Kazuo Umezu | |
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楳図 かずお | |
 Umezu in 2010 | |
| Born | September 3, 1936 |
| Died | October 28, 2024 (aged 88) Japan |
| Occupation | Manga artist |
| Years active | 1950s–2024 |
| Part of a series on |
| Anime and manga |
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 Anime and manga portal |
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 is also a public figure in Japan, known for wearing red-and-white-striped shirts and doing his signature "Gwash" hand gesture.