Obake no Q-Taro cover by Fujiko Fujio 1965

Fujiko Fujio is a cultural icon in Japan.

The name of the artist is actually that of a pair of collaborators. Hiroshi Fujimoto and Motoo Abiko. The pair first met in elementary school and went on to be lifelong friends and collaborators. Drawing early manga when in school and later submitting for publication. They opened a joint account and shared everything equally including payments and art supplies costs, a practice they continued through out their careers. When they first started working together in 1951 they used their real names but came up with the shared pseudonym in 1952, Ashizuka Fujio(more than a nod to Tezuka). In 1953 Fujiko Fujio became their shared name and this continued through the remainder of their careers. They continued to work together until 1986 and then later worked individually under the same shared name. Fujimoto would publish under Fujiko Fujio F and Abiko under Fujiko Fujio A. Further collaborations between the two artists would be under the name Fujiko F. Fujio. In 1963 they opened Studio Zero and worked on manga and anime. Regardless of all the names, they are credited with creating some of the most popular characters in Japanese culture, not just manga.

This example is from the rear cover of an August 1965 manga for younger school aged children(see additional images). Q-Taro also known as Q-chan and Oba-Q who lives with the Ohara family is a troublemaker floating around and making mischief. This was turned into 3 popular anime series. Both the manga and anime saw publication/distribution in English in North America. It was wildly popular in Japan in the 1960's creating an "Oba-Q boom" with a lot of merchandizing including toys, clothes, songs and a number of imitators. Toru Iwatani, creator of Pac-Man, credits the ghosts in this series as the inspiration for his ghosts. Despite how much of a hit this was, it was dwarfed by their most notable creation, Doraemon which was created in 1969. It follows similar themes to Q-Taro with a fish out water take on everyday Japanese life. This series has been animated and distributed world wide.

My favorite mangaka's, Inio Asano, most recent completed manga Dead Demons Destruction featured a manga story within the manga featuring Isobeyan that kids read and was likely a homage/parody based on Q-Taro and Doraemon.

Enough about the history. This image just makes me happy to look at. It encapsulates how much fun manga can be. It feels like an old friend even though I have no nostalgic connection to it. In this episode Masa-chan, the older brother takes over his younger brothers insect collecting homework assignment. I have been looking for a piece by the artists for a while and wanted something published so a nice early example like this is exactly what I was looking for.

If you got this far, my apologies. There goes 3 minutes of your life you will never get back!