Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Nihongo is a Japanese manga artist and educator. He has won a Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize and two Japan Media Arts Awards, the latter for his manga Shindō (1997–98) and Maestro (2003–07).
Biography
Sasō was born in Takarazuka, Hyōgo, Japan, in 1961. He completed his secondary education at Ikeda Senior High School in Osaka,Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". then attended the Faculty of Literature at Waseda University, graduating in 1984.Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". That year he made his debut in manga with Shiroi shiroi natsu yanen, which was published in seinen oriented Young Magazine in 1984.Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". By the late 1990s he had finished such works as Busy Love (Ai ga isogashii) and Template:Interlanguage link multi (Oretachi ni Asu wa Naissu).Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Between 1997 and 1998 Sasō wrote Shindō (The Prodigy), which was published in Manga Action in four volumes.Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". It follow Uta, a young musical prodigy who rejects her gifts in her grief over her father's disappearance.Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". For this manga, Sasō received the 3rd Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize,Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". as well as a Japan Media Arts Award for Excellence. Receiving the latter award, Sasō stated that he had attempted to convey sound through his narrative. The Japan Media Arts Council stated that the manga's "delicate illustrations express the tempestuous emotions of the young girl and boy, while also creating a rhythm for the piano music".Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". A film version of the manga, directed by Koji Hagiuda and starring Riko Narumi and Kenichi Matsuyama, was released in 2007.Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
In early 2004 Sasō began publishing Kodomo no Kodomo (Child's Child) in Manga Action. The manga's three volumes followed Haruna, an 11-year-old fifth grader who became pregnant after having sex with her childhood friend Hiroyuki.Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". In 2008 the story was adapted to film, with Haruna Amari in the lead role.Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Sasō's Template:Nihongo won a Japan Media Arts Award for Excellence in 2008,Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". and was nominated for the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize. Published in Futabasha's Manga Action, and later its website, from 2003 to 2007, the comic follows an unorthodox conductor named Tendō who leads an orchestra and restores its members confidence. A film adaptation, directed by Shōtarō Kobayashi and starring Tori Matsuzaka and Toshiyuki Nishida, is scheduled for 2015.Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
From February to August 2008, Sasō published an adaptation of Yōjirō Takita's film Departures, serialized in twelve instalments in the bi-weekly Big Comic Superior. He agreed to take on the adaptation as he was impressed by Kundō Koyama's script. Sasō had the opportunity to view the film before beginning the adaptation, and came to feel that a too-literal adaptation would not be appropriate. He made changes to the settings and physical appearances of the characters, and increased the focus on the role of music in the story.Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Later in 2008 the serial was compiled in a 280-page volume released by Shogakukan.Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Sasō has written a variety of manga, including Toto's World (about a child who is unable to speak) and Fujisan. Toto's World was adapted to film by NHK.Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". In June 2014 he was one of twenty artists to collaborate on a special Godzilla manga, published by Big Comic Original in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the title character.Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Sasō became a professor at the Department of Manga at Kyoto Seika University in 2006.Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".