is a Japanese manga artist, well known for his work including unique and original gambling ideas, deep psychological analyses of characters, and his distinct art style. Yakuza and gambling are recurring themes in his manga. In English-speaking countries, he is best known as the author of Kaiji, a gambling-related manga, and Akagi, a mahjong-related manga. In 1998, he won the Kodansha Manga Award for Gambling Apocalypse: Kaiji. An onomatopoeia, "zawa" (), meaning an uneasy atmosphere, frequently appears in his comics and is considered his trademark.

Career
Fukumoto was born in the Kanagawa Prefecture, and grew up reading Perman and other shōnen manga as a child, as well as studying karate and kickboxing due to wanting to get stronger. In high school, he went on to study architecture, and in his own words, he was "a dazed student, neither good nor a delinquent." After graduating, Fukumoto got a job as a site foreman at a construction company, but found the work boring and decided to become a manga artist to try and get a big break in life. During this time, when he pitched a kendo manga to Kodansha, he was advised to work as an assistant to gain some experience first. He began working under , who was looking for assistants at the time, and quit the construction company after only three months of employment, with the reasoning that if he worked there long enough and obtained qualifications, he would not be able to quit. Despite being hired as an assistant, he was unable to draw skillfully, and was assigned solely to work odd jobs such as cooking. After about a year and a half, Kazama, who was worried about Fukumoto, told him that he was too rough and that he might be better suited to be a truck driver. As a result, Fukumoto quit his job as an assistant after about a year and a half.

In 1980, he made his debut with Yoroshiku! Junjō Daishō, published in Monthly Shōnen Champion. Since then, his work had not achieved large-scale success for a while, so he worked part-time at places like champon restaurants to earn a living while submitting his entries to Tetsuya Chiba Awards in the meantime. In 1983, his work Wani no Hatsukoi won the Outstanding Newcomer Award at the Tetsuya Chiba Awards. Despite having a good part-time job and earning a good amount of money, he chose to make do with manga alone, and quit at 24 years old. One of the pseudonyms he used at the time was .

During his debut, he mainly drew human drama stories, but in the 1980s, the Japanese economy was booming and gambling-themed manga was thriving, so he began drawing gambling manga because it was easier to get work in that field. At the end of the 1980s, his mahjong gambling manga Ten began serialization in Kindai Mahjong Gold. It became Fukumoto's first popular work and established him as a well-known manga artist.

In 1996, Fukumoto began serializing Kaiji in Weekly Young Magazine. The series has become a hit, publishing over 70 volumes and selling over 20 million copies, sealing his popularity as a manga artist.

Fukumoto donated 30 million yen to the areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake that occurred on March 11, 2011, and has contributed a supportive illustration. He has also visited the affected areas to sign and draw illustrations for the victims. In recent years, he has been involved in making cameo appearances in live-action adaptations of his work, and writing screenplays for the second and third Kaiji films.

Style
Fukumoto is known as one of the leading gambling manga authors, and his work is defined by detailed psychological descriptions and intense characterizations. Much of his works depict men in extreme games, which range from modifications of existing games to original ones altogether. The number of female characters in his gambling-focused works is extremely low, although they do appear quite commonly in works that mainly deal with human nature. Later, however, he began Yami-Mahjong Fighter: Mamiya, a gambling-focused series with a female protagonist.

When drawing, he has a unique penning method of spinning the manuscript paper as he draws. In July 2009, he appeared at the "Big Comic Superior Presents: The 6th "Rieko Saibara's Life Drawing Skill Showdown"" event held at Loft Plus One in Shinjuku, Tokyo, where he drew an illustration of Kaiji in his unique way in front of a large audience and astounded other performers such as Saibara and Hisashi Eguchi.

His favorite gambling activities include mahjong and sic bo, among others. His least favorite is horse racing. He has been playing mahjong since junior high school days, and admitted that though he has rarely lost a game when he was in school, his current level of ability is average. According to him, he has "tournament luck" and has even won mahjong tournaments between mahjong manga artists. He has also participated in professional mahjong matches. He played about two games against Akagi and Kaiji's voice actor Masato Hagiwara, who is known as one of the best mahjong players in the entertainment industry, and made Hagiwara say "I don't think I can beat him."

