Tite Kubo

• Name Nonen — 久保 帯人 • Nonus — ja • Birth Name — Noriaki Kubo • Born — 26 June 1977 • Birthplace — Fuchū, Japan • Area — Manga artist, character designer • Notable Works — Bleach • Spouse — unknown (m. 2012) • Manga Artist — y

Kubo was born on June 26, 1977, in Hiroshima Prefecture, where his father worked as a town council member. In elementary school, he had already decided to become a manga artist, due to reading the manga Saint Seiya. 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 Ichigo Kurosaki, 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. Bleach ran for 15 years of serialization and reached over 698 chapters from 2001 to 2016. Additionally, an anime adaptation of the series was broadcast in TV Tokyo for 8 years from 2004 to 2012, spanning over 366 episodes. 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. The first 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 by Masakazu 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 San Diego Comic-Con. Kubo provided character designs for Madhouse's anime adaptations of Ango Sakaguchi's Sakura no Mori no Mankai no Shita and Ryūnosuke Akutagawa's The Spider's Thread and Hell Screen, which are parts of the Aoi Bungaku series. In 2018, Kubo returned to Weekly Shōnen Jump and published a one-shot, Burn the Witch, in commemoration of the magazine's 50th anniversary. Later on, in 2020, the one-shot was serialized in the magazine with a seasonal release schedule. The 4-chapter first season was published in August to September 2020. A second season of the series has been announced.

Both of Kubo's serialized works are shōnen manga with a heavy focus on action. His fight scenes are noted for swift cuts and dramatic angle changes between panels, as well as minimal inclusion of background art or splash pages. As a character designer, Kubo held to a distinctively angular and lanky style through Zombiepowder and the early portions of Bleach, which filled out somewhat as Bleach continued. His designs often incorporate elements of body horror.

Initially appearing in Weekly Shōnen Jump and published by Shueisha in Tokyo, Japan, the manga have been licensed in North America by Viz Media. • Zombiepowder. (1999–2000, Weekly Shōnen Jump, Shueisha. Collected in 4 volumes) • Bleach (2001–2016, Weekly Shōnen Jump, Shueisha. Collected in 74 volumes. • Burn the Witch (2020–present, Weekly Shōnen Jump, Shueisha. Collected in 1 volume)

Prior to being serially published, Tite Kubo wrote and illustrated several one-shot manga. Three of these were later published in English, included in Viz Media's collected volumes of Zombiepowder. These short manga display the rapid development of Kubo's artstyle in the mid-90s. Afterwards, Kubo published another one-shot after Bleach ended, with an artstyle that has been widely recognized as his own. • Ultra Unholy Hearted Machine (1996, Weekly Shōnen Jump, Shueisha). Kubo's first published manga, his trademark angular designs are absent. • Rune Master Urara (1996, Weekly Shōnen Jump, Shueisha). Has rough art and an in-between style. • Bad Shield United (1997, Weekly Shōnen Jump, Shueisha). The character aesthetics that carried through Zombiepowder. and the early arcs of Bleach are in full evidence here. • Burn the Witch (2018, Weekly Shōnen Jump, Shueisha). Kubo's one-shot after Bleach ended. • Bleach: New Breathes From Hell (2021, Weekly Shōnen Jump, Shueisha). One-shot set after the events of Bleach.

• Bleach All Colour but the Black • Bleach Official Bootleg • Bleach JET

• Bleach Official Character Book SOULs • Bleach Official Anime Guide Book VIBEs • Bleach Official Character Book 2 MASKED • Bleach Official Character Book 3 UNMASKED • Bleach 13 BLADEs.

• 2020: With Ryohgo Narita: Bleach: Can't Fear Your Own World, Vol. 1 (Novel), Viz publishing, • 2020: With Ryohgo Narita: Bleach: Can't Fear Your Own World, Vol. 2 (Novel), Viz publishing, • 2021: With Ryohgo Narita: Bleach: Can't Fear Your Own World, Vol. 3 (Novel), Viz publishing,

• Dragon Quest X (2015) – character and weapon designs • Sakura Wars (2019) – character designs