In November 1988, Shigeru Mizuki, the renowned manga artist famous for classics like "GeGeGe no Kitaro," launched another ambitious epic serialization, "Manga Showa-shi" (Manga History of Showa). By then, the Showa era had lasted nearly 62 years, marking Japan's most turbulent and rapidly developing period. Readers wondered how long 66-year-old Mizuki would continue drawing, as the Showa era hadn't even ended yet. However, less than two months after "Showa-shi" began serialization, Emperor Showa passed away, officially bringing an end to that long era. Eleven months later, Mizuki's "Manga Showa-shi" was also successfully completed, astonishing even his editors.
Teacher Shigeru Mizuki passed away from heart failure in a hospital on November 30, 2015, at the age of 93. The following year (2016), a memorial service was held on January 31 at Aoyama Funeral Hall in Tokyo, attended by many entertainment industry figures, famous writers, manga artists, and nearly 8,000 fans. The venue featured many Kitaro-themed dishes to entertain the attendees. Image credit:iza（イザ！）、いい葬儀
Master Shigeru Mizuki, the undisputed Yokai Master of the Japanese manga world, lived a 93-year life filled with peculiar anecdotes like those mentioned above. In this seventh month of the lunar calendar, when "good brothers" (ghosts) are said to be on summer vacation, let us look back at Master Mizuki's wondrous life stories and understand the incredible origins behind his classic works.
1. The Peculiar ChildMizuki came from a rather well-off family. His father worked at a printing company in Umeda, Osaka. To meet her husband, his mother had to travel a long distance from Sakaiminato, Tottori, to Umeda. Such a strenuous journey was too taxing for a pregnant mother—even today, the trip from Sakaiminato to Umeda still takes over four hours. Mizuki's mother thus decided that after the child was born, she would take him away from the bustling metropolis of Umeda and return to Sakaiminato. This, to some extent, changed Shigeru Mizuki's life: the natural beauty of Sakaiminato's mountains and sea opened Mizuki's horizons... and then consumed him.
Shigeru Mizuki's hometown, Sakaiminato City, Tottori Prefecture, features the 'Mizuki Shigeru Road (水木しげるロード),' an 800-meter path from Sakaiminato Station directly to the Shigeru Mizuki Museum, lined with 177 bronze statues of yokai drawn by Shigeru Mizuki. Image credit:TABIZINE、水木しげるロード
"Self-centered, only focused on my own interests... this personality, what people call 'Mr. Mizuki's iron rule,' formed from childhood, and no one could change me. When I was little, I didn't listen to what others told me to do, and I didn't talk; I just concentrated on what I wanted to do. I wasn't an idiot, but I was definitely different from other children."
"Why was I like this? Because my real world was too much fun; life was a continuous series of surprises, with no time to stop. Stepping out of the house, there was the boundless sea before me, mountains, grasslands, animals, insects, fish, flowers, and trees, bright sun and deep darkness. Everything that met my eyes was full of fresh wonder, as exciting and joyful as watching a movie. I think my observational skills and ability to be startled were probably more than three times that of an average child... I suppose from childhood, everyone probably considered me a strange person."
Shigeru Mizuki at age 3. Shigeru Mizuki was born in Osaka on March 8, 1922 (Taisho 11), but his mother, concerned about severe air pollution in Osaka potentially harming the infant through breast milk, took him back to her hometown in Tottori Prefecture. According to Mizuki Shigeru's biography "Kanzenban Mizuki Shigeru Den," Mizuki was a silent child who didn't speak until he was 4 years old, and the first word he uttered was "neko baba" (cat poop).
Image credit:Wikipedia
2. Pushing My Younger Brother into the SeaEvery day, Shigeru Mizuki would open his door to the sight of the ocean, which brought boundless beauty... and corpses. Mizuki, who was familiar with water from a young age, often jumped into the sea and swam in one breath to Izumo on the opposite Shimane Peninsula. During these crossings, he frequently saw infant corpses floating on the surface. Not only that, but nameless bodies were also often washed ashore by the waves on Sakaiminato beach. These corpses were failed businessmen, aborted infants, lovers who committed suicide together... Shigeru Mizuki didn't yet know the origin of these bodies, but at five years old, he was already intimately familiar with this sea that periodically revealed corpses. This also sparked his understanding of and fascination with death.
