Makoto Isshiki is a Japanese manga artist known for creating stories that blend music, personal growth, and human relationships. She made her professional debut in 1984 with the short story Kaori, which was published in Kodansha’s Young Magazine and received an honorable mention in the 10th Chiba Tetsuya Award. Her early career included serialized works such as the high school comedy Denaoshitoide!, which ran in Big Comic Spirits from 1988 to 1995.

Isshiki gained significant recognition with Hanada Shōnen-shi, serialized in Mr. Magazine from 1993 to 1995. This supernatural coming-of-age story follows a mischievous boy who gains the ability to see ghosts after a near-fatal accident. The series won the 19th Kodansha Manga Award in the general category in 1995. It was later adapted into a twenty-five episode anime television series by Madhouse, which aired from 2002 to 2003, as well as a live-action film released in 2006.

Isshiki is best known for her long-running series Forest of Piano, also known as Piano no Mori. She was inspired to create the story after watching a documentary about pianist Stanislav Bunin winning the International Frédéric Chopin Piano Competition in 1985. The manga was serialized by Kodansha from 1998 to 2015, initially in Young Magazine Uppers before transferring to Weekly Morning. The serialization was irregular, with a hiatus from 2002 to 2005, and concluded after twenty-six bound volumes. Forest of Piano received the Grand Prize in the manga division at the 12th Japan Media Arts Festival in 2008. The series has been adapted multiple times, first as a 2007 animated feature film produced by Madhouse, which featured performances by renowned pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy. A twenty-four episode anime television series produced by Gaina aired on NHK from April 2018 to April 2019 and was later made available internationally by Netflix.

In addition to these major works, Isshiki has explored a variety of genres. She created Hassuru, a six-volume series about professional women’s wrestling, published in Big Comic Spirits from 1996 to 1997. She also produced the single-volume work Gyojin-Sou kara Ai wo Komete in 1998, a fantasy story set in an inn run by mythical fish-human characters. From November 2021 to August 2022, Isshiki collaborated with writer Takashi Nagasaki on Child from the Dark, adapted from Nagasaki’s novel Yomi Nemuru Mori. During its serialization in Big Comic, Isshiki used the professional pseudonym Kōsuke Muku, but the collected volumes credit her real name. In 2023, she began serializing 13-nichi ni wa Hana wo Kazatte in Big Comic Original Zokan, a family drama exploring generational relationships. A spin-off of Forest of Piano titled Totonō Oto: Mō Hitotsu no Piano no Mori began serialization in Weekly Morning in December 2024. Throughout her career, Makoto Isshiki has established herself as a significant figure in seinen manga, with her works frequently adapted for both film and television.