Osamu Kaneko
|
This page is incomplete. Kanzenshuu wiki team members are aware that they must edit this page to add missing information and complete it. |
| Osamu Kaneko | |
|---|---|
| かねこ統 (金子統) | |
 Osamu Kaneko at Universal Studios Japan in Osaka (2017)[1] | |
| Born |
13 September 1968[2] Saitama Prefecture[2] |
| Occupation | Manga artist, Illustrator, Designer |
| Years active | 1992-present |
Osamu Kaneko is a longtime artist, illustrator, and designer working on the Dragon Quest franchise producing official spin-off series, artwork, and more. Many of Kaneko's Dragon Quest manga have been serialized in Shueisha's V-Jump magazine, dating back to its earliest days.
Though almost always written as かねこ統 (with Kaneko written in hiragana), his name is occasionally written in full kanji as 金子統. Most publications also provide the official, transliterated spelling as "Osamu Kaneko" alongside the Japanese spelling.
Biography
Kaneko was born 13 September 1968 in Saitama Prefecture.[2]
In an interview with the Kawagoe Higashi High School Reunion website...[3]
ちょうど高校に入った頃くらいにドラクエが発売された時期でした。当時のゲームで戦うという動作はインベーダーゲームをはじめ、ほとんどアクションだったので、「文字だけで戦う」というのは最初はどうも理解できないところもありました。なので、実は最初は全然やっていなかったのですが、周りの友達から「エンディングが映画みたいだった」などの話を聞いたりして、さらに「良いから騙されたと思ってとりあえずやってみろ」ということでソフトを貸してくれたんです。そこからハマってしまった感じです。なので、もしあの時に当時のクラスメイトが薦めてくれなかったら今こんな仕事していなかったかもしれないですね。
なので、漠然とアニメや絵を描く仕事はやりたいなとは思っていて、そういうのを勉強したかったので、代々木アニメーション学院に入学しました。
その後、あるファミコン雑誌の読者ページにドラクエの絵を投稿する中で、某編集プロダクションの社長にスカウトされて雑誌のイラストなどの仕事を行なっていたんです。
また、これは後から知ったのですが、その編集プロダクションの中で、ドラゴンボールの鳥山明先生のファンクラブ会報の仕事を行なっていて、あの鳥山明先生を見出したことでも有名な鳥嶋和彦さんとウチの社長が知り合いだったんです。
――なるほど。そこからVジャンプに繋がってくるんですね。
ええ、鳥嶋さんがVジャンプを創刊する際に、その社長に「お前のところにドラクエのスライムかファイナルファンタジーのチョコボの漫画を書ける奴はいないか？」という話があったようで、そこから私が呼ばれて漫画の連載が始まった形です。
――そこから今でもスライムの漫画を描き続けているのが本当に凄いなと感じています。
そうですね。もう25年以上になりますね。
Kaneko holds special feelings for Dragon Quest III for its gameplay elements, and Dragon Quest V for its story.[3]
Works
The various works of Osamu Kaneko span promotional artwork for magazine covers, long-running manga serializations, additional artwork for game manuals and ancillary books, and in later years even additional character designs and animation contributions.
V-Jump Covers
In addition to actual manga serialization within the magazine itself, Kaneko occasionally contributed cover artwork for Shueisha's V-Jump magazine, including (but not limited to) the August 1995 and August 1998 covers.
Dragon Quest: General
Kaneko contributed various illustrations and designs for the Dragon Quest franchise, including (but not limited to):
- Illustrations (non-character designs) within the instruction manual for the original Nintendo Super Famicom release of Dragon Quest V[2]
- Alongside Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru, additional monster designs (beyond those from Akira Toriyama himself) for Dragon Quest VII[2]
- Character design for Gadis (ガーディス Gādisu)[4], originally from the arcade game Dragon Quest: Monster Battle Road Victory, and who later appeared in several of the Dragon Quest Monsters games
- Key animation for episode 73 of the 2020 anime version of Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai[2][5]
Dragon Quest: Manga
Kaneko contributed short comics to three of the four issues from V-Jump's second trial run from 1992-1993. Slime Farming Village was the first of these three, and directly branded as Dragon Quest (in addition to specifically naming the "Slime" character and "Seed of Agility" item from the series). The next two one-shots were not specifically branded as Dragon Quest, but featured equally comical situations under the broader banner of role-playing games (that of a young magician and an weapon seller, respectively).
When V-Jump was rebooted for its monthly serialization in May 1993 (for its July 1993 issue), Kaneko returned with Slime Adventure, a series that ran for 79 chapters through to 2000. Within Slime Adventure's eventual collected volume release, all three of the V-Jump trial issue comics were included as extras (the first two in volume 1[6], and the third in volume 2[7]).
Slime Adventure was itself followed by several other popular series featuring the Slime characters from Dragon Quest for most of V-Jump's contemporary run: Great Mission of the Slime, Slime Mori Mori, and finally Slime Dawn!! which concluded with its 68th chapter in the magazine's October 2021 issue (released that August), wrapping a continuous, multi-decade run of manga in the magazine from Kaneko. All of Kaneko's long-running "Slime" manga have been released as collected editions in Japan.
Meanwhile during this run, Kaneko worked as the scriptwriter on the short manga series Dragon Quest: Monster Battle Road Victory with Naho Ooishi on artwork duty. The series began in the June 2010 issue of V-Jump, and concluded that same year.
