Biography: Hideaki Sorachi (空知 英秋, Sorachi Hideaki) is the pen name of a Japanese manga artist best known for his manga Gintama, which began serialization in 2003 and ended in 2019. He has also written numerous one-shots, including Dandelion, for which he won the Tenkaichi Honourable Mention Manga Award in 2002. As of February 2018, the Gintama manga has sold 55 million copies in Japan.