Gosho Aoyama, born Yoshimasa Aoyama on June 21, 1963, in Hokuei, Tottori Prefecture, Japan, is a highly influential Japanese manga artist and the original creator behind several major manga and anime franchises. He displayed an early talent for drawing, winning a competition in elementary school, and later studied at Nihon University College of Art in Tokyo. During his time as an art student, he worked a part-time job painting backgrounds for the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction at Tokyo Disneyland. His professional debut as a manga creator came in the winter of 1987 with the publication of the one-shot Chotto Mattete in Weekly Shōnen Sunday.

Aoyama is best known globally as the creator of the long-running detective manga Case Closed, known as Detective Conan in Japan. The series, which follows the story of a high school detective turned into a child, began serialization in Weekly Shōnen Sunday on January 19, 1994, and remains ongoing. His other notable original manga works include the samurai adventure Yaiba, which ran for 24 volumes between 1988 and 1993, and Magic Kaito, a series about a gentleman thief that began in 1987 and continues on hiatus, with its protagonist later appearing regularly in Case Closed. He also authored the baseball manga 3rd Base 4th and the one-shot Tell Me a Lie, as well as a collection of short stories compiled as Gosho Aoyama's Collection of Short Stories (Aoyama Gōshō Tanpen-shū).

Numerous anime adaptations have been produced based on Aoyama's original works. Yaiba was adapted into a 52-episode anime series that aired from 1993 to 1994. His most famous creation, Case Closed (Detective Conan), premiered as an anime series in 1996 and has since become a long-running staple, also spawning a yearly series of theatrical films, including titles such as Case Closed: The Fist of Blue Sapphire, as well as television specials like Detective Conan - Episode One: The Great Detective Turned Small and the Detective Conan Magic File video series. The short stories from his collection were also adapted into the anime Aoyama Gōshō Tanpen-shū and its sequel.

Recurring elements in Aoyama's work include a strong foundation in mystery and detective fiction, heavily inspired by Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, which is directly referenced in the protagonist's chosen alias, Conan Edogawa. His stories frequently blend serious crime-solving with action, humor, and romantic comedy. His art style is distinctive and consistent across his various series, and he is known for incorporating real-world sports, such as baseball and soccer, and cultural elements into his narratives. His older brother, a scientist, has assisted him with technical concepts for his stories.

Gosho Aoyama holds significant industry stature, having won the prestigious Shogakukan Manga Award twice: first in 1992 for Yaiba and again in 2001 for Case Closed. By 2017, his various manga series had a combined 250 million copies in print worldwide. His cultural impact is so profound that his hometown of Hokuei has built landmarks like the Conan Bridge and the Gosho Aoyama Manga Factory museum to celebrate his legacy.