Works

 (1977) - Maiden work
 (1980, Monthly Shōnen Champion) - Debut
 (1980, Monthly Shōnen Champion)
 (1980, Monthly Shōnen Champion) - First serial story
 (1982)
 (1983, Morning)
 (1983, Gekiga All Mahjong) — Story by Tsurugina Mai.
 (1986, Manga Action)
 (1986-1995, Kindai Mahjong Original)
 (1987-1988, Tokusen Mahjong)
 (1989–2002, Kindai Mahjong Gold)
 (1990, Gekiga Mahjong Jidai)
 (1990, Weekly Shōnen Magazine)
 (1990–1991, Keiba Gold)
 (1991–2018, Kindai Mahjong)
 (1992–1996, Action Pizazz)
 (1996, Weekly Manga Sunday)
 (1996–1999, Weekly Young Magazine)
 (2000–2004, Weekly Young Magazine)
 (2004–2007, Weekly Young Magazine)
 (2009–2012, Weekly Young Magazine)
 (2013–2017, Weekly Young Magazine)
 (2017–present, Weekly Young Magazine)
 (1999, Pachinko Jidai)
 (2000-2001, Weekly Shōnen Magazine)
 (2002–2006, Big Comic Original)
 (2013–2020, Big Comic Original)
 (2007–2009, Weekly Shōnen Magazine)
 (2011–2013, Weekly Shōnen Magazine)
 (2019–present, Kindai Mahjong)
 (Q3 2023, Morning)

As writer
 (1998, Young Magazine Uppers) — Illustrated by Kaiji Kawaguchi
 (1999, Young Magazine Uppers) — Illustrated by Kaiji Kawaguchi
 (2011, theatrical film) — Screenplay
 (2020, theatrical film) — Original story, screenplay

As supervisor
 (2008–2012, Kindai Mahjong Original) - Written by Keiichirō Hara, spin-off of Akagi
 (2012–2014, Kindai Mahjong Original → Kindai Manga) - Written by Keiichirō Hara
 (2009–2021, Kindai Mahjong) - Written by Jirō Maeda, spin-off of Ten
 (2015–2020, Monthly Young Magazine → Comic Days) - Written by Tensei Hagiwara, illustrated by Tomohiro Hashimoto and Tomoki Miyoshi, spin-off of Kaiji
 (2017–present, Weekly Young Magazine) - Written by Tensei Hagiwara, illustrated by Motomu Uehara and Kazuya Arai, spin-off of Kaiji
 (2017–present, Yawaraka Spirits) - Written by Kenji Yokoi, illustrated by Motomu Uehara and Kazuya Arai, spin-off of The Legend of the Strongest, Kurosawa!
 (2021–present, Morning) - Written by Tensei Hagiwara, illustrated by Tomoki Miyoshi and Yoshiaki Seto, spin-off of Kaiji

TV/Movie appearances
 (2009, theatrical film)
 (2011, theatrical film)
 (2017, TV Tokyo) - Episodes 9, 10
 (2017, SKY PerfecTV!) - Episode 2
 (2018, Nippon Television) - Episode 7
 (2018, TV Tokyo) - Episode 5
 (2020, theatrical film)

Miscellaneous
 (2011, Takeshobo)
 (2014, Government Public Relations Online)
 (2015) - End card (ep 4)
 (2017) - End card (ep 9)

References

External links 
 

 
1958 births
Living people
Manga artists from Kanagawa Prefecture
People from Yokosuka, Kanagawa
Winner of Kodansha Manga Award (General)
후쿠모토 노부유키(, 1958년 12월 10일 ~)는 일본의 만화가이다. 현실의 어두운 면을 직설적으로 표현하며 강렬한 등장인물과 치밀한 심리묘사로 많은 인기를 누리고 있다. "서툰 그림과 뛰어난 스토리텔링의" 만화가로서 유명하다.

약력 
공업고등학교를 졸업한 후 건설회사에 취직하여 현장감독으로서 근무하며 퇴근한 후 집에 돌아와서는 만화를 그렸다.
검도만화를 고단샤에 가져갔으나 "우선 어시스턴트로 일하며 경험을 쌓는게 어떤가"하는 권유를 받고 입사 후 불과 석달 만에 회사를 그만둔다.
오래 근무하며 자격을 취득하거나 하면 현실에 그만 길들여져 그만둘 수 없으리라는 생각에서였다.

<바람의 대지>를 그린 카자마 에이지의 문하생으로 들어갔지만 그림이 서툴렀던 후쿠모토는 밥짓는 따위의 잡일만 하게 되었다.
1년반 정도 지난 후, 카자마로부터 "후쿠모토군은 트럭운전수 같은 것이 체질에 맞는 것이 아닐까?"라는 말을 듣고 어시스턴트를 그만두게 되었다.

1980년, <월간 소년 챔피언>에 《잘부탁해,순정대장(よろしく純情大将)》을 게재하며 데뷔하나 이렇다할 인기작을 내지 못하고 짬뽕가게에서 아르바이트를 하면서 생계를 꾸려가면서 각종 만화전에 응모하며 기나긴 수행의 나날을 보낸다.

