Milk Morizono


Milk Morizono is the pen name of Hiroko Mizoguchi, a Japanese manga artist and photographer. Noted for her works in the ladies' manga genre that feature ecchi themes and subject material, Morizono has been called the "Queen of Ladies' Manga" and noted by Rachel Matt Thorn as "the most popular and respected creator of erotic manga for women".

Biography

Morizono was born Hiroko Mizoguchi on December 25, 1957, in Tokuyama, Yamaguchi Prefecture, where she drew manga as a child. In 1977, she married and began work as an office lady, but departed the job after a year. In 1981, she divorced her husband and made her professional debut as a manga artist with Crazy Love Hisshouhou published in the manga magazine Shōjo Comic. She won a Shogakukan Manga Award for new artists that same year.
From 1981 to 1986, Morizono primarily created shōjo manga and gag cartoons for seinen manga magazines. As ladies' manga began to incorporate more mature elements such as erotica and S&M in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Morizono began to create manga for the genre exclusively. During this period, she began publishing under the name "Milk" as a pen name that was "catchy and feminine". Between 1986 and 1995, Morizono published over 35 paperbacks and earned the nickname of "the Queen of Ladies' Manga".
In 1991, Morizono published the erotic manga series Peacemaker in Midori, a shōjo manga magazine published by Kodansha. The series received complaints from the police, parent–teacher associations, housewife groups, and politicians, and prompted Kodansha to pressure the editors of Midori to cease publishing works deemed "harmful". Kodansha refused to publish tankōbon volumes of Morizono's manga unless Peacemaker was revised, which Morizono refused; ultimately, neither Morizono nor Kodansha earned royalties from Peacemaker, and the series was not renewed despite its popularity. As a result, Morizono began primarily publishing works through Shodensha, a smaller company that published a tankōbon of Peacemaker in its uncensored form.
Morizono was married to manga artist until his murder in 2010. She published an autobiographical manga on Murasaki's death, My Husband Was Suddenly Killed One Day, in the digital manga magazine in 2017. In addition to her manga work, Morizono also works as a photographer.

Style

Morizono is known for her "glamorous and media-friendly" public persona and describes her art as etchi, a term broadly used to describe works that are erotic but not explicitly pornographic. Though sex figures heavily into her manga, her works do not render genitalia or pubic hair, and typically feature significant plot and character development in addition to sex scenes. Recurring elements in her work include "wealthy, jet-set young women" who find themselves in a variety of sexual scenarios, foreign settings, and gay characters. Unlike many manga artists who both write and illustrate their manga, Morizono frequently does not write her material, opting to instead work with new and unestablished writers with whom she shares 30 percent of the series' royalties.

Works

The following works have been published by Morizono:
YearTitlePublisher
1981Crazy Love HisshouhouShogakukan
1983Katte ni SenkaShogakukan
1984Kon'ya mo SexualShogakukan
1984Nanika ii Koto shinai? Koneko-chanShogakukan
1988Abunai KoibitotachiTairiku Shobou
1989DesireShodensha
1989Feel So BadFutabasha
1989Milky PinkTairiku Shobou
1989All Night LongTairiku Shobou
1989Cocktail StoriesShodensha
1989Milky PopTairiku Shobou
1989Milky PanicTairiku Shobou
1989Milky PartyTairiku Shobou
1989Milky PassionTairiku Shobou
1989Slave to LoveShodensha
1990Déjà-vuShodensha
1990New York StoriesShodensha
1990Venus PartyShodensha
1990Hong Kong YuugiShodensha
1991Sabu & JuneFutabasha
1991Crystal RoseShodensha
1991Kagami no TasogareShodensha
1991LustShodensha
1991PeacemakerKodansha
1992Hana KagamiShodensha
1992High LifeShodensha
1992HimikoShodensha
1992KiaraShodensha
1993Bondage FantasyShodensha
1993Daisy BluesShodensha
1993PartnerShodensha
1994Soshite Tsutaete, Hibi no Owari niShodensha
1994Atlas no KazeShodensha
1994JunkyoushaShodensha
1994Let's Go to BedShodensha
1994Midsummer NightShodensha
1994Seaside LoversShodensha
1995Lion no NakaniwaFutabasha
1995Vegetable LoveShodensha
1995Lonely Hearts ClubShodensha
1995VelvetShodensha
1995Anata no Kiss ga Ichiban IiShodensha
1995ViolettaShodensha
1995EcstasyShodensha
1995Sweet HeartShodensha
1995Pink ConnectionShodensha
1996Pressure GameScholar
1996Body ShootingScholar
1996An Angel's TemptationScholar
1996Monroe DensetsuShodensha
1997DragShodensha
1998 Platinum Finger Shodensha
1998 Saturn Return Ohta Publishing
1999 Melencolia SoftBank Creative
2001 Cleopatra Koori no Bishou Bunkasha
2002 Atrocious Fairy Tales for Adults Futabasha
2006 Ayashii Uzu Futabasha
2007 Thérèse Shogakukan
2008 Avalon Babies Bunkasha
2016 Chimamire no Goo Punch - Bouryoku wo Yamerarenai Onna Shogakukan
2017 Shin gokutsuma kaachan dotabata nikki ♪ Bunkasha
2017 Manga Grimm Douwa - Satsujin Baishunpu Bunkasha
2017 Manga Grimm Douwa - Dorei Bokujou Bunkasha
2017My Husband Was Suddenly Killed One DayMecha Comics