Manga
Masako Watanabe, a pioneer of shojo manga, dies at 97
The artist, who debuted in 1952 and was still working in her nineties, died on October 3. Her official account shared the news ten days later.
Masako Watanabe, one of the longest-working creators in the history of manga, has died at 97. Her official social media account announced that she passed away on October 3.
Born in Tokyo in 1929, Watanabe debuted in 1952 and spent almost her entire career in shojo and josei manga. In 1971 she won the Shogakukan Manga Award for “Glass no Shiro” (The Glass Castle), and her 1985 work “Hitori Matsuri” was adapted into a live-action TV series.
In 2006 she became the first female mangaka to receive the Order of the Rising Sun, one of Japan's highest honors. She also served as a director of the Japan Cartoonists Association.
Her creative energy never faded with age: in 2020, at 91, she began serializing a new manga, “Himegoto.”