Toshio Maeda

Toshio Maeda (前ç"°ä¿Šå¤«, Maeda Toshio, born 1953) is a controversial erotic manga artist who was most prolific in the 1980s and 90s. Several of Maeda's works have been used as a basis for Original Video Animations (OVA) including the well known La Blue Girl, Adventure Kid, Demon Beast Invasion, Demon Warrior Koji and his most famous work, Urotsukidōji (Legend of the Overfiend). One interviewer commented that Urotsukidōji "firmly placed him in the history books - in Japan and abroad - as the pioneer of the genre known as hentai, or perverted".

Early career

Toshio Maeda began reading manga when he was 5 or 6 years old, including American comics such as Mighty Mouse, Spider-Man and Batman. He was also a reader of all genres of literature and has said that he read more than 10,000 books before he was 20 years old.

Career

At 16 Maeda left Osaka to go to Tokyo as an assistant to a professional cartoonist. He became interested in manga for adults to avoid all the strictures, sexual, political and religious, that were placed on manga for children.

Early in his career, with the likes of Evil Spirit Island and Ashita-e Kick Off, he only provided the illustrations while someone else wrote the text for the manga.

Maeda's groundbreaking work, Urotsukidōji, came out in 1986 and it has been claimed that "No other title apart from Akira has been so influential in the English-language market." Maeda was working for an adult magazine and wanted to create something different than the usual everyday life erotic tale.

Maeda is credited with the proliferation of the tentacle rape genre mostly on the reputation of the animated versions of his manga. But he did not implement the use of the "tentacle" as an erotic device until the 1989 Demon Beast Invasion. Even though his most famous work, Urotsukidoji, is credited as being the first tentacle rape manga it was only in the anime version that tentacle rape was featured. Maeda has explained that since portraying genitals was illegal in Japan, artists would use any trick they could to get by the censors and he could say that a creature's tentacle was not a penis. Maeda is proud of his role in popularizing the genre and in a blog interview stated that he would like "Tentacle Master" inscribed on his tombstone.

Maeda was a Guest of Honor at the Big Apple Anime Fest (BAAF) held in New York City in October 2001. He was acclaimed as "the most influential erotic manga artist in Japan" and his masterpiece Urotsukidoji was described as " the foundation for the entire 'erotic-grotesque' genre of Japanese anime". Maeda was the Keynote Speaker at the BAAF Symposium and introduced a retrospective of his work.

A motorbike accident in 2001 left Maeda with limited ability in his drawing hand but he continued to use his computer to create characters and write scripts. In 2003, he was planning his contributions to a Japanese woman's hentai magazine and learning to look at eroticism from a woman's point of view.

In addition to erotic horror, Maeda has done manga in other genres, including sex comedy, BDSM-themed genres, and books targeted at younger readers. He also sometimes draws mecha.

As of September 2010, Toshio Maeda has opened his official website, with the Tentacle club, where users can sign up and view his full length manga for a small monthly fee of 500 yen. Toshio has also made the opportunity available to the public to come stay at his apartment and have the opportunity to discuss manga, anime and Japan in general with him, over a beer for a small fee, together with a tour of Akihabara and various otaku hot spots in Tokyo.

In 2014 Toshio Maeda appeared in the British Horror film Spidarlings directed by Salem Kapsaski.

