Ohta Publishing was created in 1985, when it separated from the publishing department of
Ohta Production, a talent agency specializing in stand-up comedians. (Founded as a , it has, , been converted to a
kabushiki gaisha.) Initially, from an outside perspective, Ohta Publishing did not seem like a serious company but rather a sort of toy company of
Takeshi Kitano (who was an Ohta Production artist back then). It released books that were of interest to Kitano himself. about serial child murderer
Tsutomu Miyazaki and started establishing itself like a source of provocative "subculture" items. Around the same time, the bi-monthly magazine
QuickJapan was founded. In 1993 Ohta released the book
The Complete Manual of Suicide and in 1999
Battle Royale, which shook Japanese society. At the end of the 1990s, the company also started working with manga artist
Naoki Yamamoto, dubbed the master of erotics, and founded the manga magazine
Manga Erotics. Its successor
Manga Erotics F now accounts for a large percentage of all company's manga sales. == Prominent titles ==