Momoko Sakura created the highly popular manga character Maruko who despite her "chibi" small size heralded the beginning of the current Heisei era.
Maruko is the title character of the "Chibi Maruko-chan" manga series that depicts with a heartwarming touch the daily life of elementary school students living in a provincial city.
The series began to become a big hit in 1990, the second year of the Heisei era, with the airing of a TV anime series based on the manga.
Now, with the Heisei era soon to end came the sad news of Sakura's death on Aug. 15 at age 53, much too soon.
Maruko, the little girl with a round face, is modeled on Sakura when she was a third grader in elementary school.
"I remembered that my classroom teacher had said that children in that grade are most childlike," Sakura had said in an interview.
While manga in which artists depict their own life or memories are popular these days, before the appearance of "Chibi Maruko-chan," there were few girls' comics in such a style.
"Because I once suffered a setback trying to create manga in the traditional girls' comic style, on my own I searched for and created a new style."
It wouldn't be far from the truth to say that Sakura invented the style of manga featuring simple characters, interspersed with the author's monologues and a large volume of information.
"There are many people who believe that everything in the episodes really happened," she had said, "but there are also parts where I considerably dramatized the personalities and other aspects of friends and family members."
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