The Japanese creator tugeneko is a manga artist and illustrator known for his work in the comedy and romance genres. He was born in Fukuoka Prefecture on November 17, though his birth year is not publicly disclosed, and he has stated that he is male. The pen name tugeneko is partly derived from the manga artist Yoshiharu Tsuge, from whom he takes the "tuge" portion; he has commented that the origin of the "neko" part is unknown to him. His path to professional manga creation was indirect. After graduating from high school, he attended a design junior college and then moved to Tokyo to work in an animation company. He subsequently left that job, returned to his family home in Fukuoka, and earned a qualification as a dental technician while posting his own illustrations and comics on the image-sharing site Pixiv. A four-panel comic he posted about the baseball video game Jikkyō Powerful Pro Yakyū Portable 3 became popular through word-of-mouth, which led to contact from an editor and launched his professional career.

Tugeneko made his professional manga debut in 2010 with the full-color series Kare to Calette., which was initially serialized in the now-defunct Keitai Shūkan Ascii and later moved to Weekly ASCII, running until 2016. He also created Mahoroba Kissa, which ran from 2013 to 2017, first in Manga Club Original and then in Manga Life MOMO after the former magazine ceased publication. His most widely recognized work is the manga How Clumsy you are, Miss Ueno, known in Japanese as Ueno-san wa Bukiyō. The series began as a short-term serialization in Hakusensha's seinen manga magazine Young Animal in February 2015, and due to its positive reception, it became a full-fledged serialization that continued until March 2022. The completed series was collected in ten tankōbon volumes. The manga was adapted into a twelve-episode anime television series that aired from January to March 2019. The anime was produced by the studio Lesprit, with Tomohiro Yamanashi serving as both director and series screenwriter.

Tugeneko's artistic identity is defined by a specific combination of elements. His art style is typically cute and pop-like, but this is paired with a distinctive sense of humor that often incorporates dirty jokes delivered with a dry, deadpan tone. This approach has been characterized as bright and dry dirty jokes. Thematically, he has stated that his central goal in creating manga is to draw cute girls. The narrative structure of How Clumsy you are, Miss Ueno is a clear example of his typical approach, featuring a genius yet romantically awkward girl who uses absurd inventions in her comically failed attempts to confess her feelings. Recurring character names and visual cameos of characters from his different works suggest that many of his stories may share a connected universe. His work has also appeared in official anthologies for popular series, including Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Don't Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro. Within the manga industry, tugeneko is noted for his unique comedic voice and charmingly simple art style, which have earned him a dedicated following and resulted in a successful anime adaptation of his flagship series.