-PROFILE- [Story So Far] Ages 3-5: Before I knew it, I was into big-breasted women big time. Mine Fujiko and Cutey Honey made me melt. I hated preschool. Ages 6-10: My family ran a coffee shop, so I read nothing but manga. All we had in the shop were boys' comics and mature readers' comics, so I bought my own girls' comics. All my allowance went into manga. Ages 11-12: Still reading lots of manga, but interest in anime, science-fiction, dojinshi, etc., emerging. I learned a lot from Azuma Hideo's Big Collections. Made some fan friends, drew dojinshi pages. Ages 13-14: Spent days imitating the cute girl pictures of such artists as Hosono Fujihiko, Yasuhiko Yoshikazu, Inomata Mutsumi, Takahashi Rumiko, Toriyama Akira, Katsura Masakazu, and others. Overall school grades were lousy. Age 15: Enrolled in Toshikawa Academy High School Fine Arts Department. All-girls' school. My otaku friends were making a big deal about Captain Tsubasa, but I kept drawing pictures of girls. I did do some dojinshi stuff in this period, but there was just too much talk of "Tsubasa" that I wasn't having fun, so I gave it up. Ages 17-18: Dojinshi artist Piroshiki, of whom I was a big fan, praised my work, which inspired me to start doing dojinshi again. Did my first manga with panels and inks (two pages). Enrolled in Toshikawa Academy Community College School of Design. Age 19: In the course of selling dojinshi at Comic Market, an editor gave me a shout, and I made my professional debut with naughty books. I began doing manga to earn extra money. By night I worked as a club hostess. Age 20: These were the Bubble days, yet I couldn't find a job. By the time of my graduation, however, I was earning enough with manga work to somehow support myself, so little by little, I became a manga artist. Also graduated college. Ages 21-23: Did a lot of work in this period, at times as many as 60 pages a month without any assistants. Uchida Shungiku elected herself my mentor, so I kept at it, figuring that I should keep at it without complaining about little things like that. Age 24: Whirlwind marriage. Hubby lives in Tokyo, so I move there from Osaka. Age 27: Pregnancy. Morning sickness hits me so bad that I can't hardly work at all. I was upchucking right up through the ninth month. This goes down as the worst year of my life. Age 28: I give birth. Age 29: Having taken it easy where work was concerned during the year I had my daughter, I promise myself that starting next year, I'm going to go all out. [Family] Shun (Spring), my daughter: Loves Teretavis and Udon (thick wheat noodles). Her curly eyelashes, which she gets from her father, are her most attractive feature. Age: 1. Ogata, my husband: Loves Citroen automobiles. Not the sociable type, but not a bad person, either. Editor. Age: 39. Dog No. 1, Betty: A mixed Brittany Spaniel. She came to us from designer Kusaka Junichi, so some of my editors call her Kusaka's Dog. Is known to leap into people's laps, like a cat. Disposes of leftovers at our house. Dog No. 2, Tonトン: An I-don't-know-what kind of mix. A stray who was picked up after the Kobe Earthquake. Is no good at sucking up to people. Normally quiet, but give him gum and he turns violent. [Hobbies] Manga (reading and writing both), girl-watching (I love big-breasted girls with bee-stung lips), handicrafts (say what?), window shopping at antique dealers (mainly utensils, dolls, and stuffed animals), sundries shops, and children's clothing stores, and gardening (I like roses). Oh, I'd also like to learn to play the ukulele. [Things I Like and Am Either Actively Collecting, or Buy if I Come Across] Barbie (the classic kind), Jenny, Rika (I like both the brown-haired and redhead types), Ethnic Dolls, Kewpie Dolls and Related Merchandise, Pinup Girl Pictures, Teddy Bears, Steif Stuffed Rabbits, Betty Boop Merchandise, and on and on. [BACK]