Yūsaku Hanakuma is a Japanese illustrator and cartoonist born in 1967 and based in Tokyo. He studied at the Setsu Mode Seminar, a notable fashion and design school in Tokyo, and has won several manga awards, including the GARO Magazine Nagai Katsuichi Award and the 13th Annual Manga Award for Excellence. Beyond his work in comics, Hanakuma is a skilled martial artist who holds a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and has written columns about the sport for various publications.

Hanakuma is best known for creating the manga Tokyo Zombie, which was originally serialized in the magazine Ax from 1998 to 1999 and later collected into a single volume published by Seirinkogeisha. The story follows two blue-collar factory workers and jiu-jitsu enthusiasts who accidentally kill their boss and dump his body on a toxic waste site known as Black Fuji, inadvertently triggering a zombie uprising. The manga is noted for blending horror and comedy with martial arts action, and it has been recognized as a cult classic that predated the Western zombie comedy boom exemplified by films like Shaun of the Dead. Tokyo Zombie was adapted into a live-action film in 2005, directed by Sakichi Sato and starring Tadanobu Asano and Show Aikawa.

Another notable original work by Hanakuma is the anime Mecha Afro-kun, a 2010 OVA for which he served as director, scriptwriter, and original creator. The story is set in a near-future Japan and features a salaryman transformed into a cyborg known as Afro-kun.

Hanakuma is renowned for his use of the heta uma style, a Japanese term that translates to bad but good. This artistic approach is characterized by kinetic, grotesque, and seemingly crude or simple linework that nonetheless conveys significant energy, humor, and expressiveness. His work often features recurring hapless characters named Afro and Hage, which means bald in Japanese. His background in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu also informs his work, lending a sense of authenticity to the fight choreography and martial arts depicted in his stories.

Within the manga industry, Hanakuma holds significance as a prominent figure in the alternative and underground manga scene. His work has been published in cutting-edge magazines and has earned critical praise for its unique voice. He has been cited as an example of a master of the heta uma style, and his manga Tokyo Zombie has been listed by Anime News Network as one of the ten great zombie manga.