14 Facts About Tetsuo Hara

Tetsuo Hara is best known for Co-creating the post-apocalyptic martial arts series Fist of the North Star with writer Buronson, which is one of the best-selling manga in history with over 100 million copies in circulation.

Tetsuo Hara began drawing characters from Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy and Jungle Emperor Leo, as well as Ikki Kajiwara and Naoki Tsuji's Tiger Mask in first and second grade.

Tetsuo Hara had decided to become a manga artist by second and third grade.

Tetsuo Hara then entered the design program at his high school, joined the "manga gekiga club," and submitted entries to manga competitions run by magazines.

Tetsuo Hara found inspiration by visiting the workplace of Osamu Akimoto, who was an alumnus of his high school.

Tetsuo Hara worked as an assistant to manga artist Yoshihiro Takahashi after graduating.

Tetsuo Hara's first serialized work in the Weekly Shonen Jump was the Iron Don Quixote, a motocross manga which lasted only ten weeks in serialization.

Tetsuo Hara achieved fame after the publication of Fist of the North Star in 1983, which he co-created with Buronson and ran for six years in Weekly Shonen Jump.

Tetsuo Hara would go on to produce several shorter serials and one-shots for Shueisha until departing from the company in 2000.

Originally published as a weekly serial, it was changed to a semi-regular feature after Tetsuo Hara was diagnosed with keratoconus.

In 2021, Tetsuo Hara said that rather than creating work on his own, he was more interested in working with younger artists to create works as a team and pass on his forty years of experience.

Tetsuo Hara has cited Fujio Akatsuka, Shotaro Ishinomori, Tetsuya Chiba, and Ryoichi Ikegami as some of his influences.

Tetsuo Hara said that Ikegami had the biggest impact on his art, as the "realism and luster" in his characters show the "power" of gekiga.

Tetsuo Hara admits that from the very beginning of his career, he has never been good at creating the stories of manga.