HOME | DD

Description
for the future of earth, i will be of service....
[TW for death and grief]

On march 7th, Mia Ikumi- widely known as the creator of tokyo mew mew- passed away suddenly. She was 20 days shy of her 43rd birthday. she was in the process of overseeing the new reboot of this series- a silly, clumsy, messy little mahou shoujo that fundamentally shaped my art. she was the first manga i owned, which i carried religiously in my backpack through middle school as my comfort item.

around 2002, my best friend then had introduced this series to me and had gotten ahold of imported nakayoshi volumes, so as i collected the translated volumes we would get previews of the new japanese chapters- i felt like i was learning precious secrets, seeing them so early. the anime was the first thing i ever begged my mom to buy off ebay- unknowingly bootlegged fansubs, but i didn't know that was a thing then- so decorated my own dvd covers for it with stickers and handwritten descriptions.

mia ikumi drew this series starting from when she was 20 years old, and i had no idea until now. in my mind she was this timeless mentor and inspiration, but really, she was just a young lady fresh out of high school, drawing to get herself out there like any other aspiring artist. i know watching my heroes pass away is a terrible inevitability- but she was only 11 years older than me. she was so excited for the future. we all were so excited for her return. i'm so crushed that she can't be here to see it.

happy birthday. rest in peace.
march 27, 1979 - march 7, 2022

Description
for the future of earth, i will be of service....
[TW for death and grief]

On march 7th, Mia Ikumi- widely known as the creator of tokyo mew mew- passed away suddenly. She was 20 days shy of her 43rd birthday. she was in the process of overseeing the new reboot of this series- a silly, clumsy, messy little mahou shoujo that fundamentally shaped my art. she was the first manga i owned, which i carried religiously in my backpack through middle school as my comfort item.

around 2002, my best friend then had introduced this series to me and had gotten ahold of imported nakayoshi volumes, so as i collected the translated volumes we would get previews of the new japanese chapters- i felt like i was learning precious secrets, seeing them so early. the anime was the first thing i ever begged my mom to buy off ebay- unknowingly bootlegged fansubs, but i didn't know that was a thing then- so decorated my own dvd covers for it with stickers and handwritten descriptions.

mia ikumi drew this series starting from when she was 20 years old, and i had no idea until now. in my mind she was this timeless mentor and inspiration, but really, she was just a young lady fresh out of high school, drawing to get herself out there like any other aspiring artist. i know watching my heroes pass away is a terrible inevitability- but she was only 11 years older than me. she was so excited for the future. we all were so excited for her return. i'm so crushed that she can't be here to see it.

happy birthday. rest in peace.
march 27, 1979 - march 7, 2022