnen Jump, but her work, before entering Jump Square, got first published in Akamaru Jump.

Biography
Katsura Hoshino was born on April 21, 1980 in Shiga Prefecture, Japan. She was the younger raternal twin girls and the second of three children. In 1998, Hoshino moved to Tokyo, Japan which she also dreamed of bringing her mother there. She fulfilled her dream in 2006. She first drew manga at age 21. She and her sister where first living in Kyoto before she became a manga artist. They both where been drawing manga and Hoshino had a meeting with Weekly Shōnen Jump which they've seen potential in her work. Hoshino didn't sleep for three days straight which she believed that she wasn't able to come to the meeting at Shōnen Jump. When it was about time, her sister was bringing her to Jump, evenly Hoshino was in her pyjama. The editor didn't mind for some reason that she was somewhat late, and liked her manga that she draw and liked to be her editor. That was the start of Hoshino's manga career.

Reception
Katsura Hoshino has been highly praised for her art of the series which has been compared by one reviewer to the works of Joe Madureira, Kelley Jones and Chris Bachalo. Another reviewer described it as "some of the best artwork in the business". The character designs of Katsura Hoshino's, D.Gray-man 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. Evenly that she gets those great comments, she has also been highly criticized for her lack of skill in drawing action scenes. One reviewer believe that she will not or evenly cannot draw psychical combat scenes.

Influence
Katsura Hoshino's most recognized work "D.Gray-man" is influenced by Hoshino's previous works and evenly unpublished works Hoshino created. 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 Earl of Millennium, 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. Yu Kanda and Lavi are coming from the characters of Hoshino's unpublished works.

She uses unnamed famous scientists, Aleister Crowley and Yūsuke Santamaria as models for several of her characters. Characters are also based on her editor and the Tim Campi Design silver accessory brand. Hoshino collaborated with Kata Kizaki, the author of the novel adaptations, to create the character Bak Chan. The role of Miranda Lotto changed, and was ultimately lengthened, after Hoshino realized the similarities the two shared. 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. 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 Earl of Millennium and Hevlaska are the easiest. Hoshino commented that most of her ideas for the series come after falling asleep in the bath for six hours. An exception occurs in the plot for second volume of the series, which is based on a Noh play called Koi no Omoni. As she works, she enjoys listening to Final Fantasy soundtracks, Dragon Ball CDs, the bands Porno Graffitti, L'Arc-en-Ciel, and jazz music.

Manga

 * 1) 2002: Zone
 * 2) 2003: Continue
 * 3) 2004-ongoing: D.Gray-man
 * 4) 2011: Kaiten!!
 * 5) 2013: Demon King

Anime

 * 1) 2013: Valvrave the Liberator - Original Character Designer

Trivia

 * Known is that Hoshino has a fraternal twin sister, she's the reason why she's drawing manga.
 * She has a cat named Koro who is handicapped.
 * Hoshino's favourite manga artist is Takeshi Obata known for his art work "Death Note" and "Bakuman" alongside with the writer Tsugumi Ohba.
 * She was once a assistant of Takeshi Obata.
 * Hoshino's favourite anime director is Hayao Miyazaki known for directing the Lupin III series and various others.
 * Hoshino's blood type is O and is 1.73 cm.
 * Hoshino has three different editors to date: a editor named T, an editor named Yoshida and a editor named N (some of their names are unknown).
 * Katsura Hoshino has a tattoo on her right arm.
 * Hoshino's assistants are: Miyazaki, Okei, Oi-chan and Gunma.