Ichiko Ima is a Japanese manga artist recognized as the original creator behind several long-running and critically acclaimed manga series. She was born on April 11 in Himi, Toyama Prefecture, Japan, and is a graduate of Tokyo Woman's Christian University. Her interest in drawing began in elementary school, influenced by horror manga from Kazuo Umezu and shōjo works by Masako Watanabe, with Moto Hagio later becoming her favorite artist. She started self-publishing dōjinshi in high school and continued this activity while attending university. After working as an assistant to established artists such as Kyoko Morikawa, Ryoko Yamagishi, and Akiko Miyawaki, she made her professional debut as a manga artist in 1993 with the short story "My Beautiful Green Palace," published in the magazine Comic Image.

Ima is best known for creating the horror manga series Hyakki Yakou Shou, which has been serialized in the magazine Nemuki (and later Nemuki+) since 1995. As of 2025, the series has been compiled into over thirty volumes and has sold more than 5.8 million copies. This work has received significant critical acclaim, including an Excellency Award in the Manga Division at the Japan Media Arts Festival in 2006 and a nomination for the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2005. The series has been adapted into various other media, including stage plays in 2003 and 2006, and a live-action television drama series that aired on NTV in 2007. More recently, it was announced that Hyakki Yakou Shou would receive a television anime adaptation, scheduled to debut in April 2026 as a series of shorts.

Beyond her most famous work, Ichiko Ima has built a substantial and varied bibliography across multiple genres. She is an established author in the boys' love genre, having contributed regularly to magazines such as Hana Oto since the 1990s with works like Otona no Mondai and Ashinaga-ojisantachi no Yukue. Her other notable manga include the series Kishibe no Uta, published since 2002, Game, and Homeless Salaryman. She has also produced several art collections, including夕景 (Yūkei) and画集〔百鬼夜行抄〕, and has written an essay manga titled Bunchō-sama to Watashi, which humorously depicts her life as an avid bird enthusiast who keeps many finches.

The artistic identity of Ichiko Ima is characterized by a delicate visual style, meticulous panel layouts, and a blend of literary sensibility with Japanese folklore. Her work is noted for moving away from graphic violence to evoke horror through melancholy, longing, and emotional complexity, often creating an atmosphere of lyrical nostalgia. A recurring thematic interest in her stories is the subversion of gender norms, frequently featuring gender-fluid characters and presenting domestic spaces as nurturing and egalitarian rather than patriarchal. Critics have highlighted her feminist reinterpretations of horror, where women may take on active roles as seekers or rescuers while male characters occupy more emotionally vulnerable positions. Her narrative technique often involves seemingly disjointed episodes that resolve with the coherence of a mystery novel, engaging the reader on an emotional level. Her significance in the manga industry is underscored by her longevity, with Hyakki Yakou Shou spanning over three decades of serialization, and by the broad international recognition of her work, which has been translated into French, Italian, and other languages. Her contributions have been formally recognized by major institutions, and a special exhibition dedicated to her creative world was scheduled to be held at the Koshibun Library in Toyama Prefecture in late 2026.