Aki Irie
Description
Aki Irie is a Japanese manga artist born in Marugame, Kagawa. Before beginning their career as a creator, Irie studied Chinese literature at university. They made several doujinshi, or self-published works, before making a professional debut in 2004 with the short story Albertina, which was published in the magazine Comic Beam. Irie started the first serialized manga in 2006, titled Gunjou Gakusha, which also ran in Comic Beam. This series is a compilation of short stories centered on the color blue. It was collected into four volumes and includes the debut work Albertina.
Irie is best known for two long-running series. The first, Ran and the Gray World, was serialized from 2008 to 2015. It began in the magazine Fellows!, which was later rebranded as Harta in 2013. The series was compiled into seven volumes. The story follows a young witch who can magically age her body to explore the world, dealing with themes of growing up, family, and the consequences of power. In 2011, this work was selected as a recommended piece by the jury committee in the manga division of the Japan Media Arts Festival.
The second major work is Go with the Clouds, North by Northwest, which began serialization in Harta in 2016. The series was later moved to the magazine Blue Knight, now known as Aokishi, following its launch in April 2021. As of 2024, the series has been collected into seven volumes. The story is set in Iceland and follows a seventeen-year-old boy named Kei Miyama who works as a private investigator and possesses the unusual ability to communicate with cars. In 2019, this series was nominated for the Manga Taisho award. A one-shot collection titled Tabi was released in 2022.
In their creative process, Irie has a noted dedication to traditional pen-and-ink illustration, citing a preference for the physical feel of drawing on paper. They have stated that they cannot fully trust the digital world because it does not exist in the same tangible way, and that drawing the first line of the day allows them to feel the pen in their hand and the texture of the paper. Irie has described their artistic pursuit as capturing the changing scenery as one travels to a faraway place, stepping onto the soil of a new location for the first time. Their linework is characterized as having a certain ebullience, and they are known to use a high number of panels per page in their comics, sometimes exceeding twelve or thirteen, which contributes to a rhythmic quality in their storytelling. Irie has also expressed that the experience of making doujinshi impressed upon them a sense of boundless possibility, inspiring them to use the medium to express themself freely and with no constraints.
Irie is best known for two long-running series. The first, Ran and the Gray World, was serialized from 2008 to 2015. It began in the magazine Fellows!, which was later rebranded as Harta in 2013. The series was compiled into seven volumes. The story follows a young witch who can magically age her body to explore the world, dealing with themes of growing up, family, and the consequences of power. In 2011, this work was selected as a recommended piece by the jury committee in the manga division of the Japan Media Arts Festival.
The second major work is Go with the Clouds, North by Northwest, which began serialization in Harta in 2016. The series was later moved to the magazine Blue Knight, now known as Aokishi, following its launch in April 2021. As of 2024, the series has been collected into seven volumes. The story is set in Iceland and follows a seventeen-year-old boy named Kei Miyama who works as a private investigator and possesses the unusual ability to communicate with cars. In 2019, this series was nominated for the Manga Taisho award. A one-shot collection titled Tabi was released in 2022.
In their creative process, Irie has a noted dedication to traditional pen-and-ink illustration, citing a preference for the physical feel of drawing on paper. They have stated that they cannot fully trust the digital world because it does not exist in the same tangible way, and that drawing the first line of the day allows them to feel the pen in their hand and the texture of the paper. Irie has described their artistic pursuit as capturing the changing scenery as one travels to a faraway place, stepping onto the soil of a new location for the first time. Their linework is characterized as having a certain ebullience, and they are known to use a high number of panels per page in their comics, sometimes exceeding twelve or thirteen, which contributes to a rhythmic quality in their storytelling. Irie has also expressed that the experience of making doujinshi impressed upon them a sense of boundless possibility, inspiring them to use the medium to express themself freely and with no constraints.
Works
- Topics: Anime overview