[Image: Konami via The Rumble Roses Wikia

Kotaku East East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from 4am to 8am. Prev Next View All

While in his twenties, artist Shiro Kotobuki was in a traffic accident, leaving him paralyzed from the neck down. He didn’t let that stop him and went on to become a successful character designer and artist. Sadly, Kotobuki, whose real name was Hiroshi Kobayashi, passed away yesterday.


Kotobuki began painting as a part of his rehabilitation process and designed characters for Rumble Roses and Rumble Roses XX. He continued to remain active and working well on into 2016.


According to Yahoo! News Japan, a relative posted a message on his Facebook page stating that he suddenly died yesterday morning. Details regarding his funeral service will be made public as soon as those arrangements are made.

Kotobuki held his digital art brush between his teeth while creating. You can see him at work in the clip below:

Here is a sample of some of his work.


May he rest in peace.