Kazuhiko Shimamoto is a Japanese manga artist and original creator born on April 26, 1961, in Ikeda, Hokkaido. His real name is Hidehiko Tezuka, but he adopted his pen name to avoid confusion with the legendary manga creator Osamu Tezuka. Shimamoto attended the Osaka University of Arts in the fine arts department, where he was a classmate of future Gainax founders Hideaki Anno and Hiroyuki Yamaga. He made his professional debut in 1982 with the short story Hissatsu no Tenkōsei, published in a special issue of Shōnen Sunday. Shortly after this debut, he left college to focus entirely on his manga career.

Shimamoto first gained significant recognition for the series Honō no Tenkōsei, also known as Blazing Transfer Student, which he drew from 1983 to 1985. The series, known for its hyper-emotional and absurdly earnest depiction of high school combat, established his signature style of parody that is deeply affectionate toward the genres it mimics. He is also the creator of the long-running Moeyo Pen saga, a series of meta-manga about the life of a manga artist. Beginning with the one-volume Moeyo Pen in 1990, the story continued through Hoero Pen and Shin Hoero Pen, totaling 24 volumes. This saga follows his alter ego, the fiercely dedicated and often self-destructive manga creator Moyuru Honō. In 2007, he began publishing Aoi Honō, a semi-autobiographical series set during his college years that depicts his struggles to become an artist alongside future industry figures like Anno. This work received the 60th Shogakukan Manga Award in the general category.

Beyond his original comedies, Shimamoto has worked on adaptations and collaborations with other notable creators. He collaborated with Shotaro Ishinomori on a manga version of Skull Man, based on Ishinomori's original storyline. His baseball manga Gyakkyou Nine was adapted into a live-action Japanese film in 2005. His creative influence extends to character and setting design for video games, including Hayato Nekketsu for Rival Schools, the near-future setting for Live A Live, and contributions to the Sangokushi Taisen series. He also provided character cooperation for the anime Mobile Fighter G Gundam.

A recurring theme in Shimamoto's work is an intense, almost parodic celebration of passion, effort, and the creative spirit. His art and storytelling are characterized by a "hot-blooded" style filled with sweat, screaming word balloons, and hyperbolic emotion. While he has created serious action and sports manga, he is most renowned for his meta-commentaries on the manga industry and otaku culture, blending autobiography with exaggerated tall tales about the hardships and triumphs of being a professional creator. His former assistants include Katsu Aki, Masaaki Fujihara, and Eisaku Kubonouchi. He is known as a prolific and fast-working artist, and his college experiences with the founders of Gainax were later dramatized in his own work, Aoi Honō.