is a Japanese

manga artist A manga artist, also known as a mangaka (), is a Cartoonist, comic artist who writes and/or illustrates manga. Most manga artists study at an art college or manga school or take on an apprenticeship with another artist before entering the indus ...

. His most famous works are '' Go!! Southern Ice Hockey Club'', '' Katteni Kaizō'', '' Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei'', and '' Joshiraku''. The bulk of Kumeta's work was published in ''

Weekly Shōnen Sunday is a weekly manga magazine published in Japan by Shogakukan since March 1959. Contrary to its title, ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' issues are released on Wednesdays. ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' has sold over 1.8billion copies since 1986, making it ...

'', until the abrupt cancellation of ''Katteni Kaizō'', which resulted in him transferring from

Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of comics, magazines, light novels, dictionaries, literature, non-fiction, home media, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but ...

Kodansha is a Japanese privately held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha publishes manga magazines which include ''Nakayoshi'', ''Morning (magazine), Morning'', ''Afternoon (magazine), Afternoon'', ''Evening (magazine), Eveni ...

. As of 2014, he has gone freelance. His most recent serializations were ''Studio Pulp'' for ''Rakuen Le Paradis'' of

Hakusensha is a Japanese publishing company. It is headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo. The company mainly publishes manga magazines and is involved in series' productions in their games, original video animation, music, and their animated TV series. The com ...

and '' Kakushigoto'' in ''

Monthly Shōnen Magazine is a monthly shōnen manga magazine published in Japan by Kodansha. It was launched in 1964 under the name . In 1969 it was retitled as and its publication frequency increased from quarterly to monthly. After suspension in 1974 it started ...

'', both of which concluded their run in 2020. ''Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei'' was his first work to be adapted into an

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

and was awarded the 31st

Kodansha Manga Award is one of Japan's major manga awards. The event is sponsored by publisher Kodansha. It has been awarded annually for serialized manga in its third iteration since 1977. Categories The award was originally called the until 1968. In 1970, it was ...

in the '' shōnen'' category.

Works

Manga

*, 1991–1996, ''

'',

) * * * *, 1998–2004, ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'', Shogakukan) *, 2005–2012, ''

Weekly Shōnen Magazine is a weekly ''shōnen'' manga magazine 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 ...

'',

) *, story, 2009–2013, ''

Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine is a Japanese monthly manga magazine published by Kōdansha. The magazine was started in September 2009 as a spin-off of another Kōdansha magazine, '' Weekly Shōnen Magazine''. Currently running manga series Past series * '' ×××Hol ...

'', Kodansha) * * *, 2015–2020, ''

'', Kodansha) *, story *, 2021–present, ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'', Shogakukan)

Anime

*, original character design

Assistants

* Kenjiro Hata * Maeda-kun (also known as MAEDAX, MAEDAX G, MAEDAX Roman)

References

External links

Kōji Kumeta at Websunday.net's Back Stage

Weekly Shōnen Magazine: Sayonara Zetsubō Sensei official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kumeta, Koji 1967 births Manga artists from Kanagawa Prefecture Winner of Kodansha Manga Award (Shōnen) People from Yokosuka, Kanagawa Living people Wako University alumni