Noriaki Kubo

Noriaki Kubo (久保 宣章 Kubo Noriak, born June 26, 1977), known by his pen name Tite Kubo (久保 帯人 Kubo Taito), is a Japanese manga artist. His most significant work is the manga series Bleach.

Kubo is the son of a town council member in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima. He never took drawing seriously until he was 17, and after reading the manga Saint Seiya, which influenced him to become a manga artist. His first one-shot was "Ultra Unholy Hearted Machine", written for the Weekly Shōnen Jump in 1996.He wrote his first manga Zombiepowder, which was also published in Weekly Shōnen Jump in 1999. It ran a short 27 chapters before being canceled in 2000. According to the author`s commentary, Kubo was in a state of severe emotional trauma when he wrote it.Kubo later stated that he was not used to the magazine weekly serialization and used to pay more attention to his editor`s comments rather than his own ideas.

His next series, Bleach, about a high school student who becomes a shinigami and fights creatures known as Hollows, began running in the same magazine in 2001. Kubo initially expected the series` serialization to continue no longer than five years. The original story concept was submitted to Weekly Shōnen Jump shortly after the cancellation of Zombiepowder, but was rejected. Akira Toriyama, creator of Dragon Ball, saw the story and wrote a letter of encouragement to Kubo.As of July 2012, Bleach has reached 525 chapters, and an anime adaptation began running in Japan in 2004. The manga was named a winner of the Shogakukan Manga Award for its category in 2004. 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, a third on December 13, 2008, and a fourth on December 4, 2010. Kubo also appeared in the episode 112 of the Japanese radio program of Bleach B-Station. In that program, Kubo was interviewed byMasakazu 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 DiegoComic-Con International.