Fujiko Fujio

nihongo|Fujiko Fujio|藤子不二雄|Fujiko Fujio was a penname of a manga writing duo formed by two Japanese cartoonists. Their real names are nihongo|Hiroshi Fujimoto|藤本 弘|Fujimoto Hiroshi (m: 1933-1996) and nihongo|Motoo Abiko|安孫子 素雄|Abiko Motoo (m: 1934-). They dissolved the duo in 1987, but in this article, incidents after that are also mentioned.

Together and separately, they have won many awards. They are best-known for creating the popular and long-running series "Doraemon", the main character of which is officially recognized as a cultural icon of Japan. [Yamaguchi, Mari. [http://www.chinapost.com.tw/asia/japan/2008/03/20/147952/Doraemon-appointed.htm "Doraemon appointed Japan's first ever cartoon ambassador,"] "China Post," March 20, 2008.] [ [http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/431177 "Doraemon named 'anime ambassador',"] "Japan Today." March 15, 2008.]

Pennames

Note: The works under the duo penname were not always their joint works. Many of them were reprinted under the individual penname.
*User : Read : Penname
*The duo : Fujiko Fujio : 藤子不二雄
*Fujimoto : Fujiko F. Fujio : 藤子・F・不二雄 : the middle F comes between two centering dots to connect Kanji for Fujiko and Fujio: [http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/I/510wxr5cQ8L._SS500_.jpgImage] .
*Abiko : Fujiko Fujio (A) : 藤子不二雄A : strictly, the last A lies in a circle: [http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/5156Z4X98WL._SS500_.jpgImage] .Fujimoto changed his pennamecite web | url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=6677 | title=Hiroshi FUJIMOTO | publisher=Anime News Network | accessdate=2008-07-14] from Fujiko Fujio (F) : 藤子不二雄F : the last F lies in a circle.

Biography

Hiroshi Fujimoto and Motoo Abiko were both from Toyama, Japan. Fujimoto was born on December 1, 1933 and Abiko on March 10, 1934. In 1944, when they were both elementary school students, Abiko transferred to Fujimoto's school and they found they both liked drawing. After entering junior high school, they remained friends although they went to different schools. While they were junior high school students (1946–1948), they were excited by a comic book written by Osamu Tezuka, "Shin Takarajima" ("New Treasure Island"). They published their own manga coterie magazines. They were also impressed by Tezuka’s "Lost World" and Disney’s "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", and they wrote fan letters to them. When they became high school students, they started writing manga for the readers' columns of various publishers. They made their debut in "Tenshi no Tama-chan". They earned money from this, so they visited Tezuka’s house in Takarazuka, Hyōgo, before they graduated from high school.

Because both Fujimoto and Abiko were both eldest sons, they decided to take company jobs after graduating from high school in 1952. Fujimoto joined a confectionery company, and Abiko began working for a local newspaper publisher. However, Fujimoto quickly quit the job because of injury. Abiko managed to be consistent with ; however, afterwards they moved to an apartment of Tokiwa-so where Hiroo lived.

They continued to draw manga day after day. A lot of editors of manga publishers visited and asked Fujiko Fujio to write serial manga. They became a popular mangaka. However, they lost their job during 1955 through the early 1956 because at the New Year of 1955 they returned home to Toyama, and they relaxed so much that they missed the deadlines of nearly all their manga. After this, they only barely recovered their credibility. In 1959, they left Tokiwa-so, and moved to Usagi-so, and then to Kawasaki, Kanagawa. Fujimoto got married in 1962 (at the age of 28). The next year, Fujiko Fujio received the Shogakukan Manga Award for their manga "Susume Robot" and "Tebukuro Tecchan".

Fujimoto and Abiko established Studio Zero [http://www.fujiko-f-fujio.com/camera/tokyo/tokyo2.jpg] with Shin’ichi Suzuki [http://www.taf.metro.tokyo.jp/ja/news/images/051116_01.jpg] , Shotaro Ishinomori [http://www.st.rim.or.jp/~tasiro/is7805.jpg] , Jiro Tsunoda [http://sound.jp/poosworks02/image/tunojiro.gif] , Kiyoichi Tsunoda, and one employee. Later Fujio Akatsuka [http://www.so-net.ne.jp/tokyotrash/_media/akatsuka/images/akatsuka00.gif] joined, and at its peak the studio employed about 80 people. They produced several animated films, for example, "Astro Boy" [http://www.suikoudou.co.jp/atomu35-12.jpg] . Fujiko Fujio revived their popularity as mangaka again with "Obake no Q-tarō" in 1964. Both of them continued to write popular manga, for example "Ninja Hattori-kun", "Kaibutsu-kun", "Pāman", "21-emon", etc. Abiko got married in 1966 at the age of 32.

Fujimoto started writing "Doraemon" in 1970, and at the same time he started writing complete manga for young people. "Doraemon" at first did not attract children’s attention very much. However, three years later, "Doraemon" became an animated series on TV, and he became a popular character nationwide. Fujimoto was awarded a prize for "Doraemon" by Nihon Mangaka Association in 1973. On the other hand, Abiko wrote "Black Salesman" (later re-entitled "Warau Salesman"), autobiographical "Manga-michi", etc. Abiko’s manga were aimed at young adults while Fujimoto's were aimed at children.

