Jun Watanabe is a Japanese manga artist, also known as a mangaka, who has been active in the industry since the late 1980s. He was born on December 10, 1968, in Machida, Tokyo, Japan. Watanabe began his career as an assistant to the manga author Harold Sakuishi before making his own professional debut in 1989. He is best known for his long-running work on the series Emblem Take 2, which marked the beginning of a decades-long association with Kodansha’s Young Magazine.

Watanabe’s career is defined by a series of notable original manga works that span various genres, often focusing on crime, action, and historical intrigue. His most significant early work is Emblem Take 2, a yakuza-centric series for which he provided the artwork based on an original story by Kazumasa Kiuchi. The series was serialized from 1990 to 2004 and was later adapted into a two-episode original video animation between 1993 and 1995. Following this success, Watanabe created RRR, a boxing manga, and later the crime thriller Montage. Montage, a seinen manga published in 19 volumes from 2013 to 2017, is notable for its plot centered on the unsolved 1968 "three hundred million yen robbery," a real-life historical event in Japan. This series was adapted into a live-action television drama in 2016. Other original works include the horror series Kudan no Gotoshi, the supernatural thriller Malédiction finale (released in France under that title), and the action series Golden Guy, which began publication in 2022.

A consistent thread throughout Watanabe’s bibliography is a focus on grounded, often gritty narratives with a basis in authentic settings or historical events. His artistic identity is closely tied to seinen manga—works aimed at a mature male audience—characterized by realistic storytelling and detailed artwork. His debut on Emblem Take 2 established a long-term collaboration with writer Kiuchi Kazumasa, and his subsequent works like Montage and Kudan no Gotoshi showcase his versatility within the crime and thriller genres. In addition to his manga work, Watanabe contributed an illustration for the television anime series Pon no Michi in 2024, demonstrating his continued presence in the broader anime industry.

Watanabe holds significance within the manga industry as a staple creator for Young Magazine, with a career spanning over three decades. His ability to sustain long-running serializations and generate adaptations for both anime and live-action television underscores his impact as a commercial and influential storyteller in the seinen demographic.