Hiro Mashima

Hiro Mashima (真島 ヒロ Mashima Hiro, born May 3, 1977) is a Japanese manga artist. He is most known for his fantasy manga Rave, published by Kodansha`s Weekly Shonen Magazine, from 1999 to 2005. The series was later adapted into an anime. However, the anime adaption was cancelled before it could complete the series.

In 2003, he collected some of his one-shot titles in two volumes: Mashima-en Vol.1 & 2. Those stories include, among others, Cocona, "Xmas Hearts" and "Fairy Tale", a sort of prototype for his latest work.

In 2006, he began his current ongoing series, another fantasy manga called Fairy Tail, serialized in Kodansha`s Weekly Shonen Magazine which has been adapted into an anime and has aired on TV Tokyo since October 2009. He also published the one-shot manga Monster Soul during the same year.

He was a notable guest at the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con and at the 2011 New York Anime Festival. He was influenced by Akira Toriyama and Hayao Miyazaki.[1] He has one daughter.