鍋 倉夫（Kurao Nabe）- 漫画家

鍋 倉夫（なべ くらお）は、夢に挫折した人の再出発や、他人との距離の取り方を描いてきた漫画家。神奈川県出身。大学4年生だった2009年ごろに漫画の制作を本格的に始め、アルバイトをしながら独学で作品を描き、出版社へ持ち込んだ。2011年に3作目で「アフタヌーン四季賞」の大賞を受賞し、デビューした。その後、花沢 健吾のもとでアシスタントを務め、2018年に初連載『リボーンの棋士』を始めた。同作は、26歳の年齢制限で奨励会を退会し、プロ棋士への道をいったん断たれた安住 浩一が、将棋と向き合い直す物語。勝敗や才能の差だけでなく、将棋を離れたあとの仕事や人間関係、仲間との関わりを描き、全7巻にまとめられた。2023年に連載を始めた『路傍のフジイ』では、目立たない独身の中年男性・藤井と、彼に出会う職場や日常の人々を描いた。世間からの評価や比較に揺れる周囲の人々と、自分の楽しみを大切にする藤井の対照を通じて、幸福や暮らし方をめぐる感情を取り上げた。作品はマンガ大賞2025で第2位となり、2026年9月に最終7巻が刊行された。創作については、言葉で説明するとこぼれ落ちるような、等身大の心の機微をすくい取ることを大切にしたいと語った。

Kurao Nabe is a manga artist from Kanagawa Prefecture whose stories have explored rebuilding a life after disappointment and negotiating relationships with others. He began making manga seriously around 2009, during his fourth year at university, teaching himself while working part-time and submitting work to publishers. His third manga won the grand prize in the Afternoon Four Seasons Award in 2011, marking his debut. He subsequently worked as an assistant to Kengo Hanazawa before starting his first serial, “Reborn no Kishi,” in 2018. Its protagonist, Koichi Azumi, leaves the professional shogi apprenticeship system at the age limit of twenty-six without qualifying as a professional. The seven-volume series follows his renewed engagement with shogi, addressing not only competition and differences in ability but also work, friendships, and life after an abandoned ambition. Nabe began “Robo no Fujii” in 2023. Centred on an inconspicuous, unmarried middle-aged man and the people he meets at work and in everyday life, it contrasts Fujii’s enjoyment of his own interests with the anxieties of people preoccupied with comparison and social approval. The manga placed second in the 2025 Manga Taisho awards and concluded with its seventh volume in September 2026. Discussing his creative approach, Nabe said that he valued capturing ordinary emotional subtleties that could be lost when put into an explicit explanation.