Maki Ozora Evangelion Manga Illustratorr (Adaptation)
Maki Ozora is a graphical artist that currently works on video games published by Spike-Chunsoft. She is also a self-published manga artist and illustrator. Most notably, she is an artist that worked on part of the Evangelion spin-off manga series Petit Eva: Evangelion@School. Several of her works are available digitally on Kadokawa’s official e-book platform, Book Walker.
Video Game Graphic Designing
Ozora has worked on creating graphics for various video games throughout the years. Her style when creating graphics for games solely use pixel art, even those published in recent times. The following is a short list of a few games that Ozora has created art for:
Monster World 4 (a part of the Wonder Boy series): One of the first games that Ozora created art for. It is a game that was developed by Westone and published exclusively in Japan for the Sega Mega Drive in 1994. The player takes control of Asha, who uses her sword to attack enemies and is aided by her companion Pepelgoo to help solve puzzles and overcome obstacles. In 2012, this game would be re-released on Nintendo’s Wii Virtual Console as well as the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 online stores.
Milano no Arubaito Collection: A PS1 game that focuses on a young girl named Milano, who must work various odd jobs to help her earn money to get by while her mother is hospitalized. These “odd jobs” take the form of mini-games that each play differently.
Konosuba: Attack of the Destroyer: A game added as an early purchase bonus for Konosuba: Kono Yokubukai Game ni Shinpan wo! This bonus game plays similarly to the Touhou series, albeit not as intense. Characters from the original series are playable and each has their own unique gimmicks to appeal to a variety of play styles.
DanMachi: Infinite Combate: Ozora worked on the art for a bonus game that was added as bonus DLC for the main game. Much like the previous Konosuba game, it is a 2-D shooting game, but instead of being a top-down Touhou-style shooter that moves from top to bottom, this game plays as a side-scroller that moves from right to left.
Manga and Illustrations
Ozora has created numerous volumes of self-published manga under the group Maruchiizu since 1995. Her first work is titled Gaugau1, and was created by various members that created the self-publishing group. While many of her recent works are available on Kadokawa’s official e-book website, Book Walker, she also creates physical copies of her work using offset printing. Aside from manga, Ozora also draws art on “pixiv” and has a variety of merchandise (prints, posters, calendars, and the like) based on her illustrations for sale on Popls, a company dedicated to publishing goods.
Petit Eva: Bokura Tanken Dokokai
One of her only commercially published works is Petit Eva: Bokura Tanken Dokokai. While it was serialized in Kerokero Ace from October 2007 to July 26, it was compiled into a single volume that was released on June 24th, 2009. This manga is the second entry in the Petit Eva: Evangelion@School series. It takes the form of a slapstick comedy and is set within a regular school. Many characters from the original series reappear, such as Shinji, Asuka, and Rei (although her three clones now appear as three sisters that exist apart from one another). Evangelion Unit 01 also appears as a character, although instead of being a giant, robot-like creature, it appears as comic relief and is about as tall as everyone else. The manga is also written in a chibi-style, giving it a more cartoonish and goofy tone that contrasts greatly with the original series.
Petit Eva Features
The overall atmosphere for the Petit Eva manga is a comedic slice of life, and this manga was the first to portray the 3 different clones of Rei Ayanami (Rei I, Rei II and Rei III) in some sort of media together before, and even so in such a comedic way. In the Evangelion anime series, Rei went through a series of battles which ended up in losing her life. However, as Rei is a clone, when one dies, the next clone is sent out by NERV.
Rei I died before the anime series started, and is shown to have been murdered by Naoko Akagi. Rei II, is the Rei Ayanami that is seen throughout the majority of the anime series. This is up until episode 23 in the battle against the Angel Armisael, where she self-destructs to destroy the Angel. The last Rei III is seen from the last of the series up until the End of Evangelion movie.
In this manga, however, the 3 Rei Ayanami clones are portrayed as sisters. The eldest sister being the smart sister. The middle sister is the athletic and energetic sister. The youngest sister is only 8 years old and is extremely hyperactive.
Links
Ozora saying that she did the art for the DanMachi: Infinite Combate bonus game (Japanese only)
Ozora saying that she did the art for Konosuba: Attack of the Destroyer (Japanese only)
List of Ozora’s works on Book Walker (Japanese only)