What happens when people die? Mizuki only saw the rigid forms of the deceased. So, how did a human being who could talk and eat... transform into an unmoving corpse? Little Mizuki became curious. Accustomed to hands-on research, he decided to "create a corpse": he pushed his then three-year-old younger brother into the sea... and was severely scolded by his parents. Mizuki was a headache for his parents. His older and younger brothers dutifully went to school and kindergarten, but Mizuki simply couldn't adapt to formal education; he had no neighborhood playmates; he would constantly follow strangers on the street and get lost... and now he was "suspected of murdering" his own brother... For his parents, to describe it in modern terms, Shigeru Mizuki was a child who was "highly maladjusted to society."
In 1938 (Showa 13), Shigeru Mizuki (16 years old) with his older brother "Sohei" (back, 18 years old) and younger brother "Yukio" (right, 14 years old). Image credit:
3. "Nonnonba" and IThe Mizuki family was well-off. Even after his father's business failed in Umeda and they returned to Sakaiminato, the Mizuki family still employed many helpers. Among them, the Mizuki family hired an old woman whose husband was a prayer priest at a shrine. In Sakaiminato, people affectionately called prayer priests "Nonnon-san" (のんのんさん), so the wife of this Nonnon-san was known as "Nonnonba." Nonnonba often took care of Mizuki, and unexpectedly, this was also the beginning of Mizuki's journey into the world of yokai.
"'(Nonnonba) took me to Shofuku-ji Temple, two kilometers from my old home. In the main hall, there was a 'Picture of Hell and Paradise' that is still there today. It was a composite work of five small paintings depicting scenes of hell and paradise. Even now, it looks like an incredible piece, and as a child, I immediately felt its astonishing power... Nonnonba carefully explained this painting to me, and these frightening religious paintings, for me, who was still a baby at the time, explained what a soul was.'"
In 1977, Shigeru Mizuki created the manga "Nonnonba and I" (のんのんばあとオレ) based on his own experiences. It was awarded the Medal with Purple Ribbon by the Japanese government in 1991 and adapted into an NHK drama series in the same year. Image credit:水木プロダクション公式サイトげげげ通信
Mizuki later wrote about his life with Nonnonba in the essay "Nonnonba and I," which was subsequently adapted into a manga and a live-action TV series. From "Nonnonba and I," readers can understand that Mizuki's concepts of "boundaries" and "taboos" originated from Nonnonba's teachings: Many deep mountains have the concept of "taboo days." On such days, humans are forbidden from entering the mountains. If someone crosses an uncrossable "boundary," they will surely receive "punishment" from the other world. In such cases, a taboo day is a "boundary" agreed upon between humans and spirits/demons. Violating this agreement results in punishment. Even if humans can "resolve" the punishment through rituals or other means, the punishment will still leave some mark on the individual – punishment from the other world does not disappear.
In 2007, the French translation of "Nonnonba and I" won the Best Comic Award at the 34th Angoulême International Comics Festival, marking the first time a Japanese manga artist received this award. Image credit:NonNonBâ
4. A Painter's DreamAfter his teacher praised his drawing skills at age 13, Shigeru Mizuki quickly decided to pursue his dream of becoming a painter. After graduating from elementary school, he was arranged to work at a relative's printing company in Osaka, while simultaneously preparing to become a painter. However, Mizuki, who had struggled to adapt to society since childhood, found little change as an adult. This sense of alienation only intensified in the bustling metropolis. Mizuki worked at the printing company while studying at an art school. Naturally, he struggled to adapt to both of these common traditional societal structures: the corporation and the school.
After graduating from school, he went to work in Osaka, but his independent nature led to him being fired. Although he quickly found a new job, he was soon fired again. Thinking, "If work keeps going poorly, at least I should practice drawing well!", he enrolled in an art school but dropped out midway. Later, Mizuki repeatedly took entrance exams, failed, and dropped out, resulting in his highest education being only a higher elementary school diploma (equivalent to today's 7th or 8th grade). However, Mr. Mizuki smiled cheerfully, showing no remorse for these outcomes. Image credit:nostos books
At the company, he encountered problems with his work. His superiors demanded revisions, even threatening him with dismissal, but Mizuki remained set in his ways. Naturally, he was quickly labeled as uncooperative and difficult to manage. At school, Shigeru Mizuki had little interest in classes; his interest lay in the art school's abundant resources. He preferred to draw and copy on his own in the study room and library. No one believed that this eccentric, elementary school graduate, unable to adapt to society, could become a painter... Ultimately, war shattered Mizuki's dream of becoming a painter: as the Pacific War intensified, Mizuki, who had myopia and was classified as a Class B soldier, was forced onto the battlefield.
