Jirō Tsunoda

Jirō Tsunoda is a Japanese manga artist. He is known in Japan for his horror manga series such as Kyōfu Shinbun and Ushiro no Hyakutarō as well as illustrator of the karate series Karate Master.

Life

Tsunoda was born in Tokyo. He is the second of eight brothers. One of his younger brothers,, is a pop musician. He published his first work as a professional manga artist in 1955 with Shin Momotarō in Manga Shōnen. Shortly after, he became a frequent guest at the Tokiwa-sō apartment building, which brought together Osamu Tezuka with upcoming manga artists. There, he became close friends with Fujiko Fujio A.
He had a first hit in 1958 with the series Rumi-chan Kyōshitsu in Ribon and for another shōjo manga series, Bara-iro no Umi, he won the Kodansha Children's Manga Award in 1961. After that, he focused on shōnen manga magazines and published gag manga like Black-dan and Ninja Awate-maru. The latter was adapted into an anime TV series called Pyunpyun Maru in 1967. From 1971 on, he illustrated the series Karate Master based on a script by Ikki Kajiwara and it became a big hit. In 1973, Tsunoda was replaced as an illustrator for the series by Jōya Kagemaru.
Tsunoda became interested in occultism and created manga based on paranormal ideas from the 1970s on. Kyōfu Shinbun and Ushiro no Hyakutarō are his most famous occult manga.

Works

Shin Momotarō Rumi-chan Kyōshitsu Super Manbee Boku wa Jonbee Bara-iro no Umi Black-dan Ore no Taiyō Ninja Awate-maru Kaimushi Kabuton Guri Guri Rival no Hata Tenamonya Ipponyari Niji wo yobu Ken Karate Master Bōrei Gakkyū Nakuna! Jūen Kyōfu Shinbun Ushiro no Hyakutarō Sonohoka-kun Megido no Hi 5-go no Ryū Ginza Kazoku Renge Densetsu Tokimeki no Haka Mayonaka no Loveletter Shin Ushiro no Hyakutarō Shinsetsu Hyaku Monogatari Gakuen Shichi Fushigi Onna-tachi no Toki

''Kyōfu Shinbun II''