Bibliography

• Kaiten Arashi (開店è'らし^?)
• Ashita-e Kick Off (明日へキックオフ^?) (1977), Hit Comics, 1 volume
• Akuryō Shima (悪霊島^?, Evil Spirit Island) (1981), Action Comics, 2 volumes
• Yokubō no Wana (欲望の罠^?, Trap of Desire) (1982), Comic Pack, 1 volume
• Yokubō no Rinbu (欲望の輪舞^?, Dance of Desire) (1983), Comic Pack, 1 volume
• Jigoku no Kiss (地獄のキッス^?, Hell's Kiss) (1983), Joy Comics, 1 volume
• Banquet of Desire (欲望の狂宴^?) (1984), Comic Pack, 1 volume
• Yokubō no Mokushiroku (欲望の黙示録^?, Apocalypse of Desire) (1986), Comic Pack, 1 volume
• Urotsukidōji (うろつき童子^?) (1986), Wani Magazine Comics, 6 volumes; English translation: Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend (1998), Urotsukidoji (2002)
• Fuuun Kurozukin (風雲é»'é ­å·¾^?) (1987), 3 volumes
• Chi no Wana (血の罠^?, Trap of Blood) (1987), 6 volumes
• Habu Ga Iku (HABUが行く^?) (1987), Wani Magazine Comics, 2 volumes
• Adobenchā Kiddo (アドベンチャーKID^?) (1988), Wani Magazine Comics, 4 volumes; English translation: Adventure Kid (2003)
• Gendō Gakuen Black Board Jungle (外é"å­¦åœ' Black Board Jungle^?, Nightmare Campus) (1988), Tsukasa Comics, 1 volume
• Yumechō Child (夢宙チャイルド^?, Dream-Realm Child) (1988), Tatsumi Comics, 1 volume
• ChōjÅ« Densetsu (超獣伝説^?, Legend of the Superbeast) (1988), Million Comics, 1 volume
• Niku Man De Gō (肉マンでゴー^?, Meat Man Go!) (1988), Wani Books, 2 volumes
• Oni Gari (鬼狩り^?, Ogre Hunting) (1988), Pyramid Comics, 1 volume
• Yōjû Kyōshitsu Gakuen (妖獣教室^?) (1989), 2 volumes; English translation: Demon Beast Invasion (2001)
• Injuu Gakuen La Blue Girl (淫獣学åœ'^?) (1989), Suberu Comics; English translation: La Blue Girl (2002)
• Injû no Tenshi (淫獣の天使^?) (1989), Men's Comics, 1 volume
• Yokoshima Seiken (邪聖剣ネクロマンサー^?, Wicked Sword Necromancer) (1989), Takarajima Comics, 1 volume
• Mado Senshi (é­"童戦士^?) (1990), Tatsumi Comics, 1 volume
• Hajikareta Hōkago (弾かれたæ"¾èª²å¾Œ^?) (1990), 1 volume
• Okkake Datenshi (おっかã'堕天使^?) (1990), Gekiga King Comics, 1 volume
• Kikō Jinruiten BODY (æ©Ÿç"²äººé¡žä¼BODY^?) (1991), Wani Magazine Comics, 2 volumes
• Magical Shimai (é­"ジカル姉妹^?, Magical Sisters) (1991), 1 volume
• Shin Urotsukidōji (新うろつき童子^?, New Urotsukidōji) (1993), Action Camera Comics, 2 volumes
• Oni no Kotarō (鬼の小太郎^?) (1993), Suberu Comics, 2 volumes
• Rika to Jirainari (里香と地雷也^?) (1993), Suberu Comics, 1 volume
• Ryakudatsu Toshi (略奪都市^?) (1993), Suberu Comics, 2 volumes
• Korogari (ã"ろがり釘次女ä½"指南^?, Korogari) (1996), Core Comics, 4 volumes
• Kaikan Therapist (快感セラãƒ"スト^?, Pleasure Therapist) (1998), Kyun Comics, 1 volume
• Kairaku Shigotonin (快楽仕事人^?, Pleasure Salesman) (1999), Suberu Comics DX, 1 volume

Sources

• "Manga Artist Interview Series (Part I) Toshio Maeda". 
• "Toshio Maeda: hentai pioneer". Tokyo Reporter. November 8, 2008. . Reprint of Manga Artist Interview Series (Part I) Toshio Maeda
• "Hentai manga to take the world". 

References

External links

• Toshio Maeda Official website (contains the original Urotsukidōji: Legend of the Overfiend manga, La Blue Girl manga, as well as all Maedas other works)
• PRISMS
• Toshio Maeda at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Toshio Maeda at the Internet Movie Database
• ANN interview
• Manga-news.com interview (French)