is an erotic

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 ...

who was prolific in the 1980s and '90s. Several of Maeda's works have been used as a basis for

original video animation , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA s ...

s (OVA) including ''

La Blue Girl is an erotic anime and manga series by Toshio Maeda. Like Maeda's other hentai series (''e.g.'', ''Urotsukidōji''), ''La Blue Girl'' features a large amount of tentacle rape. It departs somewhat from its predecessors, however, by lighte ...

'', ''

Adventure Kid is an erotic manga series written and illustrated by Toshio Maeda. It was published by Wanimagazine into four volumes from 1988 to 1989 and it was adapted into an original video animation (OVA). Mixing horror, fantasy and comedy, it follows N ...

'', '' Demon Beast Invasion'', ''Demon Warrior Koji'' and his most notorious work, ''

Urotsukidōji is a Japanese erotic horror manga series written and illustrated by Toshio Maeda. First serialized in ''Manga Erotopia'' from 1985 to 1986, ''Urotsukidōji'' marked a departure from Maeda's earlier works, with its focus on erotica, dark hum ...

'' (''Legend of the Overfiend''). An interviewer commented that ''Urotsukidōji'' "firmly placed him in the history books—in Japan and abroad—as the pioneer of the genre known as

hentai Hentai is anime and manga pornography. A loanword from Japanese, the original term ( ) does not describe a genre of media, but rather an abnormal sexual desire or act, as an abbreviation of . In addition to anime and manga, hentai works exi ...

, or "perverted".

Early career

Toshio Maeda began reading manga when he was 5 or 6 years old, as well as American comics such as

Mighty Mouse Mighty Mouse is an American animated Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic superhero mouse character created by the Terrytoons studio for 20th Century Fox. The character was originally called Super Mouse, and made his debut in the 1942 short ''Th ...

Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book ''Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in the Silv ...

and Batman. He was also a reader of all genres of literature and has said that he read more than 10,000 books before he was 20 years old.

Career

At 16 Maeda left

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

to go to Tokyo as an assistant to a professional cartoonist. He became interested in manga for adults to avoid all the sexual, political and religious restrictions that were placed on manga for children. Early in his career, with the likes of ''Evil Spirit Island'' and ''Ashita-e Kick Off'', he only provided the illustrations while someone else wrote the text for the manga. Maeda is credited with the proliferation of the tentacle rape genre. Maeda's first usage of tentacles in his manga was in 1976, in an experimental short story published in the magazine ''Special Young Comic'' titled ''SEX Tearing''. The reason for drawing tentacles in the story was that Maeda was not allowed to draw male genitals. Maeda's best known series, ''

'', came out in 1986 and gained popularity abroad. ''The Erotic Anime Movie Guide'' (1998) claimed that "No other title apart from '' Akira'' has been so influential in the English-language market". Maeda was working for an adult magazine at the time and wanted to create something different in terms of erotica. Maeda has mentioned that since portraying genitals was illegal in Japan, artists would use any trick they could to get by the censors and he could say that a creature's tentacle was not a penis. Maeda has embraced his role in popularizing the genre and in a blog interview stated that he would like "Tentacle Master" inscribed on his tombstone. In 1999, Maeda collaborated with Phoenix Entertainment (who previously adapted one of Maeda's works, ''Gedou Gakuen'' (or ''Nightmare Campus'', as it is called overseas)) as an executive producer to work on a three episode OVA series, known as ''Kairaku Satsujin Chōsakan Koji'' (Sex Murder investigator Koji), also known in the west as ''Demon Warrior Koji''. Maeda was a Guest of Honor at the

Big Apple Anime Fest The Big Apple Anime Fest (BAAF) was an anime convention which was held annually between 2001 and 2003 and supported by a consortium of anime and manga companies. History Event history Cancellations Despite confirmed dates for 2004, Big Apple ...

