Yusuke Murata is a Japanese manga artist and animator born on July 4, 1978, in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. He is best known for his work as an illustrator on two major manga series: the American football story Eyeshield 21 and the superhero action-comedy One-Punch Man. Murata first gained recognition at the age of twelve when his designs for the video game series Mega Man were selected for official use in Mega Man 4 and Mega Man 5, where he is credited for creating the characters Dust Man and Crystal Man. He made his professional manga debut in 1995 with a one-shot titled Partner, published in a special edition of Weekly Shōnen Jump, for which he received the Hop Step Award.

Murata’s first major long-term project began in 2002 when he was asked by writer Riichiro Inagaki to illustrate a new series about American football. This partnership resulted in Eyeshield 21, which was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from July 2002 to June 2009, spanning 333 chapters collected into 37 volumes. The series follows a timid boy named Sena Kobayakawa who becomes the star running back for his high school team while hiding his identity behind a helmet with an eyeshield. Murata’s dynamic and highly detailed art was a defining element of the manga’s success, earning praise for its ability to convey motion and the physical intensity of the sport. The franchise was adapted into a 145-episode anime television series that aired from 2005 to 2008, as well as several original video animations. Among these is the OVA Eyeshield 21: The Phantom Golden Bowl, a 30-minute special produced by Production I.G and shown at the Jump Festa events in 2003 and 2004.

Following the conclusion of Eyeshield 21, Murata began a new collaboration with the webcomic creator known as One. Starting on June 14, 2012, Murata launched a remake of One’s original webcomic One-Punch Man, serialized in the online version of Weekly Young Jump. The story follows Saitama, a hero so overwhelmingly powerful that he can defeat any opponent with a single punch, leaving him bored and searching for a worthy challenge. Murata’s artwork brings the series to life with incredibly detailed and fluid action sequences, while One provides the story and original character designs. The manga has been adapted into two seasons of an anime television series. The first season, directed by Shingo Natsume and produced by Madhouse, aired from October to December 2015, and the anime special One-Punch Man: Road to Hero was released in 2015. Murata has also contributed to other adaptations of the franchise, including the second season that began airing in April 2019.

Beyond these major series, Murata has worked on numerous other projects. He wrote and drew several one-shot manga, including Madofuki Park in 2008, Blust! in 2009, and Minds in 2010. From 2008 to 2010, he produced Hetappi Manga Kenkyūjo R, a remake of Akira Toriyama’s instructional manga about drawing. He also served as the character designer for the original anime television series Majin Bone, which aired in 2014. Murata has cited Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball and the character designer Kinu Nishimura as significant influences on his work. His artistic style is frequently noted for its dynamic sense of motion, realistic character designs balanced with expressive exaggeration, and a high level of detail that serves to advance the story. He was also once an assistant to Takeshi Obata, the illustrator of Death Note and Bakuman. Through his work on two of the most visually striking manga of the 21st century, Murata has become a highly regarded figure in the industry, known for his speed, technical skill, and ability to elevate a narrative through powerful illustration.