How Two Friends Created a Manga Legacy
Hiroshi Fujimoto and Motoo Abiko became manga legends together.
I vividly remember the first manga (Japanese comic books) my Mom bought me – it was issue 14 of Doraemon. I’ve re-read this book a bajillion times. From the point forward, Doraemon became one of my all time favorite manga.
Today’s story revolves around two legendary manga masters, one of whom is the creator of Doraemon.
Hiroshi Fujimoto (藤本弘) and Motoo Abiko (安孫子素雄) first met when they attended the same grade school at age 10. They went to a bookstore one day, read a copy of Osamu Tezuka’s manga New Treasure Island, and got completely hooked.
They began making their own manga together. They tried to mimic Tezuka’s way of storytelling, including character design, storyboarding, compositions, etc. In the process, they learned a lot about comic creation. One can imagine how much fun it must have been for two young kids to explore the world of comics.
After high school, Abiko worked in a local newspaper agency, but Fujimoto wanted to pursue his childhood dream as a comic creator. He successfully persuaded Abiko to quit his job (Wow!). Together, they moved to Tokyo, the heart of manga publishing.
They co-created a few manga series together, but the books didn’t generate much noise. Undeterred, they moved into what is now a famous apartment building called Tokiwa-sō, where many famous manga artists once resided.
Fujumoto and Abiko continued to collaborate. They shared a pen name: Fujiko Fujio (藤子不二雄). Their first major breakthrough came in 1964: Little Ghost Q-Taro, a story about a mischievous ghost who enjoyed playing pranks on others.
Over time, despite their deep friendship, Fujimoto and Abiko preferred to work on their own projects. To avoid confusion, Fujimoto switched his pen name to Fujiko F. Fujio (藤子 •F•不二雄), and Abiko to Fujiko Fujio A (藤子不二雄Ⓐ).
Fujimoto enjoyed making stories for young readers. The most famous manga series he created was Doraemon, a robotic cat from the future with endless amounts of gadgets to share with a self-proclaimed unfortunate boy, Nobi Nobita.
Another big hit Fujimoto created was Perman, an adventure story of a group of young superheroes.
Abiko preferred to explore a wide variety of topics. He created several manga series for children, including Ninja Hattori-kun and The Monster Kid.
But Abiko also enjoyed exploring darker subject matters, the most famous of which was The Laughing Salesman, a salesman who sold what the prospective client desired but would punish the client when he/she breached the terms, usually due to greed.
Fujimoto and Abiko might have walked separate paths as they grew as comic creators, but their friendship lasted a lifetime.
I always find the story between Fujimoto and Abiko fascinating. To have a passion in life is a blessing. To share a passion with a friend for a lifetime is a true gift, a true wonder.
Have you read any of Fujimoto’s or Abiko’s manga series? What’s your favorite? I look forward to hearing from you on the comments below.
What I call pre-mecha manga is the one love the most — and Doraemon fits squarely into that definition. Thanks for clearing up the Fujiko Fujio pen name — I assumed it was the creator's real name, heh. Now I'd want to explore further into Fujimoto-san's other works.
Doraemon was definitely a childhood favorite of mine! I think I managed to retain more of the Chinese characters I learned at school than I otherwise would have because our school library had several volumes of the manga translated into Chinese.