is a Japanese manga artist. After graduating from Gunma Prefectural Maebashi Commercial High School in 1969, Adachi worked as an assistant for Isami Ishii. He made his manga debut in 1970 with Kieta Bakuon, based on a manga originally created by Satoru Ozawa. Kieta was published in Deluxe Shà Ânen Sunday (a manga magazine published by Shogakukan).
Adachi is well known for romantic comedy and sports manga (especially baseball) such as Touch, H2, Slow Step, Miyuki and Cross Game. He has been described as a writer of "delightful dialogue", a genius at portraying everyday life, "the greatest pure storyteller", and "a master manga artist". He is one of the few manga artists to write for shà Ânen, shà Âjo and seinen manga magazines, and be popular in all three.
His works have been carried in manga magazines such as Weekly Shà Ânen Sunday, Ciao, Shà Âjo Comic, Big Comic and Petit Comic, and most of his works are published through Shogakukan and Gakken. He was one of the flagship authors in the new Monthly Shà Ânen Sunday magazine which began publication in June 2009. Two short story collections, Short Program and Short Program 2 (both through Viz Media), have been released in North America, and Viz Media scheduled to begin publishing Cross Game in October 2010. The first volume was released on October 12.
He modeled the spelling of ãÂÂã ã¡ (rather than å®ÂéÂÂ) for his family name after the example of his older brother, manga artist Tsutomu Adachi. In addition, it has been suggested that the accurate portrayal of sibling rivalry in Touch may come from Adachi's experiences while growing up with his older brother. Adachi did the character designs for the OVA anime series Nozomi Witches, so he is sometimes incorrectly given credit for creating the original series.
Prior to 1969, Adachi began submitting works to the manga magazine COM. In 1969, he followed his older brother's lead and moved to Tokyo to begin work as an assistant to manga artist Isami Ishii. The following year, he made his professional debut with Kieta Bakuon. He continued publishing various short stories and shorter series throughout the 1970s based on works created by others, the most well known being his adaptation of Rainbowman from 1972 to 1973. In 1978, he published his first original series, Nine, in Weekly Shà Ânen Sunday. He published two other original series, Hiatari Ryà Âkà Â! from 1979 to 1981 in Weekly Shà Âjo Comic, and Miyuki from 1980 to 1984 in Shà Ânen Big Comic.
Adachi became a household name with the publication of his series Touch from 1981 to 1986 in Weekly Shà Ânen Sunday. In 1982, Hiatari Ryà Âkà Â! was adapted into a live action TV drama series. The following year, 1983, was a big year for Adachi. He received the 28th Annual Shogakukan Manga Award for shà Ânen/shà Âjo manga his two series Touch and Miyuki. His Miyuki series was adapted into both an anime television series and a live-action film and Nine was adapted into three films, with another following in 1984.
Touch was adapted into an anime television series in 1985 and the series ran for two years on Fuji TV. Adachi's romantic shà Âjo manga series, Slow Step, was serialized in Ciao from 1986 to 1991 and another romantic comedy series, Rough, appeared in Weekly Shà Ânen Sunday from 1987 to 1989. Adachi then released Niji Iro Tà Âgarashi, a fantasy medieval romantic comedy manga series, from 1990 to 1992 in Weekly Shà Ânen Sunday.
JinbÃÂ, a romantic comedy about the relationship between a stepfather and stepdaughter, was serialized in Big Comic Original from 1992 to 1997. Adachi's longest manga series, H2 was serialized in Weekly Shà Ânen Sunday from 1992 to 1999 and compiled in 34 volumes. This manga was adapted into an anime television series which aired on TV Asahi from 1995 to 1996.
From 2000 to 2001, Adachi published a fantasy romantic comedy series in Weekly Shà Ânen Sunday titled Itsumo Misora. His next longer series was the boxing romantic comedy, Katsu!, published from 2001 to 2005 in Weekly Shà Ânen Sunday. In 2005, H2 was adapted into a live action drama series aired on TBS in Japan, and Touch was adapted into a live action movie released by Toho. He also began his manga series Cross Game, serialized in Weekly Shà Ânen Sunday. The following year, Rough was adapted into a live action movie, also released by Toho.
Due to achieving total manga sales numbering over 200 million volumes, Weekly Shà Ânen Sunday devoted issue 26 in 2008 to Adachi and his works. In 2009, Adachi won the 54th Annual Shogakukan Manga Award for shà Ânen manga for Cross Game, which was adapted into an anime television series which began airing on TV Tokyo in April 2009.
Adachi began Q and A in the inaugural issue of Monthly Shà Ânen Sunday in June 2009. ' began in the April 27, 2011, issue of Weekly Shà Ânen Sunday. In May 2012 he finished Q and A and began his new series, Mix, a semi-sequel to Touch set 30 years later, in the June 2012 issue of Monthly Shà Ânen Sunday. Currently, Adachi's works have sold over 200 million copies.
These are original series created by Adachi.
Many of Adachi's short works have been collected in Short Program, an anthology series with four volumes.
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These series were based on works originally created by another author or artist.