is a Japanese

manga artist A is a comic artist who writes and/or illustrates manga. As of 2006, about 3,000 professional manga artists were working in Japan. Most manga artists study at an art college or manga school or take on an apprenticeship with another artist be ...

known for her ''

Hikari no Densetsu is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Izumi Aso about a girl named Hikari Kamijou who dreams of becoming a national rhythmic gymnastics champion. The manga series title translates into English as "Legend of Light" (the female ...

'' series.

Biography

Izumi Aso at an early age was a very active young woman who enjoyed drawing. In her late teens she decided that she was going to become a manga artist. In the early 1980s she debuted as a manga artist and writer in

Margaret Magazine , stylized in Latin script between 1988 and 1990, is a biweekly Japanese '' shōjo'' manga magazine published by Shueisha, primarily for girls from 12 to 15 years old, although some stories are read by older teenage girls and adult women. History ...

(with "NY de dokkiri!"), this would become the magazine/publishing house that would go on to edit and publish her other works of manga series in the future. As a manga artist, Aso focused on the style of drawing that gives the impression that the drawn figures are going to pop out of the pages. This style would later become useful in her later manga works that would focus on sports such as baseball, skating, among other sports. Aso would later on after her debut as an artist detache her interest for the depiction of the body in motion and would search for a more emotional expression in her later works of as a manga artist. She was able to achieve this with her later manga series such as "Serina Bible" that lasted one volume and "Natsu Shinwa" which lasted two volumes, where serialized through Margaret Comics. Afterwards in late 1985 Aso began working on the manga series "

," which would become the "masterpiece" of her career as a manga artist. Hikari no Densetsu proved to be popular and a few months after the manga series has been serialized, an anime series was already being produced. The manga series told the story of a young gymnast who dreams of becoming a great rhythmic gymnast. Aso, a former competitive gymnast herself, used her personal experiences as well her training as a manga artist specializing on the art of movement to bring a solid depth to her drawings of gymnastics in the Hikari no Densetsu series. The manga series appeared weekly on

, which was drawn by Aso in single-handed attempts without the need of any assistants. The anime series was ended after only 19 episodes due to weak ratings on Japanese TV, but the manga series continued to be serialized, ending almost three years later in Margaret magazine, concluding in 16 small volumes. To date Hikari no Densetsu is by far her longest manga series. After Hikari no Densetsu she continued to work in other of her manga series where she would later on be seen using more tragic themes and other mature experimental themes found in her more famous work of manga, like the triangle love themes, that were absent in the beginning of her work. Parallel to ''Hikari no Densetsu'', Izumi began to work a comedy called "Natural", which after ''Hikari'' is the second most longest manga series with 9 volumes. As a result of the conclusion of ''Hikari no Densetsu'', Aso has not been able to attract the attention of the manga public. She tried with several other works of sports comedy series that were based on ice skating, horseback riding such as: "Lion Dream," "Blackbird," and "Tenshi to Miru Yume" among others, and while they are deemed as great by manga critics but they do not collect enough support to guarantee a long serialization. This is why her later works are one or two volumes only. In the last couple of years Izumi Aso has entirely dedicated her drawing talents to the world of the Lady's Comics. And while she has been rarely seen in manga scene lately, she still enjoys some amount of popularity among many manga readers and anime fans for her Hikari no Densetsu series; particularly in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

were the anime series became a huge success. The manga series also has a strong fan base in Japan where most recently in early 2000, the manga series has been reissued in 8 large volumes in

Tankōbon is the Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or cultur ...

form featuring a combination of drawings from Aso and black and white pictures of competitive gymnasts offered by Marianeve Fiorenza.

Manga work

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Natural Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are p ...

'' *'' Serina Bible'' *'' Natsu no Shinwa'' *'' Matenrou no Tameiki'' *'' Matenrou no Aria'' *'' Keiji Karen - 24ji no Tokai (Detective Karen - City at 24 o'clock)'' *''

Usagi no Rabu Kaado (Love Card of a Rabbit) Usagi may refer to: *Usagi, a Japanese term meaning rabbit * Typhoon Usagi (disambiguation), one of several named tropical storms *Usagi, a Japanese unisex name/unisex given name, used by **Usagi Tsukino or Sailor Moon, the main character in '' ...

'' *'' Usagi no Kirameki LOVE (Sparkling Love of a Rabbit)'' *'' Aitsu no Koi Menu (Her Love Menu)'' *'' Osharena Sasupensu (Fashionable Suspense)'' *'' Arimi Sos'' *'' Burakkubaado (Blackbird)'' *''

Lion Dream The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus '' Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adult ...

'' *''

Love shot! Jun Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of meanings is that the lov ...

'' *''

Tenshi to Miru Yume Tenshi may refer to: * , a spiritual being in Japanese Buddhism * , a title adopted by the Emperor of Japan in the 7th century * , a 2006 Japanese film based on a manga series by Erica Sakurazawa * Tenshi, or Kanade Tachibana, a fictional char ...

References

External links

Manga work
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aso, Izumi 1960 births Women manga artists Living people Japanese female comics artists Female comics writers 20th-century Japanese women writers 20th-century Japanese writers Manga artists from Saitama Prefecture