Hideo Azuma

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Hideo Azuma
吾妻 ひでお
Born	吾妻 日出夫 (Azuma Hideo) (1950-02-06)6 February 1950 Urahoro, Hokkaidō, Japan
Died	13 October 2019(2019-10-13) (aged 69) Tokyo, Japan
Nationality	Japanese
Occupation	Manga artist
Years active	1969–2019
Works	Nanako SOS Little Pollon
Movement	Lolicon
Awards	see below

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 . 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]

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[]

While attending Hokkaidō Urahoro High School, Azuma participated in the Hokkaidō branch office of COM, along with other artists such as Monkey Punch and . 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 , where he did uncredited work for Weekly Shōnen Sunday on series such as Mini Mini Manga.

Azuma made his professional debut in 1969 in 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 girl in 1980 and a boy 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[]

Azuma began serializing in 1975 his story Yakekuso Tenshi in the semimonthly manga magazine . He also began publishing science fiction themed works in many different niche magazines such as 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 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  [ja], which is credited with launching the lolicon genre.^[2][3]

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

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] He published in 2005 a manga journal of this experience titled Disappearance Diary. In addition to being published in Japan, this book has been licensed and published in 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]

Works[]

Manga[]

• (1974–1976, 12 volumes, Shōnen Champion Comics, Akita Shoten)
• (1976, 1 volume, Sun Comics, Asahi Sonorama)
• (1976–1977, 2 volumes, Princess Comics, Akita Shoten)
• Olympus no Pollon (1977, 2 volumes, Princess Comics, Akita Shoten)
  • anime adaptation Ochamegami Monogatari Koro Koro Pollon in 1982-1983
  • manga reprinted in 2005-2007 by Hayakawa Shoten
• (1977, 2 volumes, Sun Comics, Asahi Sonorama)
• (1977, 2 volumes, Sun Comics, Asahi Sonorama)
• (1977, 1 volume, Power Comics, Futabasha)
• (1977–1978, 2 volumes, Shōnen Champion Comics, Akita Shoten)
• (1977–1978, 4 volumes, Shōnen Champion Comics, Akita Shoten)
• (1977–1980, 5 volumes, Akita Manga Bunko, Akita Shoten)
• (1978, 2 volumes, KC Comics, Kodansha)
• (1978, 1 volume, Sun Comics, Asahi Sonorama)
• (1979, Kisō Tengai Comics, Kisō Tengai)
• (1979, Kisō Tengai Comics, Kisō Tengai)
• (1979, , )
• (1980, My Comics, Tokyo Sanseisha)
• 1: Methyl Metaphysic (1980, Kisō Tengai Comics, Kisō Tengai)
• Azuma Hideo Sakuhinshū 2: Gansaku Hideo Hakkenden (1980, Akita Shoten)
• Azuma Hideo Sakuhinshū 3: Kakutō Family (1980, Kisō Tengai Comics, Kisō Tengai)
• Azuma Hideo Sakuhinshū 4: The Iroppuru (1980, Kisō Tengai Comics, Kisō Tengai)
• (1980, Sun Comics, Asahi Sonorama)
• (1980, , )
• (1980, Princess Comics, Akita Shoten)
• (1980, Shōnen Champion Comics, Akita Shoten)
• (1980–1982, 2 volumes, Animage Comics, Tokuma Shoten)
• (1981, hardcover, Kisō Tengaisha)
• Mahō Tsukai Chappy (1981, Animage Comics, Tokuma Shoten) - manga adaptation of the 1972 magical girl anime series by Toei Animation; not an original Azuma character
• (1981, Jihi Shuppan)
• (1981, Shōnen Shōjo SF Manga Kyōsaku Daizenshū Zōkangō, Tokyo Sanseisha)
• (1981, Animage Comics, Tokuma Shoten)
• (1981, Torauma Shobō)
• (1981–1983, 3 volumes, Akita Shoten Manga Bunko, Akita Shoten)
• (1982, My Comics, Tokyo Sanseisha)
• (1982, Play Comic Series, Akita Shoten)
• (1982, Play Comic Series, Akita Shoten)
• (Lolicon Daizenshū) (1982-05-31, )
  • published in Minity-Yamū (1984-12-30, Play Comic Series, Akita Shoten)
• (1982, Sanrio)
• (1982, Kisō Tengaisha)
• (1982, Sun Comics, Asahi Sonorama)
• (1983, Best Hit Series, Akita Shoten)
• Ochamegami Monogatari: Koro Koro Pollon (1983, anime version, 100-ten Land Comics, Futabasha)
• Nanako SOS (1983–1986, 5 volumes, Just Comic Zōkan, Kobunsha)
  • anime adaptation in 1983, also known as Nana Supergirl (Italy), Supernana (France)
• (1984, Play Comic Series, Akita Shoten)
• 1: Hideo Dōwashū (1984, Action Comics, Futabasha)
• Hideo Collection 2: Jūgatsu no Sora (1984, Action Comics, Futabasha)
• Minity-Yamū (1984, Play Comic Series, Akita Shoten)
• Hideo Collection 3: Sumire Kōnen (1985, Action Comics, Futabasha)
• Hideo Collection 4: Tenkai no Utage (1985, Action Comics, Futabasha)
• Hideo Collection 5: Daibōkenko (1985, Action Comics, Futabasha)
• Hideo Collection 6: Taiyō wa Mata Noboru (1985, Action Comics, Futabasha)
• Hideo Collection 7: Tokimeki Alice (1985, Action Comics, Futabasha)
• 1: Amazing Marie (1985, Play Comic Series, Akita Shoten)
• (1985, ISBN 4-592-13065-0, Jets Comics, Hakusensha)
• (1985, Pulp Comics, )
• (1995, ISBN 4-8211-9440-6, Bunka Comics, Bunkasha)
• (1995–1997, 2 volumes, Mag Comics, Magazine House)
• vol.1-3 (1996, )
• (1998–2002, 2 volumes, Bunkasha Comics, Bunkasha)
• (1999, Mandarake)
• (1999, ISBN 4-8387-1138-7, Mag Comics, Magazine House)
• (2000, ISBN 4-8211-9819-3, Bunkasha Comics, Bunkasha)
• (2001-current, Jihi Shuppan)
• Disappearance Diary (Shissō Nikki) (2005, East Press, ISBN 4-87257-533-4)
• Nanako SOS (2005, Hayakawa Shoten, reprint)
• (2006, , ISBN 4-8211-8351-X)
• (2006, , ISBN 4-8050-0455-X)
• (2006, Kadokawa Shoten, ISBN 4-04-853977-9)
• (2006, Chikuma Shuppansha, ISBN 4-8050-0456-8)
• vol.1-3 (2006–2007, Hayakawa Shoten)
• (an interview-style autobiography) (2007, Nihon Bungeisha, ISBN 4-537-25465-3)
• (Shissō Nikki 2) (2013, East Press, ISBN 978-4-78-161072-6)

Books[]

• 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[]

• 2005: Grand Prize, Manga Division, 9th Japan Media Arts Awards for Shissō Nikki^[7]
• 2006: Grand Prize, Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize for Shissō Nikki^[8]
• 2008: Selection, Angoulême International Comics Festival for Shissō Nikki^[9]

References[]

External links[]

• (in Japanese) Azuma Hideo Official Homepage