Akiko Higashimura

Higashimura was born in 1975 in Kushima in Miyazaki Prefecture. During her childhood, she moved frequently due to her father's job, relocating five times during elementary school and twice during junior high. From a young age, she enjoyed drawing and was supported by her parents in her artistic interests. Influenced broadly by shōjo manga of the 1980s, she aspired to become a manga artist from early on, though she did not pursue this dream professionally until adulthood. She debuted as a professional manga artist in the now-defunct manga magazine Bouquet Deluxe in 1999 with the short story "Fruits Kōmori" (フルーツコウモリ). Her first serialized work was Kisekae Yuka-chan (2001), published in the shōjo magazine Cookie. The series centered around a fashion-loving sixth-grade girl, a choice Higashimura made due to her initial discomfort with writing romance, despite it being a hallmark of the shōjo genre. One of her breakout hits was Mama wa Tenparist, an autobiographical child-rearing manga that began in 2007 in the josei magazine Chorus. The series documents her life with her toddler son and became an unexpected hit, selling over one million copies. In 2006, she began serializing Himawari: Kenichi Legend in the seinen magazine Morning, marking her foray into male-targeted publications and launching a dual-career track in both shōjo/josei and seinen magazines. Among her best-known works are Princess Jellyfish, Tokyo Tarareba Girls, and Blank Canvas: My So-Called Artist's Journey. She lives in Harajuku, Tokyo. Higashimura's younger brother, Takuma Morishige, is the author of the manga My Neighbor Seki.

Higashimura is known for combining fashion, humor, and understated romance in her work, a style that developed with editorial encouragement early in her career. While she continues to write shōjo manga, she admits to still finding it difficult to write "heavy romance" and prefers to approach romantic elements with humor or from unconventional angles.

"Fruits Kōmori" (フルーツコウモリ) (1999) Kisekae Yuka-chan (きせかえユカちゃん) (2001–present, Shueisha) Himawari: Kenichi Legend (ひまわりっ 健一レジェンド) (2006–2010, Kodansha) Mama wa Tenparist (ママはテンパリスト) (2007–2011, Shueisha) Princess Jellyfish (海月姫) (2008–2017, Kodansha) Omo ni Naitemasu (主に泣いてます) (2010–2012, Kodansha) Blank Canvas: My So-Called Artist's Journey (かくかくしかじか) (2011–2015, Shueisha) Meropon Dashi! (メロポンだし！) (2013–2014, Kodansha) Tokyo Tarareba Girls (東京タラレバ娘) (2014–2017, Kodansha) Bishoku Tantei Akechi Gorō (美食探偵 明智五郎) (2015–present, Shueisha) Himoxile (ヒモザイル) (2015, Kodansha, suspended) Yukibana no Tora (雪花の虎) (2015–2020, Shogakukan) A Fake Affair (偽装不倫, Gisō Furin) (2017–2019, Bungeishunjū) Tokyo Tarareba Girls Extra Edition: Tarare-Bar (東京タラレバ娘番外編 タラレBar) (2017–2018, Kodansha) Hypermedy Nakajima Haruko (ハイパーミディ中島ハルコ) (2018–2021, with Mariko Hayashi, Shueisha) Tokyo Tarareba Girls Returns (東京タラレバ娘 リターンズ) (2018, Kodansha) Tokyo Tarareba Girls Season 2 (東京タラレバ娘 シーズン2) (2019–2021, Kodansha) Bara to Tulip (薔薇とチューリップ) (2019, Shogakukan) Watashi no Koto o Oboeteimasu ka? (私のことを憶えていますか) (2020–present, Piccoma)