Roots
Description
Roots is a Japanese manga artist and illustrator, best known as the original creator behind the comedy anime and manga series Teekyū. Roots was born in Hokkaido in 1988. Their career began in 2008 by posting gameplay commentary videos on the video sharing website Nico Nico Douga, which led to a degree of online popularity. This activity caught the attention of a magazine editor, leading to Roots's professional debut as a manga artist in 2009 with the four-panel manga Surumeika.
The most significant work in Roots's career is Teekyū, a sports comedy manga series written by Roots and illustrated by Piyo. It was serialized in Earth Star Entertainment's Comic Earth Star magazine from February 2012 to January 2018 and compiled into fifteen volumes. The story follows the absurd, high-speed daily lives of four girls in the Kameido High School tennis club, where the sport of tennis is often a secondary concern to their eccentric and nonsensical antics. The Teekyū manga was adapted into an anime television series that ran for nine seasons, airing from October 2012 to September 2017, and produced a total of 108 episodes and six original video animations. The first three seasons were produced by the studio MAPPA, with subsequent seasons handled by Millepensee. Roots is credited as the original author for all these anime adaptations.
Beyond the main series, Roots created two spin-off manga series. Takamiya Nasuno Desu!, again illustrated by Piyo, focuses on the eccentric, wealthy character Nasuno Takamiya and was serialized from April 2014 to October 2015, resulting in two volumes. It received a twelve-episode anime adaptation in 2015. Another spin-off, Usakame, illustrated by Jūzō Kirisawa, features the rival tennis club from Usakame High School and was serialized from September 2015 to June 2016, producing three volumes. It was also adapted into a twelve-episode anime series in 2016. Prior to these major successes, Roots contributed an ending illustration for an episode of the anime Tantei Opera Milky Holmes Dai 2 Maku in 2012.
Roots's body of work as a manga writer is defined by fast-paced, absurdist comedy, often featuring characters with bizarre obsessions and a disregard for conventional logic. The Teekyū franchise, in particular, is noted for its extremely short episode runtime of approximately two minutes and its rapid-fire dialogue, which became a signature stylistic trait. A significant aspect of Roots's industry significance is the unusually quick adaptation of the Teekyū manga into an anime, which reportedly set a record for the shortest time between a manga's debut and its anime premiere. Roots has also self-produced anime shorts based on their own manga, including multiple series of Surumeika, which were posted on Nico Nico Douga. While not a voice actor by profession, Roots has made minor voice cameo appearances in their own self-produced anime works and voiced the character Mirādoru Shōgun in the Teekyū anime.
The most significant work in Roots's career is Teekyū, a sports comedy manga series written by Roots and illustrated by Piyo. It was serialized in Earth Star Entertainment's Comic Earth Star magazine from February 2012 to January 2018 and compiled into fifteen volumes. The story follows the absurd, high-speed daily lives of four girls in the Kameido High School tennis club, where the sport of tennis is often a secondary concern to their eccentric and nonsensical antics. The Teekyū manga was adapted into an anime television series that ran for nine seasons, airing from October 2012 to September 2017, and produced a total of 108 episodes and six original video animations. The first three seasons were produced by the studio MAPPA, with subsequent seasons handled by Millepensee. Roots is credited as the original author for all these anime adaptations.
Beyond the main series, Roots created two spin-off manga series. Takamiya Nasuno Desu!, again illustrated by Piyo, focuses on the eccentric, wealthy character Nasuno Takamiya and was serialized from April 2014 to October 2015, resulting in two volumes. It received a twelve-episode anime adaptation in 2015. Another spin-off, Usakame, illustrated by Jūzō Kirisawa, features the rival tennis club from Usakame High School and was serialized from September 2015 to June 2016, producing three volumes. It was also adapted into a twelve-episode anime series in 2016. Prior to these major successes, Roots contributed an ending illustration for an episode of the anime Tantei Opera Milky Holmes Dai 2 Maku in 2012.
Roots's body of work as a manga writer is defined by fast-paced, absurdist comedy, often featuring characters with bizarre obsessions and a disregard for conventional logic. The Teekyū franchise, in particular, is noted for its extremely short episode runtime of approximately two minutes and its rapid-fire dialogue, which became a signature stylistic trait. A significant aspect of Roots's industry significance is the unusually quick adaptation of the Teekyū manga into an anime, which reportedly set a record for the shortest time between a manga's debut and its anime premiere. Roots has also self-produced anime shorts based on their own manga, including multiple series of Surumeika, which were posted on Nico Nico Douga. While not a voice actor by profession, Roots has made minor voice cameo appearances in their own self-produced anime works and voiced the character Mirādoru Shōgun in the Teekyū anime.