Tōru Shinohara
Tōru Shinohara is a Japanese manga artist.
He was born in Niihama, Ehime. After graduating from high school in 1955, he started working at a factory in Osaka making car parts but quit after only ten months. He studied manga via a mail-offered course and wrote to various manga magazines. In 1958, came his first commercially printed work Fukumenhakushi and he began his career as a manga artist.
He is best known for Nippon Keibaden that detailed the history of Japan's horse racing industry and its horses. He is also known for beautiful amazon-like heroines who are never daunted by the hardship they endure. Since 1970, he has written a series of works titled Sasori, lit. scorpion, which is the name for a female inmate and heroine seeking escape and revenge upon those who wronged her. Director Shunya Ito started a series of ten films starring Meiko Kaji based on the manga, the most famous one being the initial film, Female Prisoner 701: Scorpion. However, Ito withdrew from the project after three, and Kaji four films. Many of his works have been turned into movies since 1972.