Shuichi Shigeno is a Japanese manga artist born on March 8, 1958, in Matsunoyama, Tokamachi, Niigata Prefecture. His career began with a strong personal passion for motorcycles during his high school years, an interest that would deeply influence his early work.

Shigeno made his professional debut with the manga Oretachi Zekkouchou in 1981, but his first major serialized work was the motorcycle racing manga Bari Bari Densetsu, which ran in Kodansha's Weekly Shonen Magazine from 1983 to 1991. This series, spanning 38 collected volumes, became a significant success; in 1985, it earned him the Kodansha Manga Award in the shonen category. The story follows high school student Gun Koma as he progresses from illegal street racing on mountain passes to professional motorcycle racing, a narrative arc that would prefigure themes in his later work. Bari Bari Densetsu was later adapted into a two-part original video animation in 1986, which was subsequently re-edited into a theatrical film in 1987.

Following the conclusion of Bari Bari Densetsu, Shigeno created several works in genres outside of motor sports, including Tunnel Nuketara Sky Blue and Do-P-Kan. During this period, he reportedly faced challenges in maintaining reader popularity. According to interviews, it was at the suggestion of an editor who knew of his enthusiasm for cars that he turned to creating an automotive-themed manga, a decision he initially resisted but ultimately pursued with a sense of finality, feeling he would leave the industry if it did not succeed.

This decision led to the creation of Initial D, which began serialization in Weekly Young Magazine in 1995 and ran until 2013. The series became Shigeno’s most famous work, following the story of Takumi Fujiwara, a high school student who masters street racing on the mountain passes of Gunma prefecture while driving his family’s Toyota AE86 Sprinter Trueno. The manga achieved massive commercial success, with its collected volumes selling over 56 million copies. Initial D was adapted into a prolific multimedia franchise, including five television anime series, multiple original video animations, a live-action film, and a trilogy of new theatrical anime films released between 2014 and 2016 titled Initial D Legend 1: Awakening, Initial D Legend 2: Racer, and Initial D Legend 3: Dream. Shigeno is consistently credited as the original creator for these anime adaptations.

In 2017, Shigeno began serializing MF Ghost in Weekly Young Magazine, a series set in the same world as Initial D but in the near future, focusing on a new protagonist, Kanata Katagiri, who competes in a public road racing series called MFG. The series has itself been adapted into an anime, with its first season airing in late 2023 and subsequent seasons planned. His other works include the short series Takane no Hana (2014) and Sailor Ace (2015–2017).

Throughout his career, Shigeno has demonstrated a consistent artistic identity centered on motor sports, specifically focusing on the technical aspects of driving and racing culture, often depicting the progression of characters from amateur street racers to professional competitors. His personal experience with vehicles, such as his long-held Toyota AE86 which he purchased with royalties from Bari Bari Densetsu, has informed the authenticity of his work.