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Momoko Sakura, the manga creator best known for the long-running Chibi Maruko-chan manga and anime, passed away on August 15 at 8:29 p.m. due to breast cancer. She was 53. Her family already held a private wake and funeral services.
TARAKO, the voice of the title character in the Chibi Maruko-chan anime, commented on Sakura's passing. TARAKO said that it was much too soon, as Sakura had so much she still wanted to do. Shueisha's Ribon magazine Editor-in-Chief Sōichi Aida also paid his respects, saying that the feeling that her passing was too soon will never go away. Still, he said the cheerful, smiling faces of Maruko and her friends will always keep shining in the hearts of all her readers from children to grown-ups.
Sakura was born on May 8, 1965 in Shimizu City, Shizuoka. She made her professional manga creator debut while she was still in college in 1984, and she serialized the Chibi Maruko-chan manga in Ribon from 1986 to 1996. The comedy manga, which follows the everyday life of a third-grade schoolgirl, has about 32 million copies in print. Sakura launched a four-panel version in a Japanese newspaper in 2007, and she ended that version in 2011.
Sakura launched the Chibi Maruko-chan Kimi wo Wasurenai yo manga as a tie-in to the Eiga Chibi Maruko-chan: Italia kara Kita Shōnen anime film in September 2015, and ended it in December of that year. She also launched the spinoff manga series Chibi Shikaku-chan in Shueisha's Grand Jump magazine in 2016.
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TARAKO, the voice of the title character in the Chibi Maruko-chan anime, commented on Sakura's passing. TARAKO said that it was much too soon, as Sakura had so much she still wanted to do. Shueisha's Ribon magazine Editor-in-Chief Sōichi Aida also paid his respects, saying that the feeling that her passing was too soon will never go away. Still, he said the cheerful, smiling faces of Maruko and her friends will always keep shining in the hearts of all her readers from children to grown-ups.
Sakura was born on May 8, 1965 in Shimizu City, Shizuoka. She made her professional manga creator debut while she was still in college in 1984, and she serialized the Chibi Maruko-chan manga in Ribon from 1986 to 1996. The comedy manga, which follows the everyday life of a third-grade schoolgirl, has about 32 million copies in print. Sakura launched a four-panel version in a Japanese newspaper in 2007, and she ended that version in 2011.
Sakura launched the Chibi Maruko-chan Kimi wo Wasurenai yo manga as a tie-in to the Eiga Chibi Maruko-chan: Italia kara Kita Shōnen anime film in September 2015, and ended it in December of that year. She also launched the spinoff manga series Chibi Shikaku-chan in Shueisha's Grand Jump magazine in 2016.
Chibi Maruko-chan Manga Creator Momoko Sakura Passes Away at 53
Her shōjo manga inspired 2nd most-watched TV anime, running for almost 3 decades
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