Giuseppe Durato (born December 24, 1992), better known as Peppe (Japanese: ペッペ), is an Italian manga artist living and working in Japan. His first manga series, Mingo, was serialized in Big Comic Spirits from 2019 to 2020. Peppe was a cast member of the reality television series Terrace House: Tokyo 2019–2020, which showed him in the period just prior to the launch of Mingo.
Peppe | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Born | Giuseppe Durato (1992-12-24) December 24, 1992 (age 29)[1] Fossacesia, Italy |
Occupation | Manga artist |
Nationality | Italian |
Education | Ca' Foscari University of Venice |
Subject | Seinen manga |
Years active | 2019–present |
Notable works | Mingo |
Website | |
Official website |
Born in Fossacesia, Italy to parents who are both chefs, Peppe is the eldest of three siblings; he has one brother and one sister.[1] Although he has been a fan of Japanese video games, particularly Pokémon, and anime such as Ranma ½, City Hunter and Dragon Ball since he was a child, he did not learn about manga until he was 16 years old.[2] Planning to move to Japan, Peppe entered Ca' Foscari University of Venice focusing on Japanese Studies in order to fully understand the culture first.[1][3] His favorite manga artist is Taiyō Matsumoto.[2][4] Other artists he was influenced by include Tite Kubo, Takehiko Inoue and Kengo Hanazawa.[2] Peppe is trilingual, able to speak Italian, English and Japanese.
After graduating, Peppe bought a one-way plane ticket and moved to Japan in January 2015 in order to become a manga artist.[1][3] He initially worked at a restaurant in Ginza and gave private Italian lessons before starting work as a model.[3] He explained that after only one hour in Shibuya he was scouted and started working as a model in order to pay the bills.[1][5] Peppe was an assistant to manga artist Keiko Nishi.[4] After completing a manga story he felt confident in, he called the editors of Big Comic Spirits and scheduled a meeting to discuss having them publish it.[3] He submitted this work, Model Monogatari (モデル物語), to their June 2017 award contest and won an Effort Award that earned him ¥10,000 (roughly US$100).[3][6] His manga Hatsukoi (初恋) won an August 2017 Encouragement Award.[6] In March 2018, Model: Mingo ~ Itariajin ga Minna Moteru to Omou na yo (MODEL:ミンゴ~イタリア人がみんなモテルと思うなよ) won an Honorable Mention Award.[5][6]
In September 2019, Peppe became a cast member of the Fuji TV and Netflix reality TV series Terrace House: Tokyo 2019–2020.[5] He left the show the day after Mingo began publication, citing the forthcoming hectic work schedule of a weekly manga series.[7] The artist included some of his housemates from the show in Mingo, including Ruka Nishinoiri in chapter one, and Hana Kimura following her death in May 2020.[4][8] Chapter one also features an "Obake Inu" drawn by Kaori Watanabe, credited as foxco.[4]
Peppe's first serial, Mingo: Non pensare che tutti gli italiani siano popolari con le ragazze! (ミンゴ イタリア人がみんなモテると思うなよ, Mingo: Don't think that all Italians would be popular with the girls!), began publication in the 46th issue of Shogakukan's weekly magazine Big Comic Spirits on October 12, 2019.[9] It is a comedy based on the artist's own life and follows an Italian man named Mingo who travels to Tokyo to study Japanese. Mingo was a nickname given to Peppe in high school; since he wanted to be a manga artist, he was called "Manga", and this eventually evolved into "Mingo."[4][10] To celebrate the release of the first tankōbon volume, an event was held at Aoyama Book Center on December 17, 2019. It included an interview with the artist, a slideshow of childhood photos, and an appearance by Peppe's fellow Terrace House castmate Ryo Tawatari.[11] In April 2020, Mingo collaborated with Italian fashion brand Tod's.[12] The 30th and final chapter was published on August 3, 2020, in issue 36/37, which also included an interview with Peppe.[13] The fourth and final tankōbon volume was released on October 12, 2020.[13]
Peppe portrayed the character Abele in the January 3, 2022, Fuji TV drama Sensuikan Cappellini-gō no Bōken.[14] Based on his experience on the show, he created the two-page Sensuikan Cappellini-gō no Bōken Satsuei Taiken-ki (潜水艦カッペリーニ号の冒険 撮影体験記) for Big Comic Spirits's combined issue 4/5 of 2022.[15]
Terrace House | |
---|---|
Series |
|
Commentators |
|
Notable cast members |
|
Related articles |
|