is a

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

ous 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 ...

. Their notable works include the post-apocalyptic

iyashikei is a genre specific to Japanese works, primarily manga and anime. It is a sub-genre of slice of life, portraying characters living out peaceful lives in calming environments, and is intended to have a healing effect on the audience. The word ''iy ...

manga ''

Girls' Last Tour is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tsukumizu. It was serialized monthly through Shinchosha's ''Kurage Bunch'' manga website from February 2014 to January 2018 and collected in six ''tankōbon'' volumes. An English release ...

'' and the four-panel

surreal comedy Surreal humour (also called surreal comedy, absurdist humour, or absurdist comedy) is a form of humour predicated on deliberate violations of causality, causal reasoning, thus producing events and behaviours that are obviously illogical. Portrayal ...

manga ''

Shimeji Simulation is a Japanese four-panel surreal comedy manga series written and illustrated by Tsukumizu. It was serialized in Media Factory's ''Comic Cune'' magazine from January 26, 2019 to November 26, 2023. The first ''tankōbon'' volume was published i ...

''.

Biography

Tsukumizu had been reading extensively since they were in primary school, and read novels all through upper secondary. They cite

Haruki Murakami is a Japanese writer. His novels, essays, and short stories have been bestsellers in Japan and internationally, with his work translated into 50 languages and having sold millions of copies outside Japan. He has received numerous awards for his ...

's '' Norwegian Wood'' and '' Dance Dance Dance'', and

Kaori Ekuni Kaori Ekuni (江國香織 ''Ekuni Kaori'', born 21 March 1964) is a Japanese author. She was born in Setagaya, Tokyo. Her father is Japanese haiku poet and essayist, Shigeru Ekuni. Works In Japan, she was dubbed the female Murakami. Her numero ...

's ''Kirakira Hikaru'' as having influenced the themes behind ''

''. In upper secondary, they started to become interested in anime, and began drawing ''moe'' in their third year. This interest would bloom to encompass manga as well. Tsukumizu attended the

Aichi University of Education is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,552,873 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the west, Gifu Prefecture an ...

, and wished to study painting to become an art teacher. At that temporal juncture, they only saw drawing manga as a hobby. As a post-secondary student, Tsukumizu loved war movies, especially ''

Saving Private Ryan ''Saving Private Ryan'' is a 1998 American epic war film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Robert Rodat. Set during the Battle of Normandy in World War II, the film is known for its graphic portrayal of war, especially its depictio ...

''. The

Kettenkrad The (german: Sonderkraftfahrzeug 2) is a half-track motorcycle with a single front wheel, better known as the (), shortened to (pl. ). It was used by the military of Nazi Germany during the Second World War. Design The started its life as ...

that appears in ''Girls' Last Tour'' is a homage to the movie. In 2013, they published a ''

Touhou Project The , also known simply as , is a bullet hell shoot 'em up video game series created by one-man independent Japanese ''doujin'' soft developer Team Shanghai Alice. Since 1995, the team's member, Jun'ya "ZUN" Ōta, has independently developed ...

dōjinshi , also romanized as ', is the Japanese term for self-published print works, such as magazines, manga, and novels. Part of a wider category of '' doujin'' (self-published) works, ''doujinshi'' are often derivative of existing works and created ...

, ''Flan Wants to Die,'' about an immortal

yōkai are a class of supernatural entities and spirits in Japanese folklore. The word is composed of the kanji for "attractive; calamity" and "apparition; mystery; suspicious." are also referred to as , or . Despite often being translated as suc ...

named Flan who longs to die. In their second year of post-secondary, Tsukumizu began drawing manga and was invited to a manga circle by a friend. They regularly uploaded their work on the Internet, and this caught the eye of someone at the publishing company

Shinchosha is a publisher founded in 1896 in Japan and headquartered in Yaraichō, Shinjuku, Tokyo. Shinchosha is one of the sponsors of the Japan Fantasy Novel Award. Books * Haruki Murakami: ''Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World'' (1985), ...

. Their first commercially published work was ''Girls' Last Tour,'' which was adapted into 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 ...

in 2017. Their next major series, ''

'', began serialization in

Media Factory , formerly is a Japanese publisher and brand company of Kadokawa Future Publishing. History It was founded on December 1, 1986, and its headquarters are situated in Shibuya, Tokyo. It is a subsidiary of Recruit Co., Ltd. Media Factory was possi ...

's ''

Comic Cune is a Japanese seinen manga magazine which mainly serializes 4-koma manga published by Media Factory. The magazine originally began to be published as a supplement 4-koma magazine in Comic Alive in October 2014 but in June 2015, the publisher ann ...

'' magazine on 26 January 2019.

Works

*''Flan Wants to Die'' (2013) *''

'' (2014–2018) *''

'' (2019–present)

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Living people Manga artists Year of birth missing (living people) Pseudonymous artists