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 ...

from

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

. He is best known for the series ''

The Kabocha Wine is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Mitsuru Miura. It was serialized in Kodansha's '' Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' from 1981 to 1984. ''The Kabocha Wine'' received the 1983 Kodansha Manga Award for the shōnen category ...

'', which was adapted as an

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

television series, and for which he received the 1983

Kodansha Manga Award is an annual award for serialized manga published in the previous year, the event is sponsored by the publisher Kodansha. It is currently awarded in three categories: '' shōnen'', '' shōjo'', and general. The awards began in 1977, initially w ...

for '' shōnen''.

Career

Miura’s career took off in 1971, while he was attending Isogo Technical High School. In that year, he won

Weekly Shōnen Jump is a weekly ''shōnen'' manga anthology published in Japan by Shueisha under the ''Jump'' line of magazines. The manga series within the magazine consist of many action scenes and a fair amount of comedy. The chapters of the series that run ...

’s Young Jump Award for . After graduating high school, he went on to be an assistant at

Tezuka Productions is a Japanese animation studio founded by Osamu Tezuka in 1968. It is known for animating notable works such as '' Marvelous Melmo'', the 1980 and 2003 ''Astro Boy'' series, and '' Black Jack''. It is also the holder of the intellectual propert ...

. Soon after in 1973, he won an Honorable Mention in the 6th

Tezuka Award The is a semi-annual manga award offered by the Japanese publisher Shueisha since 1971, under the auspices of its ''Weekly Shonen Jump'' magazine. It awarded new manga artists in the Story Manga category. Its counterpart award, Akatsuka Award, a ...

for his series , and another Honorable Mention in 9th

in 1975 for his series . In 1980, Miura wrote a one-off manga called that released in

Weekly Shōnen Magazine is a weekly ''shōnen'' manga anthology published on Wednesdays in Japan by Kodansha, first published on March 17, 1959. The magazine is mainly read by an older audience, with a significant portion of its readership falling under the male high ...

. This short story soon evolved into his most popular manga series,

, running from 1981 to 1984, containing 18 volumes, and a 95-episode anime series released by

Toei Animation () is a Japanese animation studio primarily controlled by its namesake Toei Company. It has produced numerous series, including ''Sally the Witch,'' ''GeGeGe no Kitarō,'' ''Mazinger Z'', ''Galaxy Express 999'', ''Cutie Honey'', ''Dr. Slump'', ' ...

, airing from July 5th, 1982 until August 25th, 1984. He credits the inspiration for the series’ title from a commercial he once saw, saying , which then turned into “The Kabocha Wine”, saying that the title had nothing to do with the series’ overall premise. His main inspiration for the series was his own childhood, saying that he was usually shorter than most kids in his class, and finding himself attracted to the taller girls at school. To add, the main character, Shunsuke Aoba, is inspired by Miura himself. The female lead, Natsumi Asaoka (known as “L”), is cited to be partially inspired by Yoshiko Miyazaki, a Japanese Swimsuit model and

Actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek ...

. Miura returned to

in 2006 with “The Kabocha Wine - Sequel” and “The Kabocha Wine - Another”, with the latter being turned into a live action movie in 2007, which received mixed reviews. In 2017, he returned to the series for the last time with the title . After a successful crowdfunding event, he officially retired from manga after a 45-year-long career. Nowadays, he’s been working on picture books and being active on his Twitter, @miura_mitsuru. in 2021, with a partnership with

7-Eleven 7-Eleven, Inc., stylized as 7-ELEVE, is a multinational chain of retail convenience stores, headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The chain was founded in 1927 as an ice house storefront in Dallas. It was named Tote'm Stores between 1928 and 1946. A ...

and

Lawson (store) is a convenience store franchise chain in Japan. The store originated in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, but exists today as a Japanese company. The company has its headquarters in East Tower of Gate City Ohsaki in Ōsaki, Shinagawa, Tokyo. History Ori ...

, a re-release of the manga for “The Kabocha Wine” began, releasing books all over Japanese convenience stores, with 4 volumes released as of May 24, 2022, and a 5th volume on its way.

Manga

References

External links

* Manga artists from Kanagawa Prefecture Japanese illustrators Winner of Kodansha Manga Award (Shōnen) Living people 1954 births {{manga-artist-stub