is a Japanese manga artist best known for Vinland Saga. Biography Early life Yukimura considered himself a laidback child at school. His first manga was Akira Toriyama's Dr. Slump at 5 and was particularly impressed by the cover. He then watched the anime much to his surprise because he did not see the need of a story being repeated. When Yukimura became 16, he had the idea of becoming a manga author. During his early life, Yukimura was nearly killed in two car accidents. This made him reconsider his way of thinking. He believes he had no social life and barely paid attention to classes in his childhood. The only thing he wrote in his notebook was manga. He graduated from Chuo University and Suginami High School. In contrast to other students, Yukimura faced no hardships in graduating and recalls having brief anxiety. Yukimura's crisis with school and lack of interest with his growth and jobs worried his parents. However, Yukimura's school life changed when being taught by a literature teacher who used Michael Ende famous for The Never Ending Story in a class. Yukimura was first inspired to become a manga artist after reading Fist of the North Star as a boy. He said he had always wanted to produce a series which reflected the same themes of "strength and justice". However, he felt that he would not accomplish his dream due to poor academic skills. Eventually, he started studying manga at 16 and was recruited as an assistant two years later. His parents convinced him of graduating first from high school. He never drew manga on his own until his debut. Once graduating from college at 22, he met Kaiji Kawaguchi who found his potential to become a manga author. He met Dai Morimura who taught him about drawing manga and find his own style rather than imitating others. Yukimura got married during his work as an assistant who supported him. In regards to his family, Yukimura mentioned he has two children with the second one being born in 2006. With the later birth of another child, Yukimura revealed that all were male but was worried about their health. Career Yukimura made his debut with the hard science fiction manga Planetes, serialized in Weekly Morning magazine from 1999 to 2004 and adapted into a 26-episode anime series by Sunrise. Before that, he worked as an assistant for Shin