It has been announced that Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, a manga artist known for his character designs for the anime Mobile Suit Gundam, will begin a new series called Silver Road - Handa Ginzan Ibun in issue 14 of the manga magazine Young Jump (Shueisha), which goes on sale March 6th. This will be the first time that the 77-year-old Yasuhiko has serialized a manga in the magazine. The series will be a short, concentrated, biweekly series, depicting the great Meiji era merchant Godai Tomoatsu. The announcement was made in issue 13 of the magazine, which goes on sale February 27th.
When Yasuhiko began serializing "Inui and Tatsumi: The Transbaikal War Chronicles," which ran in "Afternoon" (Kodansha) from September 2018 to May 2024, it was announced that it would be his "last new series," which became a hot topic, but it did not end there, and instead a new series will begin, albeit in a short, concentrated period.
Yasuhiko was born in 1947 in Engaru, Hokkaido, as a third generation pioneer, and entered Hirosaki University in 1966. He was expelled for participating in student protests, and moved to Tokyo, where he worked on character design and animation direction for Mobile Suit Gundam. He directed the animated feature film Crusher Joe, and also produced the TV anime Gorg, which was based on his own original work. He later became a manga artist, and has released works such as Arion, Venus Wars, Star of the Kurds, Namji, and Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin.
The retrospective exhibition "Yasuhiko Yoshikazu, Artist" will be held at the Aomori Museum of Art (Aomori City) from April 19 to June 29. Retrospective exhibitions have also been held in Kobe and Shimane, and will be held at the Tomakomai City Museum of Art (Tomakomai City, Hokkaido) from July 12 to August 31, and at the Kushiro City Museum of Art (Kushiro City, Hokkaido) from September 13 to November 3.
