Hideo Azuma

Hideo Azuma (吾妻 ひでお) was a Japanese manga artist.

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, where he did uncredited work for Weekly Shōnen Sunday on series such as Mini Mini Manga.

Azuma made his professional debut in 1969 in the Akita Shoten manga magazine Manga Ō.

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).

Azuma, together with Jun Ishikawa, is considered part of the manga creators in the 1970s.

Beginning in 1972, Azuma began rising in popularity due to the off-color humor in his Weekly Shōnen Champion series Futari to 5-nin.

Azuma began serializing in 1975 his story Yakekuso Tenshi in the semimonthly manga magazine Play Comic.

He also began publishing science fiction themed works in many different niche magazines such as Kisō Tengai and Peke.

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 (doujinshi), which is credited with launching the lolicon genre.

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.

1979年、沖由加雄、蛭児神建らとともに日本初のロリコン同人誌『シベール』をコミックマーケットで販売、1980年代前半に自動販売機本『少女アリス』などに「純文学シリーズ」と題してロリコン漫画を発表.

メジャー誌出身の漫画家がポルノ誌に進出したことは周囲に衝撃を与え、80年代のロリコンブームの立役者とみなされるようになる.

その後、作品はどんどん実験の度合いを深めてゆき、「でたらめ」などと自己批判をしたり[3]、「もうネタがありません、ゆるして下さい」とだけ書いてオチをつけなかったり[4]、「感情のない」顔を並べて「あまり長いことみつめないでください」と書いたり[5]した.

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".

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".

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.

1980年代半ばから約8年に渡る沈黙期に入る.

その間に二度長い失踪をしている.

1983年4月、『SF大会本』（虎馬書房刊）に発表した「冷たい汗」は、それまでのアニメ絵とは違った劇画的な絵で、その年のSF大会の様子を描いている.

自分のホームグランドにすら違和感を覚え、声をかけられただけでギクリとしてしまう疲れ果てた作者の姿が描かれている.

1984年、連作『夜の魚』、『笑わない魚』を発表.

『冷たい汗』の絵とも異なる暗い絵で、自分の生活をシュールリアリスティックに描いている.

この時期の吾妻の詳細は失踪日記の項目を参照.

1990年代後半にはアルコール依存症となり入院.

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.

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.

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.