Kazuo umezu cause of death
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Kazuo Umezu
Japanese manga artist (1936–2024)
Kazuo Umezu | |
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Umezu in 2010 | |
| Born | (1936-09-03)September 3, 1936 Kōya, Japan |
| Died | October 28, 2024(2024-10-28) (aged 88) Japan |
| Occupation | Manga artist |
| Years active | 1950s–2024 |
Kazuo Umezu or Kazuo Umezz (楳図 かずお, Umezu Kazuo, birth name 楳図一雄; September 3, 1936 – October 28, 2024) was a Japanese manga artist, musician and actor. Starting his career in the 1950s, he is among the most famous artists of horror manga and has been vital for its development, considered the "god of horror manga". In 1960s shōjo manga like Reptilia, he broke the industry's conventions by combining the aesthetics of the commercial manga industry with gruesome visual imagery inspired by Japanese folktales, which created a boom of horror manga and influenced manga artists of following generations. He created successful manga series such as The Drifting Classroom, Makoto-chan and My Name Is Shingo, until he retired from drawing manga in the mid 1990s. He was a public figure in Japan, known for wearing red-an
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Profile
Kazuo Umezu was born on August 3rd, 1936 in Japan’s Wakayama Prefecture. His family soon moved to a small town deep in the mountains of Nara Prefecture where his father would both terrify and delight with bedtime stories of local legends featuring snake women, malevolent ghosts and shape-changing spirits. The oppressive darkness of the surrounding forest was terrifying not for what lurked beyond it, but for what it could conceal. This same inky blackness would spill out onto the pages of his stories in later years.
In 1955 and at the age of 19, Kazuo Umezu made his debut with The Siblings in the Forest (Mori no Kyodai), a retelling of Hansel and Gretel in step with the cartoonish style that was popular at the time. Soon after, he found himself drawn towards the underground movement of Gekiga, avant-garde manga that discarded the childish conventions held by the industry in favor of cinematic pacing and the adult allure of noir and hard sci-fi. Umezu set himself apart from his contemporaries by lacing his hard-boiled tales with supernatural undertones, something that woul
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Celebrating the Life and Work of Horror Manga Legend Kazuo Umezu
Summary
- Kazuo Umezu's passing leaves a significant void in the manga world, but his impactful works will continue to influence various genres.
- Umezu was a trailblazer in manga, with iconic horror works like The Drifting Classroom and the gag manga Makoto-chan.
- Umezu's career spanned various genres, from horror to sci-fi, and his expressive art style will leave a lasting legacy in the medium.
Kazuo Umezu is one of the most significant names in the world of manga, and has had a major impact on its development as a storytelling medium. His passing in late October is a blow to the industry and the world overall, but his memory will live on in his plethora of works which were foundational to the current schema of various genres in manga, especially horror, a realm in which he rose to prominence even before the likes of Junji Itō, who is famously synonymous with horror in manga.
Among his most famous works is the classic horror The Drifting Classroom, and the hit gag manga, Makoto-chan. Let's cele
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