Daisuke Igarashi

Daisuke Igarashi (五十嵐 大介, Igarashi Daisuke) is a manga artist born in Saitama (2 April 1969), Japan. He began his professional career in 1993. Igarashi is known among manga fans for his bold, detailed art style and innovative storytelling. While his works are often described as fantastical, they can hardly be categorized as traditional fantasy stories; instead, Igarashi draws inspiration from folklore and nature combined with surrealism and spiritual themes to create a style that has earned comparisons to the films of Hayao Miyazaki (Igarashi himself stated in an interview that Miyazaki's film My Neighbor Totoro was a key influence on his decision to become a manga artist).

While he is not a major commercial force in Japan, Igarashi is well respected in critical circles. His manga Witches received an Excellence Prize at the 2004 Japan Media Arts Festival. Another one of his works, Little Forest, was nominated for the Osamu Tezuka Culture Award in 2005. While he is known for his short stories he also created a longer story titled Children of the Sea, which was serialized in the progressive manga anthology Ikki. His manga Saru was nominated for the 4th Manga Taishō.[1]