Santa Inoue

Santa Inoue 井上 三太
Santa Inoue in October 2006
Born	1968 Paris, France
Nationality	Japanese
Area(s)	Manga artist
Notable works	Tokyo Tribes
Signature
www.santa.co.jp

Santa Inoue (井上 三太^?, Inoue Santa, born 1968 in Paris, France) is a Japanese manga artist and entrepreneur. His most notable manga was the Tokyo Tribe series of which the manga installment Tokyo Tribe2 (also known as Tokyo Tribes) ran from 1997 to 2005, and was made into an anime series as well as a live-action film. He wrote the horror manga The Neighbor No. Thirteen which was also adapted into a live-action film. His manga series have been influenced by hip hop culture, with some of the characters being modeled after rappers. He owns a clothing and accessories business called Santastic!, and has done artwork on several music album covers.

Inoue's debut manga was Murder in 1989 which was published in Weekly Young Sunday and won the magazine's newcomers prize. In 1990, he had his first manga serialization, Bunpuku Chagama Daimaō, which printed in Weekly Young Sunday. His third work, Tamashii Rettsha, was published straight-to-tankōbon by Yōsensha.

Inoue created the psychological horror manga The Neighbor No. Thirteen, "about a man whose schizophrenic alter ego (Jūzō-gō or Number 13) is reawakened when his former childhood bully becomes his new boss."No. Thirteen was serialized partly in Comic Scholar magazine by Gentosha and was published in tankōbon format under the Birz Comics line. The Neighbor No. Thirteen went on to be published by Gentosha in 1999 The Neighbor No. Thirteen being adapted into a feature film in 2005. Additional pocket bunkobon editions of The Neighbor No. Thirteen were released under the Gentosha Comics Manga Bunko line by Gentosha in 2009

In 1993, Santa Inoue created Tokyo Tribe, which was first published straight to tankōbon by JICC Shuppankyoku under the Takarajima Comics Deluxe line. Tokyo Tribe was republished by Bijutsu Shuppansha, and was later serialized in Boon fashion magazine in 1997 for Shodensha. In 2003, it was reprinted for Young Jump Comics. In 2005, it was published in tankōbon format by Kodansha. It also had a printing under Inoue's Santastic! Books line in 2009.