Kaneko also contributed regular one-shot manga chapters within larger works, including those for the strategy guides of the Nintendo 3DS edition of Dragon Quest VII[8] and Dragon Quest Builders.
| Debut Chapter Page | Title | Primary Serialization | Timeframe | Chapters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
スライムの農村 Suraimu no Nōson Slime Farming Village |
V-Jump (Second Trial Run, Second Issue) |
December 1992 | 1 |
 |
武器屋おやじ Buki-ya Oyaji TBD |
V-Jump (Second Trial Run, Third Issue) |
February 1993 | 1 |
 |
魔法使いマジックん Mahōtsukai Majikkun TBD |
V-Jump (Second Trial Run, Fourth Issue) |
March 1993 | 1 |
 |
スライム冒険記 Suraimu Bōkenki Slime Adventure |
V-Jump (July 1993 issue to February 2000 issue) |
1993-2000 | 79 |
 |
スライム大作戦 Suraimu Daisakusen Great Mission of the Slime[a] |
V-Jump (May 2000 issue to November 2003 issue) |
2000-2003 | 43 |
 |
スライムもりもり Suraimu Mori Mori Vigorous Slime[b] |
V-Jump (December 2003 issue to November 2015 issue) Saikyō Jump (January 2012 issue to January 2016 issue; incomplete serialization) |
2003-2015 | 144 |
 |
ドラゴンクエスト モンスターバトルロード ビクトリー Doragon Kuesuto Monsutā Batoru Rōdo Bikutorii Dragon Quest: Monster Battle Road Victory |
V-Jump (June 2010 issue to November 2010 issue[c]) |
2010 | 6 |
 |
スライムドーン!! Suraimu Dōn!! Slime Dawn!! |
V-Jump (February 2016 issue to October 2021 issue) |
2015-2021 | 68 |
Video Game Packaging Design
While Kaneko was not responsible for any cover/packaging artwork for games in the Dragon Quest franchise, he did provide cover artwork for the 1991 PC Engine version of the video game Populous, as well as the PlayStation video game Glint Glitter released in 1999 by Konami.[9]
Additional Video Game Contributions
Alongside other prominent V-Jump artists of the day, Kaneko contributed illustrations for the Final Fantasy V Adventure Guidebook (ファイナルファンタジーV 冒険ガイドブック).[10]
Similar to Shimpei Itoh's contributions for the early Dragon Quest "choose-your-own-adventure"-style novelizations, Kaneko contributed artwork to the Mother 2: Gyiyg Strikes Back Game Book (MOTHER2ギーグの逆襲ゲームブック), including a color pullout poster in the front of the book, along with black-and-white illustrations periodically placed throughout.
Miscellaneous
Kaneko contributed four-panel comic (alongside various other artists) during the second trial run of V-Jump, including:
- In the third issue featuring Final Fantasy V, titled "Rena's Blue Magic Scroll" (レナの青魔法の巻)
- In the fourth (and final) issue featuring Dragon Ball, titled "No. 18's Hip Attack" (18号のヒップアタックの)
Alongside Yūki Nakashima, Riku Sanjō, and Kōji Inada, Osamu Kaneko contributed a celebratory image for a Dragon Quest 30th anniversary live stream held in May 2016. Kaneko's image includes text saying congratulations on the anniversary, as well as drawings from each of his respective "Slime" manga series and their titles.[11]
External Links
- TBD
Notes
- ↑ A full English title translation of "Great Mission OF THE SLIME" is printed on the back of all three collected volumes of this manga series.
- ↑ The mori mori onomatopoeia refers to someone or something with a large, vigorous appetite; the phrase is often left untranslated with regard to this particular sub-franchise.
- ↑ Tentative citation; there are six total chapters, and this lines up with the TOC beyond the issues we personally own, but still need to actually acquire to independently source first-hand.
References
- ↑ @sam_neco (15 April 2022). Twitter. Retrieved: 30 October 2025.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 "かねこ統". 有限会社シュビドゥバー. Retrieved: 30 October 2025.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "【第23回】インタビュー 川越東高等学校1期生 かねこ統" (15 June 2022). 《ひんがし会 》川越東高等学校同窓会. Retrieved: 26 November 2025.
- ↑ @sam_neco (18 May 2020). Twitter. Retrieved: 18 November 2025.
- ↑ @sam_neco (15 April 2022). Twitter. Retrieved: 30 October 2025.
- ↑ @vegettoex.bsky.social (05 December 2025). Bluesky. Retrieved: 24 February 2026.
- ↑ @vegettoex.bsky.social (12 December 2025). Bluesky. Retrieved: 24 February 2026.
- ↑ @sam_neco (01 February 2013). Twitter. Retrieved: 30 October 2025.
- ↑ @sam_neco (22 July 2021). Twitter. Retrieved: 18 November 2025.
- ↑ @vegettoex.bsky.social (23 February 2026). Bluesky. Retrieved: 24 February 2026.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 "『ドラゴンクエスト』30周年記念ニコ生に、歴代の開発スタッフが集結！ 堀井雄二氏が『DQXI』について語る一幕も!?" (27 May 2016). ファミ通.com. Retrieved: 12 December 2025.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||