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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 ...
who publishes works primarily for
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 ...
. He made his debut with ''Superfly'' in Kodansha's ''
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 ...
''. He is best known for his manga '' Drifting Net Cafe,'' '' The Flowers of Evil'', ''
Happiness Happiness is a complex and multifaceted emotion that encompasses a range of positive feelings, from contentment to intense joy. It is often associated with positive life experiences, such as achieving goals, spending time with loved ones, ...
'', and '' Blood on the Tracks''. His works have been adapted into many different media including television drama, anime, and live action film. In 2001, he won the Tetsuya Chiba Award.


Background

Oshimi's hometown is in the countryside of Kiryu, Gunma, which also served as the setting of his manga '' The Flowers of Evil''. While growing up there, the main places he would visit were the riverbank, the stairs of his junior high school, and the bookstore. Oshimi currently resides in
Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
.


Career

Oshimi debuted with ''Superfly'' in
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 ...
's ''
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 ...
''. He would go on to start his first series ''Avant-Garde Yumeko'' in the magazine. His works have been adapted into many different media, with '' Drifting Net Café'' and '' Inside Mari'' into television dramas, '' The Flowers of Evil'' 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 '' Sweet Poolside'' into a
live action Live action is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live action with animation to create a live-action animated feature film. Live action is used to define film, video games o ...
film. In 2001, he won the Tetsuya Chiba Award.


Influences

In his childhood Oshimi would read
modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...
poems from authors like Sakutarō Hagiwara and Mitsuharu Kaneko. Oshimi also thought that
surrealist Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...
artists like
André Breton André Robert Breton (; ; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer and poet, the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of surrealism. His writings include the first ''Surrealist Manifesto'' (''Manifeste du surréalisme'') ...
,
Max Ernst Max Ernst (; 2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German-born painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and surrealism in Europe. He had no formal artistic trai ...
, and Paul Delvaux were cool. His favorite artist is Redon, and he also likes
Francisco Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 1746 – 16 April 1828) was a Spanish Romanticism, romantic painter and Printmaking, printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Hi ...
. In his youth, Oshimi heavily identified with the protagonist of Tetsu Adachi's ''Song of Cherry Blossoms'' and it would later influence his manga ''The Flowers of Evil''.


Themes

Oshimi's narrative style consists of stories presenting quirky, clumsy main characters, usually a boy and a girl couple, and how their relationship unfolds as the narrative progresses. He also presents uncommon, uncomfortable and, sometimes, disturbing situations through which the
protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a ...
s take part. This narrative style has been seen in all of the author's works, including his best-known work, ''The Flowers of Evil''. Oshimi likes to explore themes such as coming-of-age and perversion, combined with his experiences in his youth. He thinks that the end of adolescence is hard to define, and is up to an individual to discover, such as in ''The Flowers of Evil''. He also believes that perversion is a characteristic of every person that is surrounded by stigma which he wants people to think about. Oshimi also wants to explore the female perspective in his gender-bender manga ''Inside Mari'', because to him, girls are "half of the world".


Works

* – Independent work, first published in the "Avant-Garde Yumeko" collection. * * – Published by Kodansha, single-volume. * – Published by Kodansha, single-volume. * – Published by Kodansha, 4 volumes. * – Published by Kodansha, 2 volumes. * – Published by
Futabasha is a Japanese publishing company headquartered in , Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. Futabasha is known for its manga works, and its 1967 magazine Manga Action first conceived of the manga category, decades before the other major companies tested th ...
, 7 volumes. * – Published by Kodansha, 11 volumes. * – Published by Ohta Publishing, single-volume. * – Serialized in '' Manga Action'', published by Futabasha, 9 volumes. * – Published by Kodansha. * – Serialized in '' Feel Young'', published by Shodensha, single-volume. * – Published by
Futabasha is a Japanese publishing company headquartered in , Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. Futabasha is known for its manga works, and its 1967 magazine Manga Action first conceived of the manga category, decades before the other major companies tested th ...
. It is an art book featuring art from many of Shūzō Oshimi's works. * – Serialized in '' Big Comic Superior'', published by Shogakukan. * – Serialized in ''Web Comic Action'', published by
Futabasha is a Japanese publishing company headquartered in , Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. Futabasha is known for its manga works, and its 1967 magazine Manga Action first conceived of the manga category, decades before the other major companies tested th ...
, single-volume. * – Serialized and published by ''
Weekly Young Magazine is a Japanese weekly anthology magazine published in Tokyo each Monday by Kodansha. The magazine started on June 16, 1980, and is targeted at the adult male () demographic. It was published bimonthly (under the title ), on the second and fourth ...
'', single-volume. * – Serialized in ''
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 ...
'', published by
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 ...
. * – Spin-off manga to the 2024 live-action film ''Doku Musume'', which features a character designed by Oshimi who stars in this work. * – Serialized in '' Big Comic Superior'', published by
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 ...
.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Oshimi, Shuzo 1981 births Living people Manga artists from Gunma Prefecture Japanese illustrators People from Kiryū, Gunma