5. "Going to War Means Death"In 1942, 20-year-old Mizuki, to meet the admission requirements for Ueno Art School, enrolled in night middle school to address his educational background... However, just the year before, Japan had launched the Pacific War. This plunged the 20-year-old Mizuki into immense anxiety. His diary from that time reads:
"This is an era where the future cannot be spoken of, an era where fifty thousand, one hundred thousand people die in battle every day. What use is art? What use is philosophy? This is an era where these disciplines cannot be discussed. Whether you are a painter, a philosopher, a writer, or a laborer, you will ultimately be sent to the underworld with the dust... This is an era where people turn into a speck of dust. At such a time, wanting to maintain one's self will be more painful than death, so you can only abandon everything and become one with this era."
Mizuki's diary before going to war Image credit:bookbang
"Going to war means death for oneself" – this was the most painful moment in Shigeru Mizuki's life. Mizuki, who originally didn't even qualify for the battlefield, now had to enter hell due to troop shortages. Before going to war, Mizuki first plunged into a frenzy of vexation and self-contradiction. In his diary, he wrote that literature could not save him, yet at the same time, he voraciously read books on philosophy, art, and religion... Amidst his despair, Mizuki also maintained a sense of pride: "I will definitely become a painter, and the foundation of beauty is philosophy."
"I often think that perhaps only painting can truly save me deep down, so in that sense, I will not truly despair... No matter how anxious I am, I will walk my own path. I will break through the barriers around me. They say, 'Idiot! Idiot! You idiot...' Shut up! All of you, shut up! I will walk my own path! I will forge my own path!"
The war did not kill Mizuki; although it made him wish for death, he survived, transforming the war into one of his creative inspirations.
(Left) In 1943, Mizuki with his family after receiving his conscription order to join the Tottori Infantry Regiment 40; (Right) In the same year, Shigeru Mizuki's unit was dispatched to Rabaul, New Guinea. A photo with his father (right) who came to see him off. 'Although my father said nothing, I could feel that he wished for me to return alive.' Image credit:Wikipedia、毎日新聞
6. Rabaul, New GuineaYoung Mizuki arrived at the scorching New Guinea front, where food and water were scarce, with only high temperatures and incessant artillery fire and gunshots. Almost every day, Mizuki had to charge forward under the furious roars of his commander, then flee the front lines when his comrades shouted, "Run!" Mizuki, who couldn't adapt to corporations or schools, naturally couldn't adapt to the military either. Days of defeat left the military high command frustrated and disappointed, and they began to inflict senseless violence upon their subordinates. Of course, Mizuki, who couldn't even be a soldier, was certainly subjected to severe torment.
After releasing acclaimed works like "Akuma-kun" and "GeGeGe no Kitaro," Shigeru Mizuki published the documentary war manga "All Out Attack!" (総員玉砕せよ!) in 1973, based on his own war experiences. Image credit:つー速
Mizuki was a frontline soldier who truly experienced the agony of battle. Bullets whizzed past his ears, and with nowhere to run, Mizuki simply jumped into the sea—a source of joy he had been accustomed to since childhood, but now his only path to survival. Mizuki, who had finally swum back to shore from the sea, discovered that his rifle and other equipment had fallen into the water... This, of course, led to him being severely scolded and beaten upon returning to camp, but Mizuki was still alive. Another time, to evade enemy soldiers who could appear from anywhere, Mizuki ventured into the uninhabited deep mountains. There, he encountered many wild beasts, keeping his nerves on edge... Indigenous people suffering from the war also lurked in the bushes, eyeing him, ready to take down this lone soldier. Every day, Mizuki felt he was on the verge of dying in a foreign land... but he was still alive.
The scene of Private Maruyama, the protagonist of "All Out Attack!", wandering in the jungle, seems to be a self-portrait of Shigeru Mizuki. Image credit:ameba
Mizuki's miraculous survival infuriated his superiors; he had lost his weapon, hadn't stayed on the battlefield, and had only saved his own life. His superiors believed he should have died for his country, fighting until his last bullet. Mizuki didn't understand why "death" could hold a higher status than "life." Surviving such a hellish ordeal was already an impossible task, so why was he angrily accused of not being patriotic enough? His superiors called him a traitor, betraying his comrades and the Emperor, but Mizuki, who witnessed his comrades being brutally killed daily, with massive wounds bursting from their chests and abdomens, could not comprehend their anger.
