Shūzō Oshimi

Oshimi's hometown is in the countryside of Kiryu, Gunma, which also served as the setting of his manga The Flowers of Evil.[1] While growing up there, the main places he would visit were the riverbank, the stairs of his junior high school, and the bookstore.[2] Oshimi currently resides in Tokyo.[3]

Oshimi debuted with Superfly in Kodansha's Monthly Shōnen Magazine. He would go on to start his first series Avant-Garde Yumeko in the magazine. His works have been adapted into many different media, with Drifting Net Café and Inside Mari into television dramas,[4][5] The Flowers of Evil into an anime,[6] and Sweet Poolside into a live action film.[7] In 2001, he won the Tetsuya Chiba Award.[8]

In his childhood Oshimi would read modernist poems from authors like Sakutarō Hagiwara and Mitsuharu Kaneko.[9] Oshimi also thought that surrealist artists like André Breton, Max Ernst, and Paul Delvaux were cool.[10] His favorite artist is Redon.[11] and he also likes Francisco Goya.[12] In his youth, Oshimi heavily identified with the protagonist of Tetsu Adachi's Song of Cherry Blossoms and it would later influence his manga The Flowers of Evil.[13]

Oshimi's narrative style consists of stories presenting quirky, clumsy main characters, usually a boy and a girl couple, and how their relationship unfolds as the narrative progresses. He also presents uncommon, uncomfortable and, sometimes, disturbing situations through which the protagonists take part. This narrative style has been seen in all of the author's works, including his best-known work, The Flowers of Evil.

Oshimi likes to explore themes such as coming-of-age and perversion, combined with his experiences in his youth. He thinks that the end of adolescence is hard to define, and is up to an individual to discover, such as in The Flowers of Evil.[14] He also believes that perversion is a characteristic of every person that is surrounded by stigma which he wants people to think about.[15] Oshimi also wants to explore the female perspective in his gender-bender manga Inside Mari, because to him, girls are "half of the world".[16]

• Superfly (スーパーフライ, 2001) – Independent work, first published in the "Avant-Garde Yumeko" collection.
• Midnight Paranoia Star (真夜中のパラノイアスター, Mayonaka no Paranoia Sutā)
• Avant-Garde Yumeko (アバンギャルド夢子, Abangyarudo Yumeko, 2003) – Published by Kodansha, single-volume.
• Sweet Poolside (スイートプールサイド, 2004) – Published by Kodansha, single-volume.
• Devil Ecstasy (デビルエクスタシー, 2005–2006) – Published by Kodansha, 4 volumes.
• Yūtai Nova (ユウタイノヴァ, 2007–2008) – Published by Kodansha, 2 volumes.
• Drifting Net Café (漂流ネットカフェ, Hyōryū Netto Kafe, 2008–2011) – Published by Futabasha, 7 volumes.
• The Flowers of Evil (惡の華, Aku no Hana, 2009–2014) – Published by Kodansha, 11 volumes.[17]
• Shino Can't Say Her own Name (志乃ちゃんは自分の名前が言えない, Shino-chan wa Jibun no Namae ga Ienai, 2011–2012) – Published by Ohta Publishing, single-volume.
• Inside Mari (ぼくは麻理のなか, Boku wa Mari no Naka, 2012–2016) – Serialised in Manga Action, published by Futabasha,[18] 9 volumes.[19]
• Happiness (ハピネス, 2015–2019) – Published by Kodansha.[20] [21]
• Blood on the Tracks (血の轍, Chi no Wadachi, 2017–)

• Shūzō Oshimi at Anime News Network's encyclopedia