Yōko Tamotsu is a Japanese manga artist and writer, recognized as the original creator behind the urban fantasy series Midnight Occult Civil Servants. Tamotsu both wrote and illustrated the manga, which served as the foundation for a broader media franchise.

Tamotsu launched the Midnight Occult Civil Servants manga in Kadokawa Shoten’s shōjo manga magazine Monthly Asuka on May 23, 2015. The series continued serialization until its conclusion on February 22, 2022, and was compiled into seventeen tankōbon volumes. During its run, the manga was also serialized online through Kadokawa’s Comic Newtype platform.

The success of the original manga led to multiple adaptations. A novelization, written by Masumi Suzuki, was published by Kadokawa Shoten under their Kadokawa Horror Bunko imprint on July 24, 2018. An anime television series adaptation, produced by the studio Liden Films, subsequently aired from April 7 to June 23, 2019. The anime adaptation was directed by Tetsuya Watanabe with series composition by Tatsuto Higuchi.

Regarding artistic identity and creative approach, Tamotsu is noted for incorporating real-world locations into the fictional narrative. For Midnight Occult Civil Servants, which is set in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward, Tamotsu conducted fieldwork in the district, studying buildings and the cityscape to depict them realistically in the manga. This commitment to authenticity included visiting locations such as the Natsume Soseki Memorial Museum to accurately render the setting for character movements. The work also reflects a collaborative element, as Tamotsu received cooperation from actual civil servants working in Shinjuku’s ward office during the creation of the story. Thematically, the series is an urban fantasy that follows a newly recruited civil servant who works in a special department dedicated to managing relations with supernatural beings called Anothers, blending elements of folklore, bureaucracy, and mystery.