Finally, Mizuki contracted malaria, and while enduring the high fever caused by it, his left hand was severely wounded in an air raid... and amputated the next day.
In 2007, NHK adapted "All Out Attack!" into the special drama "Kitaro's Seen All Out Attack ~Shigeru Mizuki's War~," starring renowned actor Teruyuki Kagawa as the protagonist "Shigeru Mizuki / Private Maruyama." Image credit:NHK
7. The Tolai People"When I was injured, there was a medic right there who immediately came to stop the bleeding... I remember the blood loss seemed like two whole buckets... If it weren't for the medic's emergency treatment, I would have died."
The wound on his left hand had the scent of a baby. Image credit:cinra
Mizuki, having lost his left hand, was quickly sent to the rear, to a base near where the indigenous Tolai people of the New Guinea islands lived. During his recovery, Mizuki formed a friendship with the Tolai people. Mizuki would exchange his rationed cigarettes and fruit for different foods with them. Even when his injuries had healed somewhat, Mizuki often left camp to visit these new friends in a strange land: to him, these indigenous people who treated him kindly felt more like his "compatriots" than the military officers who forced them into battle and advocated for dying for their country. The Tolai people generously shared their food and warmth, even though, to them, the Japanese who brought war should have been enemies. However, Mizuki saw no hostility from the Tolai.
Interacting with the Tolai people Image credit:水木しげるの戦い
Mizuki and the Tolai people forged a friendship that transcended war. The Tolai even proposed to allocate a plot of land for Mizuki to live on after the war, and Mizuki also considered the possibility of settling down in Rabaul, New Guinea. However, after being advised by his military superior to discuss it with his family in Japan first, Mizuki decided to return to his homeland, promising the Tolai that he would return to New Guinea seven years later.
In 1994, Mizuki visited the Tolai tribe to attend a friend's funeral Image credit:Tottori Prefecture Public Relations Council
8. Becoming Shigeru MizukiDefeated Japan began its long period of reconstruction, with industries awaiting revival. With only an elementary school education and no capital, Mizuki took on many jobs to make a living. For his parents, it was heartbreaking that their beloved son had lost an arm on the battlefield, but Mizuki was filled with gratitude for being able to return home alive. Regarding work, Mizuki's only real concern was whether he could truly continue drawing... But with only an elementary school diploma, it was impossible for Mizuki to enter a higher art academy. After failing at jobs like fresh fish delivery, taxi driving, and black market dealings, Mizuki borrowed money from his father and bought an old house on "Mizuki-dori" in Hyogo Ward, Kobe City. Mizuki named this house "Mizuki-so" and began working as a landlord—later, this landlord, whose real name was Shigeru Mura, adopted "Mizuki" as his pen name.
Mizuki-so, located on "Mizuki-dori" in Hyogo Ward, Kobe City. Later, in 1953, due to management difficulties, he ended his landlord business and sold Mizuki-so to pay off debts. The current site has been converted into a high-rise apartment building. (To the left of Mizuki-yu) Image credit:mizukipro
A tenant at Mizuki-so helped Mizuki realize his dream: this tenant was an assistant to a "Kamishibai" (paper play) artist, and through his introduction, Mizuki also began drawing Kamishibai. Kamishibai required drawing many illustrations, which were shown to the audience while narrating a story. These illustrations were, of course, crucial; you had to draw them beautifully to attract passersby. But the story itself also had to be engaging to retain customers and entice them to return at the same time next week for the next installment... The problem was that Mizuki didn't have much experience in story conception, and most of the audience for Kamishibai were children... And children, if they found the story too boring, would immediately get up and leave.