(BAAF) held in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

in October 2001. An ANN writer covering the story praised him as "the most influential erotic manga artist in Japan" and called ''Urotsukidoji'' "the foundation for the entire 'erotic-grotesque' genre of Japanese anime". Maeda was the Keynote Speaker at the BAAF Symposium and introduced a retrospective of his work. A motorbike accident in 2001 left Maeda with limited ability in his drawing hand but he continued to use his computer to create characters and write scripts. In 2003, he planned contributions to a Japanese woman's hentai magazine and strove to look at eroticism from a woman's point of view. In addition to erotic horror, Maeda has done manga in other genres, including

sex comedy Sex comedy, erotic comedy or more broadly sexual comedy is a genre in which comedy is motivated by sexual situations and love affairs. Although "sex comedy" is primarily a description of dramatic forms such as theatre and film, literary works such ...

BDSM BDSM is a variety of often erotic practices or roleplaying involving bondage, discipline, dominance and submission, sadomasochism, and other related interpersonal dynamics. Given the wide range of practices, some of which may be engaged in ...

-themed genres, and books targeted at younger readers. He also sometimes draws mecha. As of September 2010, Toshio Maeda has opened his official website, the Tentacle club, where users can sign up and view his full length manga for a small monthly fee of 500 yen. Maeda has also made the opportunity available to the public to come stay at his apartment and have the opportunity to discuss manga, anime and Japan in general with him over a beer for a small fee, together with a tour of Akihabara and various otaku hot spots in Tokyo. In 2016 Toshio Maeda appeared in the British horror film '' Spidarlings'' directed by Selene Kapsaski. In late 2016, he would appear on

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

on Thursday, December 8, 2016 from 6 to 9 pm, at Floating World Comics to coincide Fakku's release of Urotsukidoji manga.

Bibliography

* * (1977), Hit Comics, 1 volume * (1981), Action Comics, 2 volumes * (1982), Comic Pack, 1 volume * (1983), Comic Pack, 1 volume * (1983), Joy Comics, 1 volume * (1984), Comic Pack, 1 volume * (1986), Comic Pack, 1 volume * (1986),

Wanimagazine is a Japanese publisher founded on September 10, 1971 and based in Shinjuku, Tokyo which specializes in hentai Hentai is anime and manga pornography. A loanword from Japanese, the original term ( ) does not describe a genre of media, but ...

Comics, 6 volumes; English translation: '' Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend'' (1998), Urotsukidoji (2002) * (1987), 3 volumes * (1987), 6 volumes * (1987), Wanimagazine Comics, 2 volumes * (1988), Wanimagazine Comics, 4 volumes; English translation: ''Adventure Kid''/''Adventure Duo'' (2003) * (1988), Tsukasa Comics, 1 volume * (1988), Tatsumi Comics, 1 volume * (1988), Million Comics, 1 volume * (1988),

Wani Books is a Japanese publishing company focused on manga-related publication, including magazines and books. The company was established in November 1979. It publishes a manga magazine called ''Comic Gum''. Magazines published ''Wink Up'' is an idol ...

, 2 volumes * (1988), Pyramid Comics, 1 volume * (1989), 2 volumes; English translation: '' Demon Beast Invasion'' (2001) * (1989), Suberu Comics; English translation: ''

'' (2002) * (1989), Men's Comics, 1 volume * (1989), Takarajima Comics, 1 volume * (1990), Tatsumi Comics, 1 volume * (1990), 1 volume * (1990), Gekiga King Comics, 1 volume * (1991), Wanimagazine Comics, 2 volumes * (1991), 1 volume * (1993), Action Camera Comics, 2 volumes * (1993), Suberu Comics, 2 volumes * (1993), Suberu Comics, 1 volume * (1993), Suberu Comics, 2 volumes * (1996), Core Comics, 4 volumes * (1998), Kyun Comics, 1 volume * (1999), Suberu Comics DX, 1 volume

References

Sources

* *

External links