Yasuhiro Nightow is a famous mangaka (manga - Japanese comic + ka - expert) whose works such as Trigun and Gungrave have given him much acclaim not only in Japan, but also in the United States.  The reason for his success is due his ability to bridge the gap between Japanese and American culture.  As demonstrated in his commercial name, Nightow is not the actual spelling of his last name, correctly it is spelled Naitou, but he spells it Nightow so he can appeal to the English readers.

Yasuhiro Nightow was born in the city of Yokohama, Japan.  While working for a housing company, Nightow was already drawing doujinshi (self-published manga) as a hobby.  He had always taken interest in manga when he was growing up, and by the age of 26 he quit his job to pursue being a mangaka.

Nightow was always interested in American comic books and action figures, and he understood what the American audiences wanted to see.  Trigun was his most successful creation.  Being published in the biggest shounen manga magazine, Young King OURs, Nightow's work of combining Japanese characters and emotions in a Western society appealed to many readers.  Being raised as a Roman Catholic also further expanded Nightow's knowledge of Occidental religion as Trigun also incorporated elements of the Christian faith.

Whenever you have a manga become a financial success, it will be turned into an anime (fully animated feature).  However, the manga was still not done when the anime was being created, leading to a vague ending in the anime.  When the manga for Trigun was finally finished in 2008, there are now plans for a full-length anime movie to be released in Japan for 2009.