Harold Sakuishi is the pen name of Takahiro Sakuishi, a Japanese manga artist born on March 16, 1969, in Aichi Prefecture. He adopted his professional name from the professional wrestler Harold Sakata. Sakuishi began his career in the manga industry after winning the 17th Tetsuya Chiba Award for Excellent Newcomer in 1987 for his work Sōwaikan. His first major success came with the series Gorillaman, which was serialized in Kodansha’s Weekly Young Magazine from 1988 to 1993. The series, which he created at the age of 19, was inspired by a real-life classmate and the idea of placing a character like Golgo 13 in a school setting, and it eventually won the 14th Kodansha Manga Award in the general category in 1990.

Following the success of Gorillaman, Sakuishi went on to create several other notable series, often drawing from his personal interests. His interest in baseball led to Stopper Busujima, serialized from 1996 to 1998, and his interest in martial arts influenced the series Bakaichi. His most internationally recognized work is the music-themed manga Beck, which was serialized in Kodansha’s Monthly Shōnen Magazine from 1999 to 2008. Beck, a coming-of-age story about a teenager who discovers his passion for rock music, earned Sakuishi his second Kodansha Manga Award in the shōnen category in 2002 and has sold millions of copies.

Several of Sakuishi’s works have been adapted into other media. Gorillaman was adapted into a two-episode original video animation by J.C.Staff, released in 1992 and 1993. Beck inspired a 26-episode anime television series in 2004 and a live-action film in 2010. Beyond manga, Sakuishi has contributed character designs for the video game Heavy Metal Thunder in 2005.

Sakuishi’s artistic identity is characterized by stories focused on individuals pursuing their passions, whether in music, sports, or other creative fields. His work is known for incorporating detailed research and realistic elements to bring these worlds to life. After Beck, he explored historical fiction with Seven Shakespeares, serialized in Big Comic Spirits from 2009 to 2011, followed by a sequel, Seven Shakespeares: Non Sanz Droict, which began in 2016 and later went on indefinite hiatus. He also serialized the series Rin in Monthly Shōnen Magazine from 2013 to 2016.

In recognition of his contributions to manga, Sakuishi received the International Spotlight Award from the Harvey Awards in 2018. He continued to revisit his early work with the sequel series Gorillaman 40, serialized in 2022, and its spin-off Gorillaman 40: Family Arc, which concluded in 2024. His latest work, The Band, a new music-themed series, began serialization in Monthly Shōnen Magazine in December 2024 to commemorate the magazine’s 50th anniversary.