Yajima
Description
Masao Yajima is a Japanese manga author and screenwriter known for a career spanning from the 1970s to the present day. His body of work includes several manga series that have been adapted into anime, with his most recent notable work being the original web manga Neko ni Tensei Shita Ojisan, which was adapted into an anime that premiered in October 2024.
Yajima began his career as a screenwriter, becoming active in that field starting in 1980. Concurrently, he established himself as a manga author, often providing the original story concepts and scripts for series illustrated by other artists. One of his earliest notable manga was Ryu, a science fiction adventure series illustrated by Akira Oze, which was serialized in Shogakukan’s Weekly Shonen Sunday magazine from 1986 to 1988 and compiled into seven volumes.
In the 2000s, Yajima gained wider recognition for Human Crossing, a manga he wrote with artist Kenshi Hirokane. The series, which depicts the everyday struggles of ordinary people, was adapted into a thirteen-episode anime television series in 2003. The anime was subsequently released in North America by Geneon Entertainment in 2005. Following this, Yajima collaborated with Korean artist Boichi on the manga Rakia: Shin Mokushiroku, which serialized in Kodansha’s Morning magazine from 2008 to 2010. The story, which involves a girl who makes a pact with a demon leading to apocalyptic consequences, was released in five volumes and was later licensed for North American publication by One Peace Books.
Yajima’s artistic identity is rooted in his role as a writer and original creator. His work often spans different genres, from the slice-of-life drama of Human Crossing to the science fiction and apocalyptic themes of Ryu and Rakia. In the 2020s, he embraced the web manga format, serializing Neko ni Tensei Shita Ojisan on the social media platform X. The series, which follows an ordinary man reincarnated as a cat, won second place in the Web Manga category of the Next Manga Awards. The anime adaptation was directed by Rio and Takahiro Kawakoshi at Studio Eight Colors. Throughout his career, Yajima’s significance in the industry lies in his longevity and the consistent adaptation of his manga into other media, demonstrating his influence as a storyteller across multiple generations of manga and anime production.
Yajima began his career as a screenwriter, becoming active in that field starting in 1980. Concurrently, he established himself as a manga author, often providing the original story concepts and scripts for series illustrated by other artists. One of his earliest notable manga was Ryu, a science fiction adventure series illustrated by Akira Oze, which was serialized in Shogakukan’s Weekly Shonen Sunday magazine from 1986 to 1988 and compiled into seven volumes.
In the 2000s, Yajima gained wider recognition for Human Crossing, a manga he wrote with artist Kenshi Hirokane. The series, which depicts the everyday struggles of ordinary people, was adapted into a thirteen-episode anime television series in 2003. The anime was subsequently released in North America by Geneon Entertainment in 2005. Following this, Yajima collaborated with Korean artist Boichi on the manga Rakia: Shin Mokushiroku, which serialized in Kodansha’s Morning magazine from 2008 to 2010. The story, which involves a girl who makes a pact with a demon leading to apocalyptic consequences, was released in five volumes and was later licensed for North American publication by One Peace Books.
Yajima’s artistic identity is rooted in his role as a writer and original creator. His work often spans different genres, from the slice-of-life drama of Human Crossing to the science fiction and apocalyptic themes of Ryu and Rakia. In the 2020s, he embraced the web manga format, serializing Neko ni Tensei Shita Ojisan on the social media platform X. The series, which follows an ordinary man reincarnated as a cat, won second place in the Web Manga category of the Next Manga Awards. The anime adaptation was directed by Rio and Takahiro Kawakoshi at Studio Eight Colors. Throughout his career, Yajima’s significance in the industry lies in his longevity and the consistent adaptation of his manga into other media, demonstrating his influence as a storyteller across multiple generations of manga and anime production.
Works
- Topics: Anime overview