Osamu Akimoto


Osamu Akimoto is a Japanese manga artist from Katsushika, Tokyo. He is best known for his long-running comedy series Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Kōen-mae Hashutsujo, which was continuously published in Weekly Shōnen Jump for 40 years from 1976 to 2016. With 1,960 chapters collected into 200 tankōbon volumes, it was awarded a Guinness World Record for "Most volumes published for a single manga series" in 2016. By February 2012, the series had sold over 155 million copies, making it one of the best-selling manga series in history.

Career

Akimoto debuted with Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Kōen-mae Hashutsujo under the pen name of Tatsuhiko Yamadome in 1976. He changed to using his real name in 1978, after the series reached its 100th chapter.
In 2005, Kochikame was one of two winners of the Special Judges Award at the 50th Shogakukan Manga Awards in 2005.
In November 2010, Akimoto was one of several manga artists that held a press conference in opposition to Tokyo Metropolitan Ordinance Regarding the Healthy Development of Youths's Bill 156.
In February 2014, he drew the one-shot "Vocalo" which is set 50 years after the rise of Vocaloid technology and ran in the shōjo manga magazine Margaret. The following year, Grand Jump published his "Arii yo Jū wo Ute!" one-shot in January 2015.
In 2016, Akimoto received the 64th Kikuchi Kan Prize for creating Kochikame for 40 years without breaks. The following year, he received the Special Prize at the 21st Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize for the series.
In 2019, the Japanese government gave Akimoto the Medal with Purple Ribbon for his contributions to the arts.

Works