Yūko Tsuno (

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 culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

津野裕子;

Kana The term may refer to a number of syllabaries used to write Japanese phonological units, morae. Such syllabaries include (1) the original kana, or , which were Chinese characters (kanji) used phonetically to transcribe Japanese, the most pr ...

, つのゆうこ; born February 5, 1966) 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 ...

and ''

doujinshi , 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 by ...

'' writer. Her comics, all very short, self-contained works ranging from five to twenty pages, are surreal and dramatic. Yūko Tsuno was born February 5, 1966,

Takaoka, Toyama is a city in the northwestern portion of Toyama Prefecture, Japan. Takaoka has the second largest population after Toyama City. The area that is east of Kureha hill (呉羽丘陵 Kureha-kyuryo) has been called Goto (呉東), which means the east ...

, Japan. Tsuno published her first work in 1986 in the May issue of the

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

magazine, ''

Garo Garo may refer to: People and languages * Garo people, a tribal people in India ** Garo language, the language spoken by the Garo tribe Places * Kingdom of Garo, a former kingdom in southern Ethiopia * Garo, Colorado * Garo Hills, part of the Ga ...

'' with the six-page short story ''Reizōko'' (冷蔵庫). This comic is about a person whose deceased sister is locked in a refrigerator. Shortly after her debut came out, she received offers from mainstream magazines but turned them down, sticking with

underground comix Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books that are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority, ...

. Tsuno creates manga with the attitude of drawing it for herself and not for an audience. By the time ''Garo'' was discontinued in 2002, Tsuno had published around 70 other short stories. Seirindō, Garo's publisher, published some of them in three anthologies: ''Delicious'' (デリシャス, Derishasu, 1988), ''Amemiya Seppyō'' (雨宮雪氷, 1994), and ''Rinpun Kusuri'' (鱗粉薬, 2000). In 2000, Tsuno's short story "Swing Shell" (スイングシェル, Suingu Sheru) was published in the English-language anthology ''Secret Comics Japan'', which was intended to provide an overview of the

alternative comics Alternative comics cover a range of American comics that have appeared since the 1980s, following the underground comix movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Alternative comics present an alternative to mainstream superhero comics which ...

scene. After the end of ''Garo'', there were no further releases for a few years. Finally, in 2008, a manga was created for the magazine '' AX''. Tsuno resides in

Fukuyama, Hiroshima is a city located on the Ashida River in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. As of September 30, 2019, the city has an estimated population of 468,812 and a population density of 904.80 persons per km2. The total area is . After Hiroshima, it is the l ...

, and works in a

graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdiscipli ...

studio.

Selected works

Author and artist

* 1986, ''Reizōko'' * 2000, ''Secret Comics Japan: Underground Comics Now'' * ''Rinpun Yaku'' * 2000, "Swing Shell" (スイングシェル)

References

External links

List of all of Yūko Tsuno's publications up to 2002
via asahi-net.or.jp (Japanese) {{DEFAULTSORT:Tsuno, Yuko 1966 births Living people Women manga artists Doujinshi Manga artists from Toyama Prefecture