Akira Himekawa

Manga Artists - Japan
We are manga artists. We do animals, nature, people, and everything else. We like things that are beautiful.

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Featured

  • "GLIDING REKI" Karumu

    This is a full-page illustration from our full-color comic “GLIDING REKI.” This is the scene where the antagonist Karumu appears.

    He uses the eagle wing on his left to fly through the air, and the feather knives on his right side can cut through both steel and concrete. His personality is that of a selfish, greedy prince.

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  • Sylvie

    This is Sylvie, the heroine of “GLIDING REKI.” She likes birds. Currently, she supports REKI in her motorcycle form. This series is not yet completed.
    It is an ongoing project!

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  • Yuana of the Land of Wolves

    This is the cover illustration of “Yuana of the Land of Wolves” from our series “Yuana and the Silver Moon.” Yuana is a kind-hearted Native American boy who lives at the base of the Rocky Mountains and speaks to animal spirits. He is a medicine man in the making who solves the problems and troubles of non-humans.

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  • "GLIDING REKI" Falling REKI

    This is a full-page illustration from our full-color comic “GLIDING REKI.”
    This is a scene in which REKI falls after being badly injured by Karumu. In the bottom left panel is a side character named Riko. This scene shows her telepathically sensing REKI’s urgent situation, and we really like the emotion and use of color, as well as the flow of energy within it.^^
    There’s something sexy about a falling scene, isn’t there? lol

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About Me

Akira Himekawa

Manga Artists / Japan

We are manga artists/illustrators from Japan. Some examples of our work include the comic version of “The Legend of Zelda,” as well as “GLIDING REKI,” "The Dragon Dreams of Twilight,” “Dogi Magi Doubutsu Gakkou,” and many others. We are a duo made up of Honda (H) and Nagano (N).

Honda is from Aichi Prefecture and Nagano is from Tokyo. Our first work together was a doujinshi series we created in 1987 called “Hiuri.” (We published at doujinshi fairs like Comike) After that, we made our debut in Shonen Sunday in 1991 with “Honoo wa Kaze no Na no Gotoku.” We then went on to do work for major publications.

After that, we had our work put out by various publishers, and in 1999, we had our big break when we took on the task of making a comic version of the Nintendo game “The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.” We began to be known more widely outside Japan in 2008 when translated volumes of our manga were released in North America and Europe.

We are currently continuing to be active not just in Japan, but around the world. The single-volume manga “Gold Ring” released in the United Arab Emirates was not translated from Japanese, but rather was the first manga volume that was originally written in Arabic.

“GLIDING REKI” is a full-color manga running in a Japanese web magazine that has been released in book form in Italy and is currently in publication, and for which we are planning a new series in 2014 that will expand into other countries. We contributed an illustration to the Shanghai, China card game "Shinkigen." We work from a unique position in the Japanese manga scene where we’re not really in the spotlight. We have been publishing continuously for over 30 years, and are active both in mainstream publications and at Comic Market.

Our current circle name is “GoldenDaen89.”

Profile

  • Creator NameAkira Himekawa
  • Genre/SpecialtyManga Artists
  • GenderFemale
  • Dates of Birth(H) 06/19, (N) 05/05
  • Blood Types(H) AB, (N) O
  • Zodiac Signs(H) Gemini, (N) Taurus
  • Years ActiveAround 30
  • LocationsNagoya & Tokyo

    Drawing Boys Who Wage Battles

    I’ve always imagined the boys that I draw as having the opposing qualities of strength and delicateness.

    I’m particularly interested in stories of boys who are in that extremely awkward and complicated age when they’re trying to shed their childhood, but are not yet young adults.
    Since they’re not yet adults, they still have something that they genuinely want to chase after. It’s an age when they can be true to their own soul. However, in staying true to their soul, they are often fighting an uphill battle on their own.

    That may be a silent battle waged inside, or a battle where the opponent needs to be defeated in order to break through to something. There are many different battles. I think they’re all beautiful, and they’re the main theme that inspires me in my work.

    Fusion

    Another major theme of ours is “humans and animals” or “the fusion of humans and nature.”

    Though there is of course an appeal to drawing people, animals are overflowing with sexy, attractive features, like the interesting quality of their form, which differs from humans, the beauty of their lines, the flow of their coat, their appealing gaze, legs that cling tightly to the ground, or wings that catch the wind.

    It’s very heart-warming to depict the cross-species feelings of love between people and animals and their shared hearts and souls.

    To take this even deeper, I include the genre of depicting a fusion of both, and it’s something that I picture in a natural way. In my mind there’s a realness to it that’s a bit different from old fantasies like myths and magical beings. I draw the unnatural in a “natural” way. My policy is that it has to be beautiful. I use the beauty of natural forms and put my own sensibilities into it. They may be odd creatures compared to humans, but they have an attractive quality of fierce beauty and a tragic nature.

    Animal Art

    Starting from the cave paintings of long ago, it seems as though an attraction to the animal form and a desire to express it is embedded in the human DNA. It’s a beautiful figure woven by nature. It’s the embodiment of sexuality. The entire form is art. A greater beauty cannot be found.

    Though I have been drawing pictures and illustrations of animals for many years since I was little, in addition to that, recently I have also turned to creating different kinds of art that incorporate an animal theme. I make it using objects found in nature. I make it with objects animals have left for me. For example, I create a form using things like fallen deer horns, discarded animal leather, or a fallen bird’s feather, and I make things like T-shirts that feature these as the main aspect to be enjoyed. I’m committed to having it be a creation of my own that was born from something real. The image is my dog as a wolf-dog. I also consider this photo that I edited out of an inspiration that came forth naturally as I looked at her to be animal art. A T-shirt is also an appealing canvas to the person making it, isn’t it?

    I also love coming across animal art that other people have made, for nearly twenty years, I’ve been looking for and collecting animal art when I travel (both abroad and in Japan). My house is like a zoo, lol.

    Nature

    It’s “living” animals that give me inspiration and are the source of my creations. Seeing and touching them is very important to me, and they provide so many treasures, don’t they? ^^ Before I became a manga artist, I worked as a dog groomer, and I came in touch with the beauty of lots of dogs. Also, I feel that ideas that don’t come from nature feel like they’re from another world. I don’t like to try and come up with ideas out of thin air, and I probably can’t. But by coming in contact with nature, endless ideas come to me. So I go on trips. The world has a lot of beautiful nature and people and animals living closely together in it, and I never lose my interest.