Tarō Yabe is a Japanese comedian, actor, and manga artist born in 1977. He is the son of picture book author Mitsunori Yabe and began his entertainment career as one half of the comedy duo Karateka alongside Shin'ya Irie. Yabe also maintains a career as a stage, television, and film actor. His creative work in manga is directly informed by his personal life, most notably his living situation as a tenant in a Tokyo residence.

Yabe is best known as the creator of the essay manga Ōya-san to Boku, which translates to Landlady and Me. This work is his debut manga and is based on his real-life experiences living on the second floor of a two-story wooden house, where his elderly landlady lives on the first floor. The series began serialization in Shinchosha's Shōsetsu Shinchō novel magazine in 2016 and was later compiled into multiple volumes. Following the death of the real-life landlady who inspired the work, the manga went on hiatus in August 2018 before resuming in November of the same year. Beyond this signature work, Yabe has created other manga exploring personal relationships, including works titled My Father and Present and Me, as well as Tonakun in the Dressing Room and Manga Bokewai.

The success of Ōya-san to Boku led to its adaptation into an animated format. The manga inspired an anime short in January 2018. A subsequent series of anime shorts premiered on NHK in March 2020, airing for five consecutive nights with each episode running five minutes in length. The adaptation was directed by Hazumu Sakuta at Fanworks, with scripts written by Toru Hosokawa.

Yabe's artistic identity is defined by a gentle, humorous, and observational approach to storytelling, a skill set he developed as a comedian. His work meticulously portrays the nuances of human relationships, particularly the quiet, intergenerational friendship between himself and his landlady, which includes daily rituals like greetings and sharing meals. His drawing style is described as utilizing unreliable lines that, combined with his unique humor, invite both laughter and tears from readers. This semi-autobiographical documentation of his life affirms the idea of living as one is and has resonated strongly with audiences.

The significance of Yabe's work within the manga industry is notable. Ōya-san to Boku sold over 200,000 copies within its first three months of publication, and the combined series has sold over 1.2 million copies. The work received critical acclaim by winning the short work prize at the 22nd Annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in April 2018. The series has also been published internationally, including a French-language release by the publisher Le Lézard Noir. An exhibition of Yabe's work, including approximately 100 acrylic paintings created specifically for the event, was held at the Play! Museum in Tokyo from April to July 2024, further cementing his status as a significant contemporary manga artist.