Buichi Terasawa

Buichi Terasawa (寺沢 武一) was a Japanese artist. He was best-known for his manga series, , and. Terasawa supported Araki early in his career and was most notable for being the namesake for Cool Shock B.T. and the inspiration for Hol Horse in Stardust Crusaders.

On September 11, 2023, it was announced that Terasawa had died from a heart attack on September 8, 2023.

History
In 1976, Buichi Terasawa moved to Tokyo to become an assistant for, where he was mentored by him and worked for the manga department of. In 1977, Terasawa made his debut with the one-shot Cobra, a sci-fi manga about an immortal man named Cobra with a Psychogun attached to his left arm who goes on adventures with his partner, the Lady Armaroid. In 1978, Cobra was serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump until 1985, with the manga selling more than 30 million copies and being adapted into an and  in 1982. In the early 1980s, Terasawa began experimenting using personal computers in his works, and in 1885 serialized his next series, BLACK KNIGHT BAT, which utilized computer coloring. In 1992, Terasawa started his series Takeru, which is said to be the world's first fully computer drawn manga, giving rise to the term "digital manga."

In 2003, Terasawa announced on his official website that he had been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor in 1998. Despite undergoing radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatment, the cancer returned and paralyzed the left side of his body after the second surgery. Even after being wheelchair bound due to the aftereffects of the surgery, Teresawa continued working as a manga artist, publishing the most recent version of the Cobra manga in 2020. On September 11, 2023, Terasawa's studio announced that he had died on September 8, 2023 due to a heart attack.

Work with Araki
Terasawa's connection with Hirohiko Araki dated back to the 80s when he read the manuscript for Araki's debut manga, Poker Under Arms, submitted to the Tezuka Awards. Terasawa noted that while Araki wasn't very skilled at drawing, he still had a talent for storytelling. He also noted that the elaborate methods Araki used for composing stories would be better suited for writing novels and screenplays than for drawing manga. Terasawa would go on to support Araki saying, "I encouraged him because he could tell stories better than he could draw them." The initials "B.T." in Araki's first series, Cool Shock B.T., were also a reference to Terasawa's name.

In 1985, Terasawa appeared at the end of the first volume of Araki's second series, Baoh the Visitor. He said the sci-fi elements in the series were very reminiscent of the ones that appear in his own. In 2014, Araki said that the idea for Hol Horse might've been inspired by the titular main character of Terasawa's manga, Cobra. A gun-slinging outlaw who always smokes and has the power to fire projectiles without having a line-of-sight. In 2015, Araki contributed an illustration of Cobra's partner, Lady Armaroid, for the book Cobra Great Dissection. The reason Araki drew her was because "If you visit space and need a companion at your side, the Lady Armoroid is the only one for you! (Erotic, gorgeous and dependable)."

Works

 * "Black Jack" (ブラック・ジャック) (1973-1983)
 * "Sigma 45" (シグマ45) (1976-1977)
 * "Cobra" (コブラ) (1977)
 * "Cobra" (コブラ) (1978-1984)
 * "BLACK KNIGHT BAT" (BLACK KNIGHT バット) (1985)
 * "Karasu Tengu Kabuto" (鴉天狗カブト) (1987-1988)
 * "Goku Midnight Eye" (MIDNIGHT EYE ゴクウ) (1987-1989)
 * "Takeru" (武 TAKERU) (1992-1993)
 * "Gun Dragon Σ" (GUNDRAGON Σ) (1999)
 * "Gun Dragon II" (GUNDRAGON II) (2004)