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"Junko
Mizuno "
Born
1973 in Tokyo, Japan, Junko Mizuno is one of the most promising
young artists in Japan's fast-moving manga (comics) scene.
Her instantly recognizable illustrations blending the cute
and the grotesque grace everything in Tokyo from T-shirts
to CD jackets to nightclub décor. Mizuno first came
to prominence with her comics series Pure Trance (1998),
which was originally serialized as booklets released with
CDs by the techno-pop label Avex Trax. Her most recent book
is a collection of illustrations called Junko Mizuno's Hell
Babies (2001). In English, Mizuno's comics have appeared
in Tokion magazine, Secret Comics Japan (2000), and PULP:
The Manga Magazine. |
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"Grotesquely
Cute "
Fittingly,
perhaps, Junko Mizuno made her debut as a manga artist in
a rock magazine, H. Her style tends toward extremes: she
draws cute shôjo (girls) with beaming smiles who also
happen to be carrying skulls or playing with corpses. Her
fan base tends to be young people with keen tastes ahead
of their time, and maybe it's for this reason her work elicits
raised eyebrows and comments like, "What is this?"
from so-called normal adults who glance at her manga. Mizuno's
unique, instantly identifiable style actually derives in
part from the golden age of shôjo manga of the '70s
and Hideo Azuma's Lolita-type drawings. Like the characters
she draws, Mizuno herself is petite and cute!
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Junko
Mizuno T-shirt
White
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Junko
Mizuno T-shirt
Hansel & Gretel
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Hansel & Gretel
Junko Mizuno
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Princess
Mermaid
Junko Mizuno
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