Yoshihiro Tatsumi, a manga artist who became internationally recognized for his graphically illustrated adult comics, died of cancer in Tokyo on March 7. He was 79.
Tatsumi dubbed this manga subgenre gekiga, founding a group called Gekiga Kobo with young up-and-coming artists such as Takao Saito in 1951.
He was best known for his autobiographical manga "A Drifting Life," which won the 13th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2009. It also won an Eisen award (the comics industry equivalent of an Oscar) for best reality-based work.
In 2014, Singaporean director Eric Khoo released an animated film adaptation of "A Drifting Life" titled "Tatsumi," which blends his coming-of-age story with his other hard-hitting comics from the Showa Era (1926-89). The film was Singapore's entry for the best foreign language film at the 84th Academy Awards.
