Wataru Yoshizumi

Wataru Yoshizumi(吉住渉 Yoshizumi Wataru) is a Japanese manga artist. She was born Mari Nakai (中井 真里 Nakai Mari) on June 18, 1963 in Tokyo, Japan. She graduated with a degree in economics from Hitotsubashi University. Yoshizumi started her career as a Japanese manga artist while working as an office lady. She is known as a social manga artist, and is a good friend of fellow manga artists Naoko Takeuchi, Ai Yazawa, Miho Obana, and Megumi Mizusawa.

Yoshizumi is best known for Marmalade Boy, Handsome na Kanojo, and Ultra Maniac. Her latest work, Chitose, etc. ended recently in 2012. She is currently working on Marmalade Boy's sequel, which is serialized in Cocohana.

Career
Her debut manga was a short story called "Radical Romance" that was published in 1984, in the summer issue of Ribon Original. It was later included in a volume of Handsome na Kanojo.

Yoshizumi's first manga volume, Quartet Game was published in 1988. She began serializing Handsome na Kanojo in Ribon that same year. The manga went on for nine volumes and ended in 1992. It was also adapted into a forty-minute OVA.

She began Marmalade Boy in May 1992 and ended it in October 1995. The series is Yoshizumi's most popular work to date. It was adapted into an anime, a series of light novels, a video game, and a television drama. She also released an artbook, Marmalade Boy: Wataru Yoshizumi Illustrations dedicated to Marmalade Boy.

After Marmalade Boy, Yoshizumi wrote a two-volumes series titled, Kimi Shika Iranai. She went on to Mint na Bokura from 1997 to 1999 and Random Walk from 2000 to 2001.

Her next success came in 2001 with Ultra Maniac. The series ran until 2003 and consisted of five volumes. It was adapted into an OVA and TV series. After that she wrote Datte Suki Nandamon and several one-shots.

Yoshizumi next tried her hand at writing Josei manga in the magazine, Chorus. Her series Cherish, Spicy Pink, and Cappuccino were serialized in the magazine. She later returned to Shojo in Margaret magazine with Chitose, etc. She is currently writing Marmalade Boy Little.

Published works

 * Quartet Game (1988)
 * Handsome na Kanojo (1988-1992)
 * Marmalade Boy (1992-1995)
 * Kimi Shika Iranai (1996)
 * Mint na Bokura (1997-1999)
 * Random Walk (2000-2001)
 * Ultra Maniac (2001-2003)
 * Datte Suki Nandamon (2004-2005)
 * Cherish (2006)
 * Spicy Pink (2007-2008)
 * Cappuccino (2008-2009)
 * Chitose, etc. (2009-2012)
 * Marmalade Boy Little (2013-present)