"GeGeGe no Kitaro" (originally "Kitaro of the Graveyard") making its debut as Kamishibai (picture-story show) in 1933 Image credit:Inazuma-sha
Mizuki's Kamishibai work did not bring in better income, compounded by tenants who fled without paying rent. Hunger, surprisingly, became Mizuki's biggest headache; he hadn't starved to death on the battlefields of New Guinea, yet in Japan, he couldn't fill his stomach daily due to poverty. Mizuki had also heard of colleagues dying from prolonged malnutrition, and even his own apprentice eventually died from overwork... leaving behind the dying words, "Mr. Mizuki is my eternal friend." But Mizuki's tragedy was not yet over. In the latter half of the 1950s, Japanese society gradually entered a period of high economic growth, and television sets began to become widespread, which simultaneously dealt a blow to Kamishibai. Mizuki, whose Kamishibai business was already struggling, felt the pressure of this industry decline even more acutely.
It was at this moment that Shigeru Mizuki finally realized the Kamishibai industry was beyond saving. He decided to leave Kansai for Tokyo, transitioning to become a "rental manga artist" (kashihon sakka). Kashihon artists' works were bought outright, with a single volume selling for a high price of twenty to thirty thousand yen, two to three times the monthly salary of a civil servant at the time. "I have to survive!" Shigeru Mizuki thought to himself. What he didn't realize, however, was that these tragic stories and circumstances would later become the foundation for his tales of human ghosts and yokai.
Mizuki's rental manga work, "Jigoku Nagashi" (Hell's Flow) Image credit:Mandarake
9. The Birth of KitaroThis Earth was originally ruled by the Ghost Tribe (Yurei-zoku), who possessed various superpowers and had gentle, peaceful dispositions. Twenty thousand years BCE, humans were born and began to seize the Ghost Tribe's territory, pushing these 'others' out of their living space. To protect nature, the Ghost Tribe fought against humans who destroyed nature to acquire resources, forcing the Ghost Tribe to hide in deep mountains and jungles. However, humans reproduced too quickly, and the scope of environmental destruction grew, so the Ghost Tribe had no choice but to live underground... As life became increasingly difficult, the remaining few Ghost Tribe members had to sneak into human cities at night to rummage through garbage... and they were mistaken for formless ghosts.
Kitaro Image credit:Twitter, Mandarake
Initially in Showa 40 (1965), Kitaro began irregular short story serialization under the title "Kitaro of the Graveyard" (Hakaba Kitaro) in issue 32 of "Weekly Shonen Magazine," without even the title "Kitaro of the Graveyard" appearing on the cover; it wasn't until "Akuma-kun" achieved success that in Showa 42 (1967), in issue 46 of "Weekly Shonen Magazine," the style was changed and the title was renamed to the "GeGeGe no Kitaro" we know today Image credit:Mandarake, Aucfan
A tragic Ghost Tribe family, where the father was gravely ill and on the verge of death, and the pregnant mother, unable to bear the grief, decided to follow her husband. However, the child in her womb was still alive... This child, named Kitaro, crawled out of his mother's grave, and after his father's corpse decomposed, an eyeball fell out, becoming Medama-oyaji (Eyeball Father). Previously, Kitaro's parents, to make a living, pretended to be human and donated blood for money, but a blood bank employee discovered that non-human blood had mixed into the blood supply. Full of doubts, he decided to visit the family, and there he discovered Kitaro...
The father's eyeball revived Image credit:Natalie
This is the origin story of "Kitaro of the Graveyard" (Hakaba Kitaro). You can easily see that Shigeru Mizuki's life, filled with various misfortunes, forms the foundation of this origin story. In his writing, his own life of being unrecognized and constantly pressured by the environment transformed into the peace-loving nature of the Ghost Tribe (also mixed with some characteristics of the Torai tribe); humans waging war against the Ghost Tribe, seizing resources they didn't actually need, also reflects Mizuki's true feelings about the Pacific War. The plight of Kitaro's family, and many subsequent storylines in "Kitaro of the Graveyard" depicting impoverished life, are all based on Mizuki's own experiences with poverty.
So dark was "Kitaro of the Graveyard" that even the publisher didn't believe it would sell well, but after it was prematurely canceled, readers who supported the manga began to enthusiastically demand its continued publication. At this point, Shigeru Mizuki, who had already married his wife through an arranged meeting, finally achieved a rebound success, even earning money for the struggling publisher, Togetsu Shobo. However, Togetsu had been inconsistent with payments in the past, sometimes delaying salaries, so Mizuki decided he couldn't miss this great opportunity; he would switch to another well-known company, Sanyosha, to continue his development. Thus, Mizuki continued to release new works at Sanyosha, including "Kitaro Yawa" (Kitaro's Night Tales)... But Togetsu Shobo couldn't possibly give up this new cash cow; they continued to find other unknown artists to further develop the now popular "Kitaro of the Graveyard."
