Makoto Raiku

, known by the pen name , is a manga artist known for creating the Zatch Bell! franchise. Starting off an assistant for Kazuhiro Fujita on his manga Ushio & Tora, he began creating several one-shots for the Weekly Shōnen Sunday shōnen manga anthology such as Bird Man (about a young pilot), Hero Ba-Ban (about a cheerful, but weak superhero) and Genmai Blade (about a teenage medicinal exorcist, of which he created both a one-shot and a two-part story). By 1999, he had created the series Newtown Heroes, which was published in Shōnen Sunday Super, a seasonal publication featuring upcoming manga artists and one-shots from the main Sunday book. Biography Debut In 2001, Raiku started the manga series Konjiki no Gash!!, which began publication in Shogakukan's Weekly Shōnen Sunday, and in 2003, inspired an anime version (Konjiki no Gash Bell!!) produced by Toei Animation. In English-speaking countries, both the manga and anime are known as Zatch Bell!. In one chapter of the Konjiki no Gash Bell!! manga, Raiku makes an appearance with his own story, and also plays the role of Umagon's partner in the game, Konjiki no Gash Bell!!: Electric Arena (prior to the introduction of Kafka Sunbeam). In 2003, Konjiki no Gash!! received the 48th Shogakukan Manga Award in the Shōnen category. Civil trial In June 2008, Raiku brought a case against Shogakukan to Tokyo District Court because they lost five of his coloured works. He demanded 3,300,000 yen as compensation. According to the beginning of his statement, he decided to do it because he does not want publishers and their editors to look down on manga artists. In addition, Raiku was treated extremely badly for a long time. Moreover, the price of compensation represented by Shogakukan was only 500,000 yen. Raiku claimed that they had underestimated him too much.