Yuji Shiozaki is a Japanese manga author born on September 7, 1967, best known as the original creator of the long-running Ikki Tousen franchise. His career began in the 1990s after he won a contest held by Shueisha, leading to his debut in the magazine Young Jump. Despite having studied economics in university, he pursued a path in manga, initially learning the craft from a how-to-draw book provided by his first editor.

His early works included series such as Karen, Happy Man, and Nikkan Tachibana, which were published in seinen magazines aimed at adult readers. He left Shueisha to create his signature work, Ikki Tousen, which began serialization in Wani Books' Comic Gum magazine in April 2000. The series, which ran until August 2015, was inspired by the classic Chinese novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, reimagining its male warriors as female high school students locked in territorial battles. Following the conclusion of the original series, Shiozaki launched a direct sequel, Shin Ikki Tousen, in 2015, which continues serialization.

Shiozaki is the credited original creator for the numerous anime adaptations of his work. The anime titles listed—Ikki Tousen: Dragon Destiny, Ikki Tousen: Great Guardians, Ikki Tousen: Western Wolves, Ikki Tousen: Xtreme Xecutor, and Shin Ikki Tousen—are all based on his manga. He has stated that his involvement in these anime projects included overseeing the scripts to ensure character consistency, participating in voice actor auditions, and designing new characters specifically for the animated adaptations.

Beyond Ikki Tousen, his other notable original manga series include Battle Club and its sequel Battle Club 2nd Stage, which are known for a heightened level of action and fan service, as well as Zoids ZI and GODEATH -Megami no Ketsumyaku-. He has also worked as an illustrator for scripts written by other authors on titles such as Frontier Roots. In interviews, Shiozaki has cited Ashita no Joe and Kyojin no Hoshi as significant influences on his work.

His artistic identity is strongly associated with martial arts narratives combined with prominent fan service, a formula that brought him widespread recognition. He has explained his creative approach for Ikki Tousen as an intentional contrast to the original masculine source material, believing that replacing the warriors with attractive female fighters would create a stronger visual and narrative impact for the target audience. Despite the focus on such content, he has described his work ethic as that of a sincere artisan, and he has expressed surprise at the longevity of the Ikki Tousen franchise, which has spanned multiple anime adaptations over nearly two decades. He has been a guest at anime conventions in Europe and Latin America, reflecting the series' international popularity.