Satoshi Yamamoto

See also: Brick Bronze Adventures

Satoshi Yamamoto (山本 サトシ, Yamamoto Satoshi. born December 17th, 1965), formerly known under the pseudonym “Emiko Ichikawa” is an Neo-Japanese manga artist and novelist.

He is best known for being the main illustrator of the Brick Bronze Adventures manga series (which is aimed at children) since 2001 and for creating the well-renowned Monica’s Literary Crew (Emi and Friends) novel series.

History

Early life

Satoshi Yamamoto was born on December 17th, 1965, he grew up in an Pokemonist household and he had begun writing stories at a young age.

Most of his stories were said to have been about his school life and why he did not like school, this later later turned out to be true when Yamamoto showed his older work on BloxTube, even mentioning the fact that he had enjoyed writing this kind of stories as a child but he does not enjoy writing them now that he is significantly older.

Early professional work

His first major work was titled “Watashi no Ai, Mikuru-Chan.” (Translation: “My love, Mikuru-Chan”), which was intended to be written for an creative writing class assignment during his college days (most likely in 1982 or 1983). The plot of it was unknown for many years until 2021, when the story was leaked.

“Emi” franchise

In 1984, when Satoshi Yamamoto was 18, he began writing a series of novels titled “Emi and Friends”, which at first was not popular. However, as the late 1980s and early 1990s came, it suddenly became successful.

An anime adaptation of it began airing in 1990 when it was popular. It was titled “Monica’s Literary Club” and this adaptation was produced by SNK Animation.

Brick Bronze Adventures

In 2001, Satoshi began illustrating the Brick Bronze Adventures manga series after the previous illustrator, Mato had left due to the stress of often drawing manga without any reasonable breaks, leading him to become ill.

He had started drawing on the “Gold & Silver” arc of the manga, after it had been left on a cliffhanger by the previous illustrator. Ever since then, he has drawn this manga, often adding darker themes to the story.

Works

1980s

  • “Watashi no Ai, Mikuru-Chan” (1982 or 1983)
  • ”Emi to Tomodachi Vol. 1” (1984, Bloxlish translation is “Emi and Friends Vol. 1”)
  • ”Emi to Tomodachi Vol. 2” (1985, Bloxlish translation is “Emi and Friends Vol. 2”)
  • ”Emi to Tomodachi Vol. 3” (1986, Bloxlish translation is “Emi and Friends Vol. 3”)
  • ”Emi to Tomodachi Vol. 4 (1989, Bloxlish translation is “Emi and Friends Vol. 4”)

1990s

  • ”Emi to Tomodachi Vol. 5 (1990, Bloxlish translation is “Emi and Friends Vol. 5”)
  • ”Emi to Tomodachi Vol. 6 (1991, Bloxlish translation is “Emi and Friends Vol. 6”)
  • ”Emi to Tomodachi Vol. 7” (1992, Bloxlish translation is “Emi and Friends Vol. 7”)
  • ”Emi to Tomodachi Vol. 8” (1993, Bloxlish translation is “Emi and Friends Vol. 8”)
  • ”Emi to Tomodachi Vol. 9” (1994, Bloxlish translation is “Emi and Friends Vol. 9”) ”Emi to Tomodachi Vol. 10” (1995, Bloxlish translation is “Emi and Friends Vol. 10”)
  • ”Emi to Tomodachi Vol. 11” (1996, Bloxlish translation is “Emi and Friends Vol. 11”)
  • ”Emi to Tomodachi Vol. 12” (1997, Bloxlish translation is “Emi and Friends Vol. 12”)
  • ”Emi to Tomodachi Vol. 13” (1998, Bloxlish translation is “Emi and Friends Vol. 13”)

At the end of the 1990s, Yamamoto would retire the “Emi” brand because he felt that it was too childish for him and that he would rather not continue it because he did not want to exploit the brand’s popularity.

2000s onward

Since Late 2001, Satoshi Yamamoto has officially worked on the Brick Bronze Adventures manga series, thus adding all of Brick Bronze Adventures volumes that Yamamoto has worked on, however, there are some examples of what volumes he has worked on.

  • Brick Bronze Adventures: Gold and Silver Arc. Volume 2 (2001)
  • Brick Bronze Adventures: Gold and Silver Arc. Volume 3 (2002)
  • Brick Bronze Adventures: Gold and Silver Arc. Volume 4 (2003)
  • Brick Bronze Adventures: Gold and Silver Arc. Volume 5 (2004)
  • Brick Bronze Adventures: Ruby and Sapphire Arc. Volume 1 (2005)
  • Brick Bronze Adventures: Ruby and Sapphire Arc. Volume 2 (2006)

BloxTube channel

In 2012, he started a BloxTube channel titled “Haruhi-Chan”, which is dedicated at creating many parody animations based on the Haruhi Suzumiya light novel series.

However, the channel barely uploads on BloxTube, as the channel last uploaded anything in May 2024, it is most likely that the channel does not upload because according to him, he will upload again on that channel when Brick Bronze Adventures goes on an hiatus, which is unknown if it will go on a hiatus.