Kazuo Umezu

Kazuo Umezu was born on September 3, 1936 in Koyasan, Wakayama Prefecture, and grew up in Nara Prefecture. He showed extraordinary talent for drawing pictures from his early childhood and started drawing manga when he was in the fourth grade of elementary school. His first work was "Mahou no Tsubo" ("Magic Crucible"), "Mori no Siblings" ("Siblings in the Forest"), which he drew when he was 14, and "Another World" ("Another World"), which he drew in his second year of high school. His first work was "Mahou no tsubo" (The Forest Siblings), which he drew when he was 14, and "Another World," which he drew in his second year of high school, were published in 1955, and Umezu made his professional debut. He was later called the "God of Horror Manga" for his horror works such as "Mouth to Ear", "Hebi Shoujo", and "Hitokobu Shoujo". In 1967, he published "Nekome-ko", which was adapted into an animated TV series "Yokai den Nekome-ko" in 1976. From 1972, he began serializing "Drifting Classroom. It realistically depicted children surviving in a devastated future world, and won the Shogakukan Manga Award in 1975. Meanwhile, "Makoto-chan" was published in 1976. His surrealistic gags became a big breakthrough, and "Gwashi" became a social phenomenon. Currently, Umezu's trademark is the red and white striped shirt and this "Gwashi". Umezu also formed his own band, wrote the lyrics, composed the music, did the vocals, and choreographed the music, and in 1975 released the LP " Album of Darkness" in 1975. He also has many other manga works such as "Orochi", "Baptism", "I am Shingo", "God's Left Hand, Devil's Right Hand", "14 Years Old", etc. Many people call Umezu a "prophet" because his content is surprisingly ahead of the times. There are many people who call Umezu a "prophet" because of his surprisingly ahead of his time content. In 1994, he produced "Kazuo Umezu's Haunted House: The Possession of the Azuchi Family" at Korakuen Yuenchi. In 2005, Umezu celebrated the 50th anniversary of his debut, and his works were made into films one after another. He is taking a break from writing manga due to worsening tendonitis, but he is busy learning five languages, performing music, and appearing on TV, in movies, and in magazines. Kazuo Umezu is a genius artist who continues to demonstrate his rare originality not only in manga but also in art and entertainment in general.