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Hideo Azuma

Hideo Azuma (吾妻 ひでお, Azuma Hideo, February 6, 1950 – October 13, 2019) was a Japanese manga artist. Azuma made his professional debut in 1969 in the Akita Shoten manga magazine Manga Ō. He was most well known for his science fiction lolicon-themed works appearing in magazines such as Weekly Shōnen Champion, as well as children's comedy series such as Nanako SOS and Little Pollon (which both became anime television series in the early 1980s). He has been called the "father of lolicon".[1]

Hideo Azuma
吾妻 ひでお
Born
吾妻 日出夫 (Azuma Hideo)

(1950-02-06)6 February 1950
Urahoro, Hokkaidō, Japan
Died13 October 2019(2019-10-13) (aged 69)
Tokyo, Japan
NationalityJapanese
OccupationManga artist
Years active1969–2019
WorksNanako SOS
Little Pollon
MovementLolicon
Awardssee below

In 2005 he published an autobiographical manga titled Disappearance Diary that has won several awards including the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize. His name is also sometimes romanized Hideo Aduma.

Career

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Early years

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While attending Hokkaidō Urahoro High School, Azuma participated in the Hokkaidō branch office of COM, along with other artists such as Monkey Punch and Fumiko Okada [jp]. In 1968, after graduating from high school, he moved to Tokyo and found employment with Toppan Printing. He left this job after three months to work as an assistant to manga artist Rentarō Itai [jp], where he did uncredited work for Weekly Shōnen Sunday on series such as Mini Mini Manga.

Azuma made his professional debut in 1969 in Manga Ō with his work Ringside Crazy. The following year he quit working as an assistant and doing his own work. He gradually expanded his work to include both shōjo and seinen manga. His first works tended to be light gag manga, though he began to include science fiction elements influenced by his being a fan of the New Hollywood movement in American film. It was during this period that he experimented a lot with one panel manga (as opposed to four panel).

Beginning in 1972, Azuma began rising in popularity due to the off-color humor in his Weekly Shōnen Champion series Futari to 5-nin. He also married his assistant the same year, with whom he had a daughter in 1980 and a son in 1983. His wife was credited as "Assistant A" in his works, and his daughter and son were respectively credited as "Assistant B" and "Assistant C".

Boom period

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Azuma began serializing in 1975 his story Yakekuso Tenshi in the semimonthly manga magazine Play Comic [jp]. He also began publishing science fiction themed works in many different niche magazines such as Kisō Tengai [jp] and Peke. Azuma, together with Jun Ishikawa, is considered part of the manga creators in the 1970s. Due to works such as science fiction novel parody Fujōri Nikki, published in Bessatsu Kisō Tengai in 1978, Azuma began to gain a large following among science fiction fans. Fujōri Nikki was awarded the 1979 Seiun Award for Best Comic of the Year. In 1979, Azuma was a major contributor to the first issue of the dōjinshi series Cybele [ja], which is credited with launching the lolicon genre.[2][3]

From there, he began publishing in magazines such as Shōjo Alice, becoming a fixture in the pornographic lolicon manga business and becoming very involved in otaku culture.

Downfall and late career

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In the late 1980s and into the 1990s, due to stress from his hectic and demanding schedule during 20 years (to that point) as a manga artist, Azuma began drinking heavily, disappeared twice for several months to over a year, attempted suicide at least once, and was finally forcibly committed to an alcohol rehabilitation program.[1][4][5]

In 2005, he published a manga journal of this experience titled Disappearance Diary. The manga won several awards, including the prestigious Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize, and it was translated into English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Russian and Polish.

Azuma died in hospital on October 13, 2019 due to esophageal cancer at the age of 69.[6]

Style

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He is frequently mentioned as a part of the New Wave movement of manga in the 1980s. Kentarō Mizumoto cites Azuma's Fujōri Nikki (1979) as an example of the approach of science fiction manga of the movement, as they would function as a parody of science fiction and were thus the essence of new wave science fiction.[7] Azuma rejected being labeled as part of the New Wave, when manga critic Natsume Fusanosuke invited him and other artists to appear in a newspaper article Fusanosuke wanted to publish about the movement in 1981.[8]

Works

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Manga

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Books

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  • Nanako My Love: Azuma Hideo Illust Book (1983, Just Comic Zōkan, Kobunsha)
  • Yo no Sakana: Ohta Comics Geijutsu Manga Sōsho (1992, ISBN 4-87233-074-9, Ohta Books)


Awards

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References

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  1. ^ a b Brienza, Casey (2008-06-06). "Review: Disappearance Diary". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2008-11-22.
  2. ^ Galbraith, Patrick W. (2019). "Seeking an Alternative: "Male" Shōjo Fans since the 1970s". In Berndt, Jaqueline; Nagaike, Kazumi; Ōgi, Fusami (eds.). Shōjo across media : exploring "girl" practices in contemporary Japan. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-3-030-01485-8. OCLC 1088436403.
  3. ^ Galbraith, Patrick W. (2011). "Lolicon: The Reality of 'Virtual Child Pornography' in Japan". Image & Narrative. 12 (1). Archived from the original on 2017-12-02. Retrieved 2020-06-08.
  4. ^ Sizemore, Ed (2008-09-03). "Disappearance Diary". Comics Worth Reading. Archived from the original on 2008-10-14. Retrieved 2008-11-22.
  5. ^ McElhatton, Greg (2008-10-27). "Disappearance Diary". Read About Comics. Retrieved 2008-11-22.
  6. ^ "Prolific Manga Creator Hideo Azuma Passes Away at 69". Anime News Network. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
  7. ^ Mizumoto, Kentarō. "「ニューウェイブ」という時代". Sora Tobu Kikai. Archived from the original on January 23, 2003. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
  8. ^ Fusanosuke, Natsume (2000). Fūun Manga Retsuden Ima Yomu Manga 116-satsu [風雲マンガ列伝 いま読むマンガ116冊]. Shogakukan. pp. 236–237. ISBN 4-09-371331-6.
  9. ^ "9th Japanese Media Arts Festival Winners". Anime News Network. 2005-12-22. Retrieved 2008-11-22.
  10. ^ "Tezuka Cultural Award Winners". Anime News Network. 2006-05-11. Retrieved 2008-11-22.
  11. ^ "OFFICIAL SELECTION 2008". Angoulême International Comics Festival. Archived from the original on 2008-11-20. Retrieved 2008-11-22.
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