was 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 ...

. He graduated from the Department of Visual Communication Design at

Musashino Art University or is a private university in Kodaira, Western Tokyo, founded in 1962 with roots going back to 1929. It is known as one of the leading art universities in Japan. History In October 1929, was founded. In December 1948, it became , and in ...

. He made his professional debut in 2003 with the

one-shot One shot may refer to: Film and television * One-shot film, a feature film shot in one long take with no edits, or manufactured to look like so * ''One Shot'' (2005 film), a Sri Lankan action film directed by Ranjan Ramanayake * ''One Shot'' (2 ...

"", winning ''

Monthly Ikki was a monthly ''seinen'' manga magazine published by Shogakukan. It tended to specialize in underground or alternative manga, but it had its share of major hits as well. The magazine started in 2000 as a spin-off of Shogakukan's ''Weekly Big ...

'' magazine's Ikiman award for rookie artists. On October 9, 2011, an employee of Aoyama's publisher

Kodansha is a Japanese privately-held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha is the largest Japanese publishing company, and it produces the manga magazines ''Nakayoshi'', ''Afternoon'', ''Evening'', ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' an ...

called the police because they had not been able to contact him for several days. The police broke into Aoyama's Tokyo apartment and found him dead in a

suicide by hanging Suicide by hanging is the intentional killing of oneself (suicide) via suspension from an anchor-point such as an overhead beam or hook, by a rope or cord or by jumping from a height with a noose around the neck. Hanging is often considered t ...

. Two days later on October 11, 2011, Kodansha published the last completed chapter of his manga series in ''

Evening Evening is the period of a day that starts at the end of the afternoon and overlaps with the beginning of night. The exact times when evening begins and ends depend on location, time of year, and culture, but it is generally regarded as beginn ...

'' magazine. On February 23, 2012,

Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics (manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hit ...

released a collection of Aoyama's early works titled ''The Dog Race:'' (THE DOG RACE ). The volume contains eight one-shots, including Aoyama's university graduation project and several previously unreleased manga.

Works

One-shots

* "" (''

'' May 2003,

) * "Drip" (''Monthly Ikki'' October 2003, Shogakukan) * "" (''Monthly Ikki'' August 2004, Shogakukan)

Serializations

* '' Swweeet'' (''Monthly Ikki'' April 2005 – June 2006, Shogakukan) * ' (''Continue'' 33–43, 45–46,

Ohta Publishing is a Japanese publishing company. With a number of controversial books that disturbed the Japanese society and its erotic manga comics, the company has established itself like a source of provocative "subculture" items. History Ohta Publishing ...

) * ' (script by

Rei Hanagata is a Japanese manga artist and a manga script writer especially well known in the gourmet manga field. Almost of his works are written about people involved in food industries, such as a coffee shop owner, a cheese shop owner, a Barista, a hambu ...

, ''

Big Comic is a semimonthly ''seinen'' manga magazine published since 18 February 1968 by Shogakukan in Japan. It was originally launched as a monthly magazine, but switched to twice monthly on the 10th and 25th beginning in April 1968. It is paired wit ...

'' 2009 3–11, Shogakukan) * (''

'' 2010 No. 18 – 2011 No. 21,

)

Anthologies

* (February 27, 2007, Shogakukan) ** collects "" and "School Attack Syndrome", both adapted from works of the same name by

Ōtarō Maijō is a Japanese novelist from Fukui Prefecture. Winner of the 19th Mephisto Prize for ''Smoke, Soil, and Sacrifices'', and the 16th Mishima Yukio Prize for ''Asura Girl''. His short story, "Drill Hole in the Brain" was translated into English as p ...

* ''The Dog Race:'' (February 23, 2012, Shogakukan) ** collects "Fake Fur", "Untitled", " UFO", " UFO '05", "", "The Dog Race", "Drip", and ""

References

External links

* 1979 births 2011 suicides Japanese cartoonists Manga artists Suicides by hanging in Japan 2011 deaths {{Manga-artist-stub