Yoshitoshi ABe

Yoshitoshi ABe is the character designer for Serial Experiments Lain, as well as other popular anime, such as Niea_7 and Haibane Renmei. Ueda Yasuyuki, who came up with the original concept for Lain, invited him to come work on the project after seeing his art online. Abe was a senior in art school at the time. A collection of his art for the series was released as Omnipresence in Wired, which features the short manga, The Nightmare of Fabrication.

One of his recent project is a series called Despera, set in 1930s Japan, with a main character named Ain who looks very similar to Lain Iwakura.

He has contributed to the doujinshi works of a circle called Mutekei-Fire, under the pen name AB.

A Japanese-language periodical featured him in 2010. Eureka no. 586, vol. 42-12, 10 October 2010, subtitled The Necessary yoshitoshi ABE, contains essays and reviews about him, interviews of him, color illustrations, 18 glossy pages of color works and pencil sketches, including works he did in art school, and a 28-page manga called "Where the Rain Falls" (雨の降る場所　ame no furu basho) that was originally printed in Afternoon Shiki-shou in 1994.

He may be found on many online communities, such as Twitter or YouTube, usually with a screenname of Abfly, or similar.

List of Works

Anime

• Serial Experiments Lain (1998) (original character design)[6]
• NieA 7 (2000) (original character design, scenario)[6]
• Haibane Renmei (2002) (original creator, original character design, series composition, screenplay)
• Texhnolyze (2003) (original character design)
• Welcome to the N.H.K. (2006) (original character design)
• RErideD: Derrida, who leaps through time (2018) (original character design, screenplay for episodes 4, 8, and 10)
• Despera (TBA) (original character design)

Music

• Love Song (2005) (cover art and booklet illustrations)

Video games

• Wachenröder (1998)
• Phenomeno (2012)[7]

Printed works

• Dōjinshi
  • Furumachi (August, 1996)
  • Shooting Star (December, 1996)
  • White Rain (July, 1997)
  • Sui-Rin (August, 1998)
  • Charcoal Feather Federation (Haibane Renmei) (December, 1998)
  • T.Prevue Version 0.9 (August, 1999)
  • Faces (December, 1999)
  • K.S.M.E (July, 2000)
  • Sketches (December, 2000)
  • NieA Under 7 - Under (August, 2001)
  • Haibane Renmei - The Haibanes of Old Home (Ch.1) (August, 2001)
  • Haibane Renmei - The Haibanes of Old Home (Ch.2) (December, 2001)
  • Haibane Renmei - Haibane Lifestyle Diary (August, 2002)
  • Haibane Renmei - The Haibanes of Old Home (Extra) (December, 2002)
  • Ryuu Tai (July, 2003)
  • Not Found (December, 2003)
  • Haibane Renmei - Kyakuhonshuu - Volume 1 (August, 2004)
  • Haibane Renmei - Kyakuhonshuu - Volume 2 (December, 2004)
  • Haibane Renmei - Kyakuhonshuu - Volume 3 (December, 2004)
  • Miscellaneous (December, 2004)
  • GRID. (August, 2005)
  • Haibane Renmei - Kyakuhonshuu - Volume 4 (December, 2005)
  • Haibane Renmei - Kyakuhonshuu - Volume 5 (December, 2005)
  • Yakkyoku no Pochiyamasan (December, 2005)
  • Haibane Renmei - Kyakuhonshuu - Volume 6 (August, 2006)
  • Yakkyoku no Pochiyamasan 2.0 (August, 2006)
  • Yakkyoku no Pochiyamasan 3.0 (August 19, 2007)
  • f.p.o. (Fixed Point Observation) (August 17, 2008)
  • Ryuhshika (August 17, 2008)
  • Yakkyoku no Pochiyamasan 4.0 (December 30, 2008)
• Artbooks
  • Serial Experiments Lain - An Omnipresence in the Wired (May, 1999)
  • Visual Experiments Lain
  • Essence (May, 2001) *Released in the US*
  • NieA Under 7 - Scrap (July, 2001)
  • Haibane Renmei - In the Town of Guri, in the Garden of Charcoal Feathers (December, 2003)
  • yoshitoshi ABe lain illustrations - ab# rebuild an omnipresence in the wired (Japan: December 2005; US: April 2006)
  • Gaisokyu (August, 2007)
• Manga
  • Ame no Furu Basho (debut) Afternoon (April 1994)[8]
  • NieA Under 7 (Vol. 1) (June, 2001)
  • NieA Under 7 (Vol. 2) (August, 2001)
  • All You Need Is Kill (December, 2004)
  • Ryushika Ryushika (2009)
• Contributions
  • Mutekei Fire - Tarame Paradise Doujins
  • Mutekei Fire - Great Pictorial Guide of Uki-Uki in the World Doujins
  • Mutekei Fire - Tokimeki Shitsumon Bako Doujins
  • Range Murata - Flat
  • Range Murata - Rule - Fa Documenta 003
  • Range Murata - Robot - Volume 1-9
  • Range Murata - Robot - Volume 10 with "U.C.O."
  • Foo Swee Chin - Muzz Doujins 1-2
  • Akai Kiba (Red Fang) - Volumes 1-4
  • Hell Girl, episode 13 - sketches and wallpaint
  • Cover Illustrations
  • Kami no Keifu Novels 1-3
  • Welcome to the N.H.K.
  • Negative Happy Chainsaw Edge
  • Chojin Keikaku (bunko edition only)
  • Slip Manga Collection
  • All You Need is Kill
• Misc.
  • "AB Note" yoshitoshi ABe Sketchbook (GoFa 2003)
  • "GoFa Portfolio Collection A" 20 A4 Prints (sold by GoFa at AX2003 - 100 made)
  • "GoFa Portfolio Collection B" 20 A4 Prints (Sold by GoFa at AX2003 - 100 made)
  • "Kaira" Wani Magazine Comics Special (July, 2008

External Links

• His Patreon - Active as of November 2021
• His old homepage (web archive) - it was likely this site or something similar that led Ueda to Abe.
• Another old homepage (web archive) - Be sure to skip around on the timeline on these archived sites.
• A total of 44 early (mid to late 90's) images by Abe: [1] [2] [3] [4]
• His new homepage (also web archive)
• ABlog
• This page (Russian) contains links to some of his Mutekei-Fire doujin works, among other things.
• A helpful blog post about Afternoon Shiki-shou that is more or less a translation of the Japanese wikipedia page. Abe was a summer 1994 runner-up.