Tokyo Mew Mew illustrator Mia Ikumi Passes Away
Mia Ikumi, co-creator, and illustrator of the Tokyo Mew Mew manga series sadly passed away on March 7, 2022. The cause of death was announced to be a hemorrhage. She was 42 years of age.
Her passing was announced on the website of monthly shōjo manga publication, Nakayoshi magazine. A private funeral was held for her by her family members.
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Kodansha Comics, a frequent collaborator with Ikumi, released a public statement; «Ikumi-sensei has been supervising the anime for the past two years with love and has been looking forward to presenting it to you with the new edition. We, the bereaved, will continue to treat her works with great care, and we will continue to produce them with great care while enduring our grief, so that we can carry on her legacy.»
Ikumi's first entry into the manga world was The Sleeping Princess of Berry Forest, a one-shot that she wrote at 18 years old. She first showcased her artistic talent in Super Doll Licca-chan, also published by Nakayoshi magazine in 1998. This story was serialized and published later on by Kodansha Comics in two volumes.
Soon after, Ikumi teamed up with writer Reiko Yoshida to create Tokyo Mew Mew, a manga centered on a group of girls with superpowers based on rare animals who fight aliens in order to keep Earth safe. The manga was published in Nakayoshi magazine and ran from 2000 to 2003. Kodansha Comics also published this story in volumes. The success of the manga resulted in an anime of the same name that aired in 2002 and ran for 52 episodes. After its final episode, Ikumi wrote and illustrated Mew Mew à la Mode, a sequel to Tokyo Mew Mew in Nakayoshi magazine in 2004.
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