Makoto Kubota is a Japanese manga artist and original creator, born on June 24, 1967, in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. He made his professional debut in 1991, winning an honorable mention in the Comic Morning四季賞 (Comic Morning Shiki Sho) for his debut work, which was published in Kodansha's Morning magazine. Early in his career, he worked under the pen name Nureyev Kubota, a reference to the racehorse.

Kubota has contributed to several manga magazines published by companies such as Square Enix and Kodansha. His body of work includes a variety of manga series that have been released in both collected editions and, in some cases, adapted for television. Among his completed manga series are GOGO! Purin Teikoku, Fancy Guy Kyatoran (also known as 妙妙貓先生), and Chouzetsu Henshin!! Earth Kaiser. He also worked on the manga adaptation of the picture book series Shampoo Ōji.

Kubota is best known as the creator of the manga Tentai Senshi Sunred (Astro Fighter Sunred). This series, which parodies the tropes of Japanese superhero (tokusatsu) fiction, was serialized in Square Enix's seinen manga magazine Young Gangan from December 2004 to December 2014, spanning a total of 20 collected volumes. The story is notable for its comedic inversion of the genre, depicting a rude and lazy hero living a mundane life alongside a polite and conscientious villain organization.

The success of Tentai Senshi Sunred led to two anime television adaptations produced by AIC A.S.T.A. The first season aired from October 2008 to March 2009, and the second season, Tentai Senshi Sunred 2, followed from October 2009 to March 2010. Each episode was structured as a series of short segments.

Prior to Sunred, Kubota’s picture book series Shampoo Ōji, written by Keiko Nagita, was adapted into a short anime series that began airing in October 2007. Beyond his own creations, Kubota has also contributed to other anime productions as an artist for end cards, including the series Paniponi Dash! in 2005 and Natsume Arata no Kekkonshoku in 2010.

Kubota is recognized for his distinctive artistic identity, which combines a cute and simple drawing style with a focus on everyday, slice-of-life comedy. A recurring theme in his major works is the subversion and affectionate parody of tokusatsu and superhero conventions, often placing fantastical characters into relatable, domestic situations. This approach has earned him a dedicated following and established him as a unique comedic voice in the manga industry. His work on Tentai Senshi Sunred remains his most significant contribution to the medium, demonstrating how genre parody can be sustained over a long-form narrative.