"Clover" mangaka Chiya Toriko: "All manga artists understood what Ashihara-sensei was saying"

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It was announced on the 29th that Ashihara Hinako, the original mangaka of the Nippon Television drama series “Sexy Tanaka-san” that aired in October 2023, has passed away. She was 50 years old.

According to people involved in the investigation, it appears that she committed suicide. She updated her SNS just before her death, revealing that she had revised the drama content for the last two episodes, when the drama became unfaithful to her original manga series.

Chiya Toriko, a manga artist known for the “Clover” series, which was made into a movie starring Takei Emi (30) in 2014, updated her X on the night of the 29th. She said, “I can’t believe it…I think all the manga artists knew what Ashihara-sensei was saying. I knew it. It’s sad…”. She wrote heartbreakingly.

“Clover” has been released in three volumes, from 1995 (Heisei 7) to 10 years, 2012 to 2019, and 2021, and the series has sold over 8.6 million copies. Not only has the same work been made into a movie, but Chiya also worked as a manga artist for other manga. Each of them has created a manga featuring an editor from the manga editorial department as the main character.