Both Fujimoto and Abiko travelled around the world. Abiko wrote manga [http://image.depart.livedoor.com/upload/image01/d/c/dc3c5bf969426fdc.jpg] about Mao Zedong based on a trip to China. A lot of trips helped Fujimoto to write manga, especially "T.P. Bon" [http://www.h5.dion.ne.jp/~acid/walker/tp_bon/TP-syugouzu-sharpari.gif] .

In 1988, Fujimoto and Abiko ended their partnership, and after that, they worked independently.

From 1980 until he died, Fujimoto wrote a series of long manga of "Doraemon" every year. The manga series were animated on the screen, and every year the animated films were a gold mine for the movie industry. In 1989, Fujimoto won two awards for Doraemon movies. Abiko’s "Hattori the Ninja" and "Pro Golfer Saru" were also animated with Doraemon on the screen.

Despite their works being highly popular among people who speak the English language, such as tourists who buy Doraemon DVD's that are available with English subtitles, they never came to any English-speaking countries.

Awards

As Fujiko Fujio:
* 1963 - Shogakukan Manga Award for "Susume Robot" and "Tebukuro Tecchan"cite web | url=http://comics.shogakukan.co.jp/mangasho/rist.html | title=小学館漫画賞：歴代受賞者 | publisher=Shogakukan | language=Japanese | accessdate=2007-08-19]
* 1973 – [http://www.nihonmangakakyokai.or.jp/ Japanese Manga Artist Association] ’s prize for excellence for "Doraemon"
* 1981 – Kawasaki City’s nihongo|Cultural Prize|川崎市文化賞
* 1982 – Shogakukan Manga Award for children's manga for "Doraemon"
* 1997 – The first Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize Grand Prize for "Doraemon" [cite web | url=http://www.asahi.com/tezuka/ | title=手塚治虫文化賞マンガ大賞 | language=Japanese | accessdate=2007-12-21]

As Fujiko F. Fujio:
* 1989 – nihongo|Film Special Meritorious Prize|映画特別功労賞
* 1989 - nihongo|Golden Gloss Prize|ゴールデングロス賞
* 1992 – nihongo|Japanese Manga Artist Association’s prize of the Ministry of Education|日本漫画家協会文部大臣賞

As Fujiko Fujio (A):
* 1990 – nihongo|Prize of Masumi Fujimoto|藤本真澄賞 and nihongo|Special Prize of Fumiko Yamaji|山路ふみ子特別賞 for the film of Shōnen Jidai"
* 2005 – nihongo|Japanese Manga Artist Association’s prize of the Ministry of Education|日本漫画家協会文部大臣賞

Works

Fujiko Fujio's major works

* "オバケのＱ太郎" ("Obake no Q-tarō‎"): 1964-1969, 1971-1974

Fujiko F. Fujio's major works

* "パーマン" ("Pāman"): 1966-1968, 1983-1986
* "21エモン" ("21-emon"): 1968-1969, 1981
* "モジャ公" ("Moja-kō"): 1969-1970: [http://glaymotchy.ld.infoseek.co.jp/mojakou.jpgImage]
* "ウメ星デンカ" ("Ume-boshi Denka"): 1969: [http://www.doutei.com/img/600x450-2005122200011-thumb.jpgImage]
* "ドラえもん" ("Doraemon"): 1970-1996: [http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/I/510wxr5cQ8L._SS500_.jpgImage]
* "キテレツ大百科" ("Kiteretsu Daihyakka"): 1974-1977
* "エスパー魔美" ("Esper Mami"): 1977-1982: [http://www.vram128k.com/~ku/photo/2004/20040304/20040304_01.pngImage]
* "チンプイ" ("Chimpui"): 1985, 1987-1988: [http://kamoair.at.infoseek.co.jp/tinpui.jpgImage]

Fujiko Fujio (A)'s major works

* "忍者ハットリくん" ("Ninja Hattori-kun"): 1964-1968, 1981-1988
* "怪物くん" ("Kaibutsu-kun"): 1965-1969, 1980-1982; 1972
* "笑ゥせぇるすまん" (Warau Salesman): 1968-1971, 1989-1996
* "まんが道" ("Manga-michi"): 1970-1972, 1977-1982, 1986; 1986-1988; 1989-1990, 1995 to the present
* "魔太郎がくる!!" ("Matarō ga Kuru!!"): 1972-1975
* "プロゴルファー猿" ("Pro Golfer Saru"): 1974-1980; 1982-1988; 1989; 1999-2005
* "シャドウ商会変奇郎" ("Shadow Shōkai Henkirō"): 1976-1977
* "少年時代" ("Shōnen Jidai"): 1978-1979
* "パラソルヘンべえ" ("Parasol Henbē"): 1989-1991

References

External links

* [http://dir.yahoo.co.jp/Entertainment/Comics_and_Animation/Comic_Books/Writers/Fujiko_Fujio/ Yahoo! カテゴリ – 漫画家 藤子不二雄] ja icon
* [http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/516358/ Amazon.co.jp 藤子不二雄] ja icon
* [http://users.skynet.be/mangaguide/au268.html Profile of Fujiko Fujio] at The Ultimate Manga Guide
* [http://users.skynet.be/mangaguide/au267.html Profile of Fujiko F. Fujio] at The Ultimate Manga Guide
* [http://users.skynet.be/mangaguide/au269.html Profile of Fujiko Fujio A] at The Ultimate Manga Guide