Momoko Sakura was the pen name of a Japanese manga artist born as Miki Miura on May 8, 1965, in the city of Shimizu, Shizuoka Prefecture. She was notably private about her personal life, rarely disclosing details such as her real name to the public throughout her career. Sakura passed away on August 15, 2018, at the age of 53 due to breast cancer.

Sakura made her professional debut as a manga artist in 1984. She is best known as the original creator of the long-running and beloved series Chibi Maruko-chan. The manga began serialization in the magazine Ribon in 1986 and continued until 1996, with later volumes released in 2003 and 2009. The series was directly inspired by her own childhood, with the story set in 1974 in suburban Japan. It follows the daily life of a young girl named Maruko, a character based on Sakura herself, living with her family in their hometown of Shimizu. Many of the anecdotes and characters in the story were drawn from her real-life experiences and the people around her.

In 1989, Sakura received the prestigious Kodansha Manga Award for shōjo manga for Chibi Maruko-chan. The series became a major cultural phenomenon, with its manga volumes selling over 32 million copies. The success of the manga led to an anime television adaptation produced by Nippon Animation, which first aired from 1990 to 1992. Due to its immense popularity, a second anime series debuted in 1995 and has continued to air for decades, making it one of the longest-running and most-watched animated series in Japan.

Beyond her signature work, Sakura created other notable manga and anime series. One of her other major original works is Coji-Coji, a more surreal and fantasy-oriented series that was serialized in the magazine Kimi to Boku from December 1994 to May 1997. This series was adapted into an anime television titled Sakura Momoko Gekijō Coji-Coji, which ran for 100 episodes from October 1997 to September 1999. Her work on Coji-Coji demonstrated a different artistic identity, moving away from the autobiographical, nostalgic tone of Chibi Maruko-chan to explore more abstract, philosophical, and fantastical themes. Music was a recurring element in her creative identity; her works often featured references to contemporary Japanese music, such as Yellow Magic Orchestra and Shibuya-kei, and she was also a lyricist, most famously writing the lyrics for the Chibi Maruko-chan ending theme Odoru Pompokolin.

Sakura was also involved in the creation of several anime films. She is credited as the original creator for Chibi Maruko-chan: Watashi no Suki na Uta, a film released on December 19, 1992, which was based on her manga. She is also the creator behind the film Eiga Chibi Maruko-chan: Italia kara Kita Shōnen. In addition to manga and anime, she expanded her original concepts into video games, including Sakura Momoko Gekijō Coji-Coji for the Dreamcast, Sakura Momoko no Ukiuki Carnival for the Game Boy Advance, and also designed characters for the Xbox 360 title Every Party in 2005. Her work as an original creator extended to television specials, including the milestone program Arigatō! Minna no Okage de Hōsō 1500-kai 1-Jikan Special, a one-hour special celebrating 1500 episodes of the Chibi Maruko-chan anime.