| Yasushi Nirasawa | |
| Native Name: | 韮沢 靖 |
| Birth Date: | 26 August 1963 |
| Birth Place: | Tochio, Niigata, Japan |
| Nationality: | Japanese |
| Occupation: | Character designer |
was a Japanese illustrator, character designer, and model maker born in Tochio, Niigata. He is well known for character designs in the Kamen Rider entries Kamen Rider Blade, Kamen Rider Kabuto, and Kamen Rider Den-O and the creatures called "Horrors" in the GARO series.
Much of his early work as a designer and sculptor was featured in his Hobby Japan magazine column titled "Creature Core", which featured at least one of his sculptures in each monthly issue and was later collected as a hardcover book of the same name.[1] In addition to original designs, this column also included sculptures based on characters from Kamen Rider, Inazuman, Guyver, Phantom of the Paradise, Hellraiser, Hellraiser III, and others.[2] As part of his work for Hobby Japan, Nirasawa did character designs and cover art for the video games Beast Warriors and A-Rank Thunder Tanjouhen,[3] and illustrations for Japanese RPGs, including illustrations of Michael Moorcock's Elric for the Japanese edition of Stormbringer.[4]
In 2009, he was brought onto the productions of Kamen Rider Decade, the Cho-Den-O series, and Kamen Rider G in designing the Paradoxa Undead, the Alligator Imagin, the villains Goludora and Shilubara, and the Phylloxera Worm, respectively.[5] He later provided the designs of the original villains of the Super Sentai Series's 2011 entry Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger. His designs for the various Tokusatsu productions are published in UNDEAD GREEN BLOOD, GITAI, SAY YOUR WISH, and ZANGYACK WORKS LOG.
Nirasawa died on February 2 2016 due to complications from chronic renal failure.
Two common themes in Nirasawa's design are asymmetry, with characters having lopsided forms or multiple limbs; and anatomical imagery, with many designs having skeletal elements and/or extensive muscular detail. His nonhuman characters often originate from a combination of animal and human features, particularly including insectoid features. His human characters are often voluptuous women, either semi-nude or wearing armor.