Panini Comics Pays Homage to Manga Artist Daisuke Igarashi

Daisuke Igarashi, born in 1969 in Saitama Prefecture, is a Japanese manga artist known for his meticulous hand-drawn style using simple tools like a nib pen, ballpoint pen, and ruler. He studied oil painting at Tama Art University and traveled across Japan sketching landscapes before entering the competitive manga world at age 24. His early influences include shōjo manga, Yoshiharu Tsuge's works, and Hayao Miyazaki's films, particularly My Neighbor Totoro (1988), which inspired him to become a manga artist. His debut work, Hanashippanashi (1994), features short stories about extraordinary everyday events. Igarashi's manga often feature legendary characters, human-animal hybrids, and young girls seeking truth, all set against a dominant, magnificent nature rendered through dense, seemingly imperfect lines that create a striking unity. His breakthrough came with Children of the Sea (2006), published in Italy by Panini Comics with translation by Massimo Soumaré. Other Italian editions include Spirit in the Sky (2002) by Star Comics, Witches (2003) by Panini, and Umwelt (2017) by Dynit. An animated film adaptation of Children of the Sea, directed by Ayumu Watanabe and distributed by Nexo Digital, was released in early December 2019. Igarashi dedicates up to twelve hours daily to his craft, describing his drawing as the only way to express atmospheres and emotions through beauty or harshness.