"Kitaro Yawa." These four first-edition manga were auctioned for a staggering 980,000 Japanese Yen in 2017. Image credit:Mandarake Auction
10. The Year of the Tokyo Olympics
The 1964 Tokyo Olympics fundamentally transformed the nation, introducing household flush toilets, home bathrooms, new taxi regulations, and more. Concurrently, Shigeru Mizuki also experienced a monumental shift in his life.
Shigeru Mizuki embarked on a new creative career at Sanyosha, but he harbored another concern: with household televisions becoming more widespread, this technological "devil" had already brought down kamishibai (paper-picture shows). Would rental manga be the next casualty? At this time, Sanyosha president Katsuichi Nagai had a new idea: children are easily influenced by new audio-visual entertainment, so it's normal for them to abandon manga for television. However, he wanted to launch a youth-oriented manga magazine that could feature bolder content, without needing to consider the sensibilities of younger audiences. It would be violent, dark, and contain more "adult-interesting" content. Nagai visited Mizuki, who lived in Chofu, bringing local souvenirs and senbei, hoping he would become the flagship artist for this new magazine, "Garo."
"Kamui-den" was "Garo's" ace Image credit:amazon
Interestingly, "Garo" ignited Mizuki's ambition for a major undertaking, but the magazine's star was not him: Sanpei Shirato, the ninja master who pioneered the "ninja manga" genre, created a brand new ninja manga series, "Kamui-den," for "Garo," instantly sparking a sensation. Mizuki continued to serialize "Kitaro Yawa" (Night Tales of Kitaro) in "Garo." While the success of "Garo" indeed introduced more people to Kitaro, Mizuki was somewhat resentful: "(In Shirato's manga) shuriken flew crisscrossing, there were numerous breathtakingly exciting scenes, a unique sense of speed in the story's development, and tales of sad people manipulated by power... but my characters aren't even human."
Mizuki's serialization in "Garo" Image credit:pibid.org
The year after "Garo" was launched, Kodansha's flagship magazine, "Shonen Magazine," approached Mizuki, asking him to draw a "space-themed" work. This could be said to be a golden opportunity for him to truly make a breakthrough. However, Mizuki rejected the offer because he had absolutely no interest in space themes... No sooner had he said this than Mizuki fell into a dilemma again: having his work published in "Shonen Magazine" would definitely help his family financially, meaning his wife wouldn't have to buy "unrotten vegetables" every time; but the thought of tackling an unfamiliar theme filled Mizuki with dread... In the past, when drawing rental manga, even if they didn't sell well, he always had a loyal fanbase. If he were to draw an unfamiliar theme in a shonen magazine now and then be canceled, could he return to his old profession of rental manga?
"Kitaro Yawa" Image credit:古本・古書販売
The key wasn't actually about the difference in nature between serialization magazines and rental manga; the key was still what Mizuki truly wanted to draw. Not drawing space stories was fine, but what kind of themes truly interested Shigeru Mizuki, allowed him to produce good work, and made him happy to draw? The answer was still supernatural themes.
Mizuki transformed the enemies that had always plagued him into protagonists: half a year after declining "Shonen Magazine," Kodansha approached Mizuki again. This time, he introduced "TV-kun." The protagonist, TV-kun, could ride on radio waves to enter the world of television, reach into TV candy commercials to retrieve candy, and even jump directly into the TV at any time. "TV-kun" was a huge success, even winning Kodansha's Children's Manga Award. At this point, Shigeru Mizuki's popularity was soaring. Originally, the manuscript fee for rental manga was 300 yen per page, but now Mizuki's serialization fee for "Garo" had skyrocketed to 500 yen per page. According to Mizuki:
"TV-kun" Image credit:風のきまぐれ
"For a very, very long time, the God of Poverty that always clung to me finally left... But now, I've been possessed by a new yokai... a yokai named 'Busyness'."
Works like "GeGeGe no Kitaro," "Kappa Sanpei," and "Akuma-kun" were all critically acclaimed and commercially successful. Shigeru Mizuki, who only became a popular manga artist at the age of 43, was about to embark on an even more vibrant second half of his life. His early life laid the foundation for these classic manga. Do you now have a deeper understanding of this master of yokai?