TOKYO (AFP) - Famed Japanese manga artist Fujiko A. Fujio, best known for his collaboration with Doraemon creator Fujiko F. Fujio, has died aged 88, local media reported on Thursday (April 7).
Fujiko A. Fujio, whose real name was Motoo Abiko, was found outside his home near Tokyo on Thursday, private broadcaster TBS and others said.
Police declined to confirm the reports to AFP, but tributes to Abiko were tweeted by other artists and those in the publishing industry.
Abiko, who is known for beloved children's cartoons including Ninja Hattori and Little Ghost Q-Taro, was the eldest son of a monk at a historic temple in central Toyama region.
However, his family left the temple after the death of Abiko's father when he was in fifth grade.
"My father's death changed my life the most. If he had not died, I think I would have been a monk," he told Asahi Shimbun daily in 2020.
In high school, he became friends with Hiroshi Fujimoto, who later created Japan's much-loved cartoon Doraemon, and the pair started to work together.
They formed a partnership that debuted in 1951, jointly producing works under the pen name "Fujiko Fujio", and shared a Tokyo apartment with other famous manga artists including Osamu Tezuka.
One of the duo's early works was Q-Taro, about a good-natured, mischievous ghost child who starts living with a human family, which found fans in Japan as well as abroad.
Abiko also created various manga by himself, including Ninja Hattori, a ninja who becomes best friends with a regular kid, as well as other works targeted at adults.
The partnership with Fujimoto dissolved in 1987, with Abiko adopting the pen name "Fujiko A. Fujio", while Fujimoto used "Fujiko F. Fujio".
Fujimoto died of liver failure at the age of 62 in 1996.
Despite his long-time association with Fujimoto, Abiko once confessed he was reluctant to read Doraemon cartoons too closely.
"I've been avoiding reading (them) as a protective measure, because when I read them, I'm influenced by them and think, 'I can't draw like this'," he said with a laugh.
