Shimizu Aki

Shimizu Aki began her career in the mid-1990s as an illustrator and character designer for magazines, video games, and card games. In 1995, she contributed illustrations to PC Magazine Log In, followed by character design work for the Windows game After Devil Force in 1998 and First Queen: The New World in 1999.

Her early manga contributions include Yato no Kamitsukai ("Blood Sucker: Legend of Zipangu")—a horror fantasy series written by Saki Okuse—and Kumo no Graduale (Graduale der Wolken), both featuring her artwork and published in Comic Birz and Monthly Comic Flapper around 2000.

In 2002, Shimizu expanded into writing as well as drawing with her manga adaptation of the video game Suikoden III (Gensō Suikoden III – Unmei no Keishōsha) in Monthly Comic Flapper, spanning eleven volumes. That same year she began Qwan, an original series that she both wrote and illustrated, running for seven volumes.

Over the years, her bibliography expanded to include works such as Ikyō no Kusa (one-shot), Box of Spirits (Mōryō no Hako), Hyakki Tsurezurebukuro, Kyōkotsu no Yume, NEET Onna to Shōgaku 2-nensei, Tortoise Delivery, Ubume no Natsu, Jorōgumo no Kotowari, Tesso no Ori, Hinatsugimura, the ongoing Chūzenji-sensei Mononoke Kōgiroku (serialized since 2019), Inugami Re, Tsugō no Ii Hate, and the recent Net Keijiban Hyaku Monogatari Series (2024).

Notably, an anime adaptation of Chūzenji-sensei Mononoke Kōgiroku is scheduled for 2025. On the first Suikoden Live it would be announced that Shimizu would be creating a manga adaptation of Suikoden STAR LEAP.