Yutaka Tanaka – Master of Sentimental & Erotic Manga

This is 田中ユタカ/Yutaka Tanaka. His stories tend to be more sentimental than the norm – or perhaps they are normal and the unsympathetic treatment is not. Anyway, they are full of warmth. He is extremely prolific (in fact there is a suggestion several authors use the same pen name, or at least that plenty of assistants are involved). You may also be familiar with the erotic anime adaptation of Virgin Night (初夜), based on his work. He has a slew of normal (non-H) manga published as well, but I am concentrating on the H part of his portfolio here.

One of his most recent, and perhaps best, works is 愛しのかな/Itoshi No Kana, a heart warming and light hearted tale of a man’s relationship with a ghost, Kana. Recommended.

Personally, I think the art to be most accomplished, expressive and full of warmth.

Availability of his works in English is not good – they are not difficult to understand, and the art speaks for itself, so hopefully this is not too much of an impediment to enjoying the works of a prolific and accomplished mangaka. You might try looking for scanlations, as he is popular enough in Japan. Another mangaka with a very similar style (thought to be an assistant) is ハマダユタカ/Yutaka Hamada (now H-Magic), although the content of his works seems to have radically diverged.