Itagaki Paru

Paru Itagaki (板垣 巴留, Itagaki Paru, born September 9, 1993) is a Japanese manga artist. She is best known as the creator of the manga series Beastars, for which she has won the 2018 Manga Taishō, a Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize, a Kodansha Manga Award, and a Japan Media Arts Festival Award.

Left-handed. Itagaki is highly private about her personal life and wears a chicken mask to obscure her face at all public appearances. Japanese tabloids reported in 2018 that Itagaki is the daughter of Keisuke Itagaki, the creator of the manga series Baki the Grappler; the claim was repeated in April 2019 by Le Monde. Itagaki confirmed these reports in a joint interview with her father in the September 2019 issue of Weekly Shonen Champion, stating that she did not wish to disclose her parentage until she was established in the manga industry in order to avoid accusations of nepotism.

"Paru" is the pseudonym taken by his father through name divination. Keisuke Itagaki believes that using "Paru" can cause a sensation (as for why he chose the word "Paru", Keisuke said he had forgotten).