Junya Inoue

"Joker" Junya Inoue is a Japanese artist who most frequently works on video games and manga but has also done experiments in other media. He usually eschews the typical anime style in favor of more depth, shading, and realistic bodily proportions, with a few influences by 70's and 80's Seinen artists. He started out at Toaplan, then moved on to Gazelle when Toaplan went bankrupt, then joined CAVE for a while after Gazelle went bankrupt, then took a break to do manga and refine his art style, then returned to CAVE to establish the Death Smiles series. His official website is here

He has been the lead artist for the following:


 * Dogyuun
 * Knuckle Bash
 * Batsugun
 * Air Gallet
 * DoDonPachi series (except for DaiFukkatsu)
 * ESP Ra.De
 * Guwange
 * Relationship Calendar 1999 edition: 11-year-old girls
 * Relationship Calendar 2000 edition: 12-year-old girls
 * Progear
 * Relationship Calendar 2001 edition: male characters
 * Skull Hornets: Batsugun Manga
 * Otogi Matsuri
 * Youkai Hunter - Yami no Kyakujin
 * Death Smiles series
 * Btooom

His works frequently contain examples of the following:
 * Author Appeal: Young girls, especially blond-haired-blue-eyed with short wide heads. He is also into very young brunette girls who wear a specific type of hat, to the point where most of his references to his own past work involve Irori Mimasaka in some way.
 * Creepy Child
 * Drop-Dead Gorgeous
 * Kimono
 * Troubled but Cute
 * Youkai