» Chinrai-Chan » – Page n°28 – Jiro Ota

Jiro Ota (1923-1982)
After his graduation, he worked at Shinchosha and Toho Art Department whilst studying Japanese painting, contributing to ‘Hinode’ magazine, ‘Hinomaru’ magazine (Shueisha) and making his debut as a manga artist with ‘Aesop Manga’ (1941)
After he was demobilized (WW2), he joined Manga Jiyujin and assisted and studied under Susumu Kazuko and Masaru Yoshitani .
His first breakthrough came in 1950 when ‘Oyama Kuro-chan’ was serialized in ‘Shonen Club’ (Kodansha) – ‘Ganbare Ganta’ (Good Luck Ganta) is his longest running manga, also serialized in ‘Shonen’ magazine (Kobunsha)
His biggest hit however was ‘Korisu no Pokko-chan’ (1958), serialized in ‘Kobato Kindergarten’ magazine (Shueisha). This was made into a puppet show on Radio Tokyo Television (currently TBS) (March 30, 1959 – July 15, 1961) – He even won the 5th Shogakukan Manga Award!
In 1965 , due to a heart attack, he reduced his manga work and became a picture book illustrator. He didn’t lose touch with his favorite profession and in his later years, he drew biographical manga for Gakushu Kenkyusha’s ‘Illustrated Manga Japanese History’ but whilst working on the fourth work, he died due to a heart attack
The page from ‘Chinrai-Chan’ is Kodansha published (1955) and has the typical colorful style of Jiro Ota