Fujio Akatsuka

Fujio Akatsuka (赤塚 藤雄, also known as 赤塚 不二夫, Akatsuka Fujio, September 14, 1935 – August 2, 2008) was a Japanese manga artist. Known as the Master of Gag Manga, he created many popular manga such as Osomatsu-kun, Himitsu no Akko-chan, and Tensai Bakabon. He was born in Rehe, Manchuria, the son of a Japanese military police officer. After World War II, he grew up in Niigata Prefecture and Nara Prefecture. When he was 19, he moved to Tokyo.

While working at a chemical factory, he drew many manga. After that, Tokiwa-so accepted him. He started his career as a shōjo artist, but in 1958, his Nama-chan (ナマちゃん) became a hit, so he became a specialist in comic manga. He won the Shogakukan Manga Award in 1964 for Osomatsu-kun and the Bungeishunjū Manga Award in 1971 for Tensai Bakabon. He is said to have been influenced by Buster Keaton and MAD magazine.

In 1965, Akatsuka established his own company "Fujio Productions Ltd.".In 2000, he drew manga in braille for the blind.Many of his manga featured supporting characters who ended up becoming more popular and more associated with their series than the main character, such as Papa (Tensai Bakabon), Iyami, Chibita (Osomatsu-kun), and Nyarome (Mōretsu Atarō).

In April 2002 he was hospitalized for intra-axial hematoma and was said to frequently be in a persistent vegetative state from 2004 until his death. In July 2006, his second wife Machiko, who had been nursing him, suddenly died from a subarachnoid hemorrhage. On August 2, 2008, he died of pneumonia at a hospital in Bunkyō, Tokyo.