Buichi TERASAWA

Important announcement (2018/06/20)

We are sorry to announce you that Buichi TERASAWA, the Manga Guest of Honor for Japan Expo 19th Impact, has to cancel his coming, his state of health preventing him from going on a long journey to the festival. Our thoughts go out to him and his family, and we wish him to get better soon. Click here to read the official announcement

The program related to the 40th Anniversary of Cobra is maintained, incuding the exhibit.

Born in Asahikawa, in Hokkaido, Buichi TERASAWA soon started manga, entering magazine contests. Sending his drawings as a response to an ad published in Black Jack, he drew Osamu TEZUKA’s attention. He then moved to Tokyo to become one of the master’s assistants, in 1976.

The following year, his one-shot title Mother Earth, Turn Green Again was awarded a distinction at the 13th edition of the Tezuka award. Buichi TERASAWA then started to work for Weekly Shônen Jump, and in 1978 began publishing his most famous work: Space Adventure Cobra. The series was an instant success and was the opportunity for the artist to show his creativity in futuristic and mysterious universes, blends of his many influences. This first version of Cobra’s adventures has 18 volumes and kept him busy for 6 years. It was adapted as an anime and made both author and hero famous with the French public.

Buichi TERASAWA carried on with several other series: Black Knight BAT, Midnight Eye Gokû, and Karasutengu Kabuto. As soon as the early 80s, he realized the great potential of computer graphics. He gave it a try, coloring the few pages of Black Knight BAT that were meant to be colored, in 1985. A few years later, in 1992, he went further with the experiment on Takeru, one of the very first comics (and the first manga) in the world that was fully realized with CG, an amazing technical achievement at the time.

In 1995, he offered Cobra a new series of adventures, all in color and using CG. In 1998, he launched another innovative project with the series Gun Dragon Sigma whose heroine is a top model in the flesh. Buichi TERASAWA took photos of her and integrated them in a beautiful futuristic 3D world.

In 2002, he went through a difficult period, personally and professionally. His health prevented him from publishing anything for more than two years. Though he suffers from sequela, he came back in 2005 with Gun Dragon II, before carrying on in 2006 with the color adventures of Cobra.

His work has been translated in many countries and he has sold over 20 million manga around the world.