Moto Hagio is a Japanese manga artist born on May 12, 1949 in Ōmuta, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. She lives in Saitama Prefecture. She is considered a "founding mother" of modern shōjomanga, especially shōnen-ai. She is also a member of the Year 24 Group. She has been described as "the most beloved shōjo manga artist of all time." In addition to being an "industry pioneer", her body of work "shows a maturity, depth and personal vision found only in the finest of creative artists".
Publishing career
Moto Hagio made her professional debut in 1969 at the age of 20 with her short storyLulu to Mimi in Nakayoshi. Nakayoshi's publisher Kodansha wanted "bright and lively" works, and rival publisher Shogakukan sought her out. Keiko Takemiya introduced Hagio to Takemiya's editor, Junya Yamamoto, who accepted all of Hagio's works that Kodansha had rejected. When Hagio began drawing manga, she cut large sheets of "manga paper" to B4 size, and she still uses a G-Pen and a Maru-Pen. When she began drawing manga, she used India ink and a brush, but now uses Copic markers. Later, for Shogakukan Publishing, she produced a series of short stories for various magazines. Two years after her debut, she published Juichigatsu no Gimunajiumu, a short story that dealt openly with love between two boys at a boarding school. The story was part of a larger movement by female manga artists at the time that pioneered shōnen-ai, a genre of girls' comics about love between young men. In 1974, Hagio developed this story into the longer Thomas no Shinzō. She was awarded the Shogakukan Manga Award in 1976 for her science fiction classicJuichinin Iru! and her epic tale Poe no Ichizoku. In the mid-1980s, Hagio wrote her first long work – Marginal. Prior to writing Iguana Girl in 1991, Hagio had not set her works in contemporary Japan. Moto Hagio had a role in the 2008 film Domomata no Shi. On June 11, 2009, a party was held in Moto Hagio's honor, "celebrating her 40th year as a professional manga artist". Approximately 200 people attended. In 2011, Joshibi University of Art and Design appointed Hagio as a guest professor.
Personal life
Hagio is a science fiction fan, and considers Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke and Robert Heinlein to have influenced her, and she has adapted several of Ray Bradbury's short stories from R is for Rocket into manga format.
Few of her works appear in English, but here are some that do:
A, A, translated by Rachel Thorn, and came out in one volume in 1997 and includes three stories titled A, A' , 4/4 , and X+Y parts one and two.
They Were Eleven, which was part of the 1996 anthology Four Shōjo Stories. They Were Eleven is available on DVD as an anime, in both dubbed and subtitled formats. Like most anime based on manga, there are various minor changes and omissions.
"Hanshin", a short story, which was published in issue 269 of The Comics Journal alongside an interview with Moto Hagio conducted by Rachel Thorn.
The Heart of Thomas, translated by Rachel Thorn, published in a single-volume omnibus edition by Fantagraphics in 2013.
Otherworld Barbara, translated by Rachel Thorn, published in a two-volume omnibus edition by Fantagraphics between 2016–2017.
"Through Yura's Gate", a lengthy short story by Moto Hagio that pays homage to the manga Parasyte, collected in Kodansha's Neo Parasyte M.
The Poe Clan, translated by Rachel Thorn, published in a two-volume omnibus edition by Fantagraphics between 2019–2020.
A, A and They Were Eleven have science fiction settings, and both They Were Eleven and X+Y include transgender elements. The science fiction aspects in particular have led to Hagio's work appealing to manga readers who do not generally like shōjo manga. A 2010 anthology, A Drunken Dream and Other Stories, collects the following stories:
"Bianca"
"Girl on Porch with Puppy"
"Autumn Journey"
"Marié, Ten Years Later"
"A Drunken Dream"
"Hanshin"
"Angel Mimic"
"Iguana Girl"
"The Child Who Comes Home"
"The Willow Tree"
These were selected by translator Rachel Thorn to be a representative sample of Moto Hagio's whole career, with the input of a mixi fan club for Hagio.
