Buichi Terasawa

Buichi Terasawa (寺沢 武一 Terasawa Buichi, March 30, 1955 in Asahikawa, Hokkaido - September 8, 2023) was a Japanese manga artist. His most famous works include Goku Midnight Eye and Space Adventure Cobra.

In the early days of his career when he was still unknown, his contributed materials of comics to a magazine that won him a prize, an event that led him into the world of comics.

In 1976, he came to Tokyo and began to study under the famous Japanese manga artist, Osamu Tezuka. During the period he worked with the Manga Department of Tezuka Productions, his illustration work entitled "Mother Earth, Turn Green Again" was awarded the Tezuka Award. In 1977, he began drawing for the Japanese weekly manga publication "Shonen Jump", a popular Japanese manga magazine.

From around the beginning of the 1980s, he began to see the personal computer as a tool for the creative purposes. In 1985, he kicked off an eight-color comic book series called "BAT". In the ensuing years, in parallel with advances in the personal computer, he created "TAKERU" (1992), the world's first computer graphics comic book series.

Next came "COBRA", "BAT" and "GUNDRAGON SIGMA" (In this latter series, only the main character is drawn by hand) and several other works.

Even at the present time, when comic books produced with the use of computer graphics have become common, there are very few artists that can come close to matching his ideas and quality.

His works include original works, scenarios and works he has directed. Representative works include a CD-ROM format work for use with a PC, "COBRA II, A Man of Legend" and original animation videos such as "GOKU", "GOKU II", "Raven Tengu Kabuto" and others.

At the present time, annual sales of his full-length comic books exceed 20 million copies. Buichi Terasawa's works are translated and published in more than ten countries and are featured in comics and animation-related gatherings and exhibitions around the world.

Whilst in Japan promoting the 5th Element, Luc Besson met with Terasawa to discuss the current state of Sci-Fi . Besson is reputedly a fan of Terasawa's work, partially due to the enormous popularity of Space Cobra in France.

Illness and death
Terasawa was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor in 1998, and despite surgery and chemotherapy, he relapsed and after surgery was left paralyzed on the left side of his body. Terasawa died from a heart attack on September 8, 2023, at the age of 68.