Noboru Okamoto (Japanese: 岡本 登, Hepburn: Okamoto Noboru, February 15, 1932 – October 8, 2021), known by the pen name Sanpei Shirato (白土 三平, Shirato Sanpei), was a Japanese manga artist and essayist known for his social criticism as well as the realism of his drawing style and the characters in his scenarios.
In Shirato's childhood, his father was active in the proletarian culture movement and contributed, among others, to the satirical magazine Tokyo Puck.
[2] As Shirato grew up, he experienced the rancor of the war years, and it is said that these grim emotions come out in the nihilistic society portrayed in his works.
He was influenced by the ukiyo-e of the pre-Meiji period, but differed in his portrayal of action in a multi-panel "slow motion" style unique to his manga.
[4] This violent epic tale set in Japan's "Warring States" (Sengoku) period was seen by many readers and critics as a thinly-veiled allegory for the ongoing Anpo protests against the US-Japan Security Treaty (although Shirato himself later denied this was his intention).
It is the story of Kamui, a ninja who leaves an organization that pursues him and clearly sees the true nature of the Edo period and the discrimination that existed in the feudal system.
Shirato founded the production company Akame ("Red Eyes"), which worked with Goseki Kojima, his brother Tetsuji Okamoto, Haruo Koyama and others.