is one of the first successful female Japanese shōjo

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 bef ...

s. She was an assistant of

Osamu Tezuka Osamu Tezuka (, born , ''Tezuka Osamu''; – 9 February 1989) was a Japanese manga artist, cartoonist, and animator. Born in Osaka Prefecture, his prolific output, pioneering techniques, and innovative redefinitions of genres earned him such ...

staying in

Tokiwa-sō was an apartment building in Toshima, Tokyo, Japan famous for being the early living-quarters of many prominent manga artists. Description Tokiwa-sō was a Japanese style no-frills apartment building, two stories high, built of wood. It was one ...

. She made her professional debut in 1955 with ''Akakke Kōma Pony'', a

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

story with a

tomboy A tomboy is a term for a girl or a young woman with masculine qualities. It can include wearing androgynous or unfeminine clothing and actively engage in physical sports or other activities and behaviors usually associated with boys or men. W ...

heroine. She became a prominent shōjo artist in the 1960s and 1970s, starting with ''White Troika'', which serialized in ''

Margaret Margaret is a female first name, derived via French () and Latin () from grc, μαργαρίτης () meaning "pearl". The Greek is borrowed from Persian. Margaret has been an English name since the 11th century, and remained popular through ...

'' in 1963. Mizuno is best known for '' Fire!'' (1969–1971), one of the first shōjo manga with a boy protagonist, for which she won the 1970

Shogakukan Manga Award The is one of Japan's major manga awards, and is sponsored by Shogakukan Publishing. It has been awarded annually for serialized manga and features candidates from a number of publishers. It is the oldest manga award in Japan, being given since ...

. Her '' Honey Honey no Suteki na Bouken'' (1966) 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, licensed in English as ''Honey Honey'' on CBN Cable Network.

Early life

Hideko Mizuno discovered manga very early: at the age of 8 she read the manga '' Shin Takarajima'' by Osamu Tezuka as well as his book ''Manga Daigaku'' which teaches the basics of manga creation, thanks to these two books, she took Tezuka as a model and decided to become a mangaka. In 1952 at the age of 12, she regularly contributed to competitions organized by the monthly magazine ''

Manga Shōnen was a monthly manga magazine published by Gakudōsha between December 1947 and October 1955. The magazine was important in forming and promoting shōnen manga in post-war Japan. Legacy The magazine was first published on 20 December 1947. ...

'' chaired by Tezuka. Although her manga was never accepted, her efforts did not go unnoticed: she received an honorable mention and publisher Akira Maruyama from Kōdansha took notice. In March 1955 when she was about to leave junior high for work, not wishing to go to high school, she received a letter from Maruyama, an order for a board and two illustrations for the magazine ''Shōjo Club'', Hideko Mizuno was then 15 years old.

Biography

For a year and a half, Mizuno worked to make a living and drew for ''Shōjo Club'' at the same time. Her first manga published in 1955, ''Akkake kōma pony'' is like the rest of the mangaka's career: the story was about a "little girl and a pony" and while her publisher Mazuyama was expecting a sentimental manga with a sensitive and fragile heroine who was the norm in the magazine's productions, Mizuno provided a Western- inspired manga with a tomboy heroine, and although the manga did not match what was requested, it was nevertheless published. In 1956 Mizuno went to Tokyo for the first time where she met Tezuka, she then decided to become a full-time mangaka. The following year she published her first series, ''Gin no hanabira'' , which was a success. In 1958, invited by Tezuka, she moved to Tokyo in the

apartment where she lived and worked with the two authors

Shōtarō Ishinomori was a Japanese manga artist who became an influential figure in manga, anime, and , creating several immensely popular long-running series such as ''Cyborg 009,'' the ''Super Sentai'' series (later adapted into the ''Power Rangers'' series), an ...

and

Fujio Akatsuka was a pioneer Japanese artist of comical manga known as the Gag Manga King. His name at birth is 赤塚藤雄, whose Japanese pronunciation is the same as 赤塚不二夫. He was born in Rehe, Manchuria, the son of a Japanese military poli ...

, together they collaborated on two manga under the pseudonym U. Mia for the magazine ''Shōjo Club''. She only stayed in Tokiwa-sō for a year. Continuing her career as a mangaka, Mizuno's work met with success and helped broaden the register of ''shōjo'' manga: until the mid-1960s, shōjo manga regularly followed the structure of ''haha-mono'', centered on the mother-daughter relationship. During the 1960s several women mangaka, including Mizuno, introduced a new type of story: the

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typic ...

. Mizuno notably adapted two films in manga form, with ''Sabrina'' adapted in the manga ''Sutekina cora'' (1963) and ''The Quiet Man'' adapted as ''Akage no scarlet''(1966). Mizuno created ''Harp of the Stars'' in 1960, a love story drawing from

Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern per ...

. Mizuno is best known for '' Fire!'' (1969–1971), one of the first shōjo manga with a boy protagonist, for which she won the 1970

. Mizuno was a fan of

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. I ...

such as

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philosophical lyrics an ...

. After the serialisation of ''Fire!'', Mizuno became a single mother. Her '' Honey Honey no Suteki na Bouken'' (1966) was adapted as an

television series, licensed in English as ''Honey Honey'' on CBN Cable Network. Some of Mizuno's works star adult women as protagonists, distinguished from children by the work's inclusion of heterosexual love. Mizuno was inspired by Hollywood romantic films like those featuring

Audrey Hepburn Audrey Hepburn (born Audrey Kathleen Ruston; 4 May 1929 – 20 January 1993) was a British actress and humanitarian. Recognised as both a film and fashion icon, she was ranked by the American Film Institute as the third-greatest female screen ...

Works

* ''Konnichiwa sensei = Harō doku'', 1968 * ''Gin no hanabira'', 1969 * ''Faiyā : Fire'', 1972 * ''Budda to onna no monogatari'', 1986 * ''Erizabēto'', 1996

References

Bibliography

* :* * * * *

External links