Satoshi Urushihara

Satoshi Urushihara (うるし原 智志 (pen name) or 漆原 智志 (real name)) is a Japanese manga artist and illustrator known for his distinctive style of featuresque and beautiful characters. His work is the basis for anime such as Plastic Little and Legend of Lemnear, and appears in the Langrisser and Growlanser series of tactical CRPGs.

Early life
Satoshi Urushihara was born on February 9, 1966 in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. He met fellow illustrator Kinji Yoshimoto in 1983 while attending a technical high school in Miyajima. He effectively started his career in manga and anime when he was selected as animator for the animated movie Jungle Boy Kenya (少年ケニヤ), produced by Kadokawa Haruki Jimusho and Toei Animation, a position he was actively looking for.

Anime and manga career
After graduating from high school in 1984, he was employed by Toei Animation and after gaining some experience he was promoted to key animator with the animated TV series The Transformers.

The next year, Urushihara became a freelancer, working mainly in original video animations. It was his work with the OVA Megazone 23 Part II (1986) that made him recognized by producers of the AIC studio. This lead him to be the character designer and animation supervisor of the adult-restricted OVA White Shadow (ホワイトシャドウ) (New Cream Lemon series, episode 2) released in 1987. This work was his debut as character designer, although at the time of the original OVA release, his name was kept secret and afterwards announced on the official website of Earthwork.

In 1990, along with illustrators Kinji Yoshimoto and Yoshihiro Kimura, he created the production company Earthwork.

Manga

 * Chirality
 * Eidoron Shadow (known as Eidron Shadow in Germany)
 * Legend of Lemnear
 * Mirowoire: The Mirror Within a Mirror
 * Plastic Little
 * Ragnarock City
 * RC Twins (enclosed within the "Sigma" artbook)
 * Ryoujoku (also known as Love Intermission)
 * Vampire Master Dark Crimson

Artbooks

 * Satoshi Urushihara Cell Works. ISBN 4896010868. (1994/05/01) (Note: title is in English.)
 * Urushihara Satoshi Illustration Collection Langrisser Complete I II III (うるし原智志イラスト集ラングリッサー・コンプリート I II III). ISBN 489389126X. (1996/10)
 * Urushihara Satoshi Illustration Collection Venus (うるし原智志イラスト集VENUS). ISBN 405601681X. (1997/11/06)
 * Urushihara Satoshi Illustration Collection Legend of Langrisser (うるし原智志イラスト集レジェンド・オブ・ラングリッサー). ISBN 405601955X. (1998/08/14)
 * Growlanser Character Collection (グローランサーキャラクターコレクション). ISBN 4840219184. (2002/08)
 * Urushihara Satoshi Illustration Collection Love (Naked Dance) (うるし原智志イラスト集LOVE(裸舞)). ISBN 4056031223. (2003/04)
 * Growlanser IV—Wayfarer of the time—Official Special Fan Book (グローランサー4‐Wayfarer of the time‐公式スペシャルファンブック). ISBN 479732547X. (2003/12) (Note: title is in English, with katakana transliteration.)
 * Urushihara Satoshi Illustration Collection U:Collection (うるし原智志イラスト集　U：COLLECTION). ISBN 4063645339. (2003/12/17)
 * Growlanser IV—Wayfarer of the time—Character & Scenario Collection (グローランサー4—Wayfarer of the time—キャラクター&シナリオコレクション). ISBN 4840226687. (2004/06) (Note: title is in English, with katakana transliteration.)
 * Growlanser IV Return: Official Visual Fan Book (グローランサー4リターン 公式ビジュアルファンブック). ISBN 4861761131. (2005/03)
 * Urushihara Satoshi Illustration Collection Φ [Phi] (うるし原智志イラスト集 Φ). ISBN 4056039615. (2005/04/02)
 * Urushihara Satoshi visual works ~[From] Front Innocent Vol. 1~ (うるし原智志ビジュアルワークス~フロントイノセントvol.1より~). ISBN 4757724969. (2005/10/03)
 * Urushihara Satoshi Illustration Collection Σ [Sigma] (うるし原智志イラスト集Σ). ISBN 4056044856. (2006/06/30)
 * Reira Urushihara Satoshi Illustration Collection (麗裸うるし原智志イラスト集). ISBN 4056056706. (2009/11/30)

Anime

 * Another Lady Innocent (Japanese title Front Innocent)
 * Crying Freeman (Production Supervision (vol 3 & 4))
 * Growlanser IV (Character Design)
 * Legend of Lemnear
 * Plastic Little
 * Bubblegum Crisis (Chief Production Supervisor (ep 7), Guest Character Designer (ep 7))
 * Record of Lodoss War (OVA) (Assistant Animator, Production Supervision (Ep 5))

Video Games

 * Langrisser series
 * Growlanser series
 * Cybernator (Japanese title Assault Suits Valken)
 * Next King: Millennial Kingdom of Love

Other works

 * Provided artwork for the Street Fighter II drama CDs Mad Revenger and Portrait of the Magician.
 * Satoshi Urushihara Posterbox
 * G.I. Joe
 * Transformers_series
 * Tenma Magazine covers
 * Staff member of many anime, including Record of Lodoss War and Bubblegum Crisis OAV
 * In his artbook Nostalgic Heroines, Urushihara creates a series of images that involves characters, mainly female, from well-known popular anime series including Neon Genesis Evangelion, Nadesico, and Dirty Pair.