Hiroaki Samura (沙村 広明, Samura Hiroaki, born February 17, 1970) is a Japanese manga artist, known for Blade of the Immortal, as well as several other short works.
He has also done various illustrations for magazines and ero guro work.
However, unlike most manga artists, he attended art school for a time and has a classical art education.
He disliked oil painting and prefers to work in black and white.
[1] He never completed the course because he got picked up by Afternoon before he graduated to do Blade of the Immortal.