Ito Ōgure (大暮 維人), known professionally as '''Oh! great', is a Japanese manga artist best known for his manga series Tenjho Tenge (1997–2010) and Air Gear'' (2002–2012). In 2006, Air Gear earned him the Kodansha Manga Award in the shōnen category.

Career

Oh! great's favorite manga as a child included Fist of the North Star and Ring ni Kakero. While working as a salaryman, Oh! great acquired debt playing pachinko and entered a manga contest for the award money. He made his debut in Byakuya-Shobo's adult magazine Manga Hot Milk in 1995 with a manga called September Kiss. His pen name "Oh! great" is a play on words. His real name, written in Japanese order (family name before given name), is "Ōgure Ito", which is pronounced similarly to and can be romanized the same as the Japanese rendering of the English words "Oh great", ōgurēto. Oh! great also created the pornographic series Silky Whip, which was his first work published outside Japan by Eros Comix. Since 2018, he has been creating a manga adaptation of Nisio Isin's Bakemonogatari series of novels. Outside of manga, Oh! great designed some of the alternate character outfits in the PlayStation 2 version of Tekken 5, and a guest character in Soul Calibur IV named Ashlotte.

Style

Characteristics of Oh! great's style include violent plots, the use of English words amidst kanji and female characters that provide large amounts of fan service. Kai-Ming Cha of Publishers Weekly wrote that his "ability to weave together compelling narratives without shying away from sex or violence has set him apart from other manga-ka while earning him a number of loyal fans." She also wrote that his use of sex in Tenjho Tenge is recognized by readers as an important aspect of the story, hence their outrage when it was censored in its original English release. Oh! Great also often includes the themes of flashbacks and backstory in his stories.

Works