이 시절, 불확실한 미래에 방황하며 친구들과 즐기는 마작에서만 자신의 정체성을 확인하던 경험이 훗날의 작품에 영향을 끼쳤다.

1987년, 《악어의 첫사랑(ワニの初恋)》으로 제4회 치바 테츠야 상을 수상, 또한 아르바이트로 생계를 순조롭게 꾸리고 있었지만, "오로지 만화 한 길만을 걷기 위해" 24살 때 그만두어 스스로 배수진을 쳤다.

1980년대엔 일본경제의 호황으로 도박을 소재로 한 만화가 융성하고 있었기 때문에 일이 많이 들어온다는 이유로 도박 만화를 그리기 시작한다. 1980년대 말부터 "근대 마작 골드"에 《텐(天)- 텐호로 밀고나가는 쾌남아(天和通りの快男児)》를 연재, 이 작품은 증간되어 후쿠모토로서는 최초의 인기작이 되었고 만화가로서 처음 이름이 알려지게 되었다.

이 무렵부터 도박만화를 많이 그리게 되어 "근대마작"에 연재된 《아카기 - 어둠에 내려온 천재》와 "액션 피잣쓰"에 연재된 《은과 금》으로 일약 인기작가의 반열에 오르게 된다.

1996년부터 "주간 영 매거진"에 《도박묵시록 카이지》의 연재를 개시한다. '카이지' 시리즈는 2009년 현재 39권째까지 연재, 1000만권의 판매부수를 올려 후쿠모토의 인기를 일약 인기 만화가로 부상케 만들었다.

작풍 

강렬한 성격의 인물 묘사와 극한의 승부에 모든 것을 거는 남자들을 그리는 작품이 많다.
또한, 여성캐릭터의 등장이 극도로 적다. 그 이유는 "그리지 않았더니 그리지를 못하게 되어버렸다."라는 본인의 말.
초기작품에는 자주 등장하고 있으나 도박만화를 그리기 시작하고 나서부터는 "도박만화에 여성은 필요없었다."

세밀한 심리묘사를 특징으로 하며 마작등의 도박에 관련된 작품으로 알려져 있지만
작중에서는 기존의 도박에 구애되지 않고 수많은 독창적인 도박을 고안해내고 있다.
자신이 스토리를 쓴 카와구치 에이지 (카와구치 카이지로 정정)의 "고백", "생존"과 같은 작품도 있다.

표현등의 특징 

 웅성’() 하는 의성어가 많이 사용된다. 이것은 심리적인 동요를 표현하기 위한 것이라고 생각되며 주로 주요등장인물의 등뒤의 보조인물들이 일제히 동요하거나 주변 분위기가 고양되는 장면에 사용된다.
 대사 등에서 말 끝에, "..."와 "!"가 많이 사용된다.
 그 밖에 "다메(안돼, 싫어, 틀렸어)"라는 대사도 작품, 등장인물 가릴 것이 없이 많이 사용된다.
 야쿠자의 구성원과 부호의 보디가드 등의 개성없는 캐릭터들은 주로 검은 옷을 입고 있다.
 등장인물이 정신적인 충격을 받았을 때 그림 전체를 찌끄러뜨리는 연출을 한다.
 작품에서 사용하는 영어표현에 직역같은 부자연스러운 표현이 많다.

일화 

 마작은 중학시절부터 시작하여 본인에 의하면 학창시절땐 거의 져본적이 없다고 하나, 현재는 그저 그런 실력이라고 한다. 좋아하는 도박은 마작 싫어하는 도박은 경마.
 최근의 취미로 밝힌 것은 골프, 휴일엔 공원에서 아이들과 놀곤 한다고 말했다.
 영화감독 쿠로사와 아키라의 영향을 받았으며 그중에서 좋아하는 작품은 "이키루"(살다). 최강전설 쿠로자와의 주인공이름은 아키라감독에서 유래한다.
 뮤지션으로서는 일본 록밴드 THE BLUE HEARTS등을 좋아한다.그래서 인지 "도박묵시록 카이지"의 제 1권에서는 첫장면으로 "미래는 우리들의 손 안에 있다"라는 말을 사용하고 있으며 카이지는 일본 펑크록밴드 THE HIGH-LOWS의 티셔츠를 입고 있다.
 해외여행을 좋아하며 북한에도 다녀온 적이 있다.
 그의 작품《최강전설 쿠로사와》는 무명시절의 자신을 모델로 한 것이며 이 작품을 그리며 눈물을 흘린적도 있다고 한다.
 작품의 제목에 주인공의 이름이 많은 이유는 독자가 주인공을 빨리 기억해주길 원하기 때문이라고 한다.

1958년 출생
살아있는 사람
일본의 만화가
가나가와현 출신
20세기 일본 사람
21세기 일본 사람