Gen Urobuchi

Gen Urobuchi (虚淵 玄), born December 20, 1972 in Tokyo, Japan, is a writer currently employed at Visual Novel company Nitroplus. He has written for a number of visual novels, light novels, and anime, and he has worked with TYPE-MOON to create Fate/Zero and the character designs of Spartacus and Vlad III for the original canceled Fate/Apocrypha project. He is noted for his Reality Marble, Dead End Catharsis: Heaven & Hell Drop (地獄極楽おとし(デッドエンド・カタルシス)), which lowers the happiness of all characters in his stories by one rank.

Fate/Zero
Before writing Fate/Zero, Urobuchi was going through a difficult period as a writer where he could no longer write as he once had in the past. He especially had trouble with the endings of his works. He felt he was trapped in the stereotype that the only true creative activity was something that had to express his own thoughts. He didn't believe that he could adapt a story that he hadn't created without being insincere. Writing Fate/Zero helped him reaffirm the pleasure of simply writing, allowing him to concentrate on writing stories merely for entertainment without allowing too much pressure to be placed on himself.

Much of the process was supervised by Kinoko Nasu, who looked over the draft for the new characters and the plot. He admits that about ninety percent were accepted immediately due to being Nasu's ideas in the first place. All of the characters were named by Nasu except for Hisau Maiya, which was suggested by Urobuchi.

Anime

 * Phantom: The Animation (2004) (OVA, producer, wrote original scenario)
 * Blassreiter (2008) (TV anime by GONZO, Scriptwriter for ep: 10-12, 15-17, 22-23)
 * Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~ (2009) (TV anime adaptation of his visual novel story by Bee Train. Wrote scripts for episodes 6, 18, and 25)
 * Puella Magi Madoka Magica (2011)
 * Fate/Zero (2011) (TV anime by Ufotable, original creator)

Visual Novels

 * Phantom of Inferno (2000) (visual novel by Nitro+, scriptwriter, illustrated by Kimi Yanoguchi)
 * Vampirdzhija Vjedogonia (2001) (visual novel by Nitro+, scriptwriter, illustrated by Higashiguchi Chuuou)
 * Kikokugai - The Cyber Slayer (2002) (visual novel by Nitro+, scriptwriter, illustrated by Higashiguchi Chuuou)
 * Saya no Uta (2003) (visual novel by Nitro+, scriptwriter, illustrated by Higashiguchi Chuuou)
 * Jouka no Monshou (2003) (a short “fanfiction” Visual Novel by Gen Urobuchi, illustrated by Higashiguchi Chuuou. It takes place in the world of Equilibrium, which Urobuchi is a fan of)
 * Zoku Satsuriku no Django (2007) (visual novel by Nitro+, scriptwriter, illustrated by Niθ)

Novels

 * Hakumou no Dendoushi (2004) (novel, illustrated by kamiwata)
 * Fate/zero (2006-2007) (novel, prequel to Fate/stay night, collaboration with TYPE-MOON)
 * Black Lagoon novels (2008-2011) (novel, illustrated by Rei Hiroe)
 * Eisen Flügel (2009) (novel, illustrated by Higashiguchi Chuuou)
 * Kin no Hitomi to Tetsu no Ken (2011) (novel, illustrated by Yun Kouga)