Mangaka Kei Aoyama has killed himself, announcing the fact by Twitter.
According to reports, the 32-year-old mangaka was found dead in the bathroom of his Tokyo apartment, having hanged himself. Police are treating the investigation as that of a suicide.
In the spirit of the times, he left his last words to the world by way of Twitter:
“Well, there’s a lot left undone and many dreams left unfulfilled, but I don’t really have any regrets. I’m quite satisfied with the 32 years I lived.”
As a relatively minor mangaka, most will likely have never heard of him – most of his manga was published in seinen manga magazines such as Ikki and Evening (Yoi Kono Mokushiroku was still being serialised at the time of his death).
However obscure his manga, he was evidently quite an accomplished artist:

















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Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 Xtremely Exhibitionist
Gate Brimming With Conflict
Street Fighter V Costumes “Now In A Multitude of Colors!”
Queen’s Blade Grimoire OVA A Sexy Tale
To Love-Ru Darkness 2nd BD Forcefully Feisty
IdolMaster: Platinum Stars Trailer Dances About
Dagashi Kashi Oral Insertion Anime
Attack on Typing “Take Down Titans With Words!”
Okusama ga Seitokaichou OAD Sensually Sudsy
Phantom World Cute & Deadly
Nami Nude Mod for One Piece Pirate Warriors 3 Surfaces
Subarashii Sekai Pantsu Pilfering Abounds
Angelic Nina Figure
Sankaku App 1.4: Comments & Personal Recommendations
Valkyrie Drive Mermaid BD Works Up A Lather
Megadimension Neptunia VII Not So Disturbingly Sexualised
Cowboy Bebop Figure Skating Out Of This World
Saijaku Muhai no Bahamut Sexier Still
IdolMaster: Platinum Stars Gracing PS4
Top 20 Anime of 2015, According to Non-Japanese Fans
Iona Ero-Cosplay by Komugi Taking on Water
Cute Kashima Cosplay Full of Elegance
Umaru Ero-Cosplay by Asami Hamsterific
Goddess of 2ch: “Pink & Soft All The Way!”
Kuroneko Cosplay by Mikehouse Full of Life
Busty Hotaru Cosplay Delightfully Delectable
Adorable Ati Cosplay by Kaieda Kai Kemonomimi Chaos
Momo Velia Deviluke Cosplay Bursting With Bridal Beauty
Skimpy Sonico Cosplay Barely Contained
Kumiko & Reina Cosplay Hardly Blows At All
WHAT!?
Jeez, I loved his works. I read through Swweeet. I hunted down scans of China Girl when the scans weren't going fast enough for me. I liked his style so much I even found raws for Yoiko no Mokushiroku, even though it isn't being scanned.
Fuck, seriously!?
R.I.P. Aoyama Kei. Hopefully this has brought you peace.
I read China Girl too. Really frustrating that the series will come to an unnatural end...its too bad he didn't have his own China girl IRL or maybe this would be different.
Did he left any series unfinished? Dammit...
I hope he can complete his work in the next Hinamizawa.
R.I.P.
Actually, China Girl finished last year. It's only 1 Volume total, although I would have liked more. It's a cute story. I'm glad he finished it before doing something like this.
I'm glad too. Actually Swweeet had a lot of hints of strong fatalism or suicide if you noticed...you know, the main character jumping off buildings or trying to drown himself, etc. (And here I thought that authors wrote in personas and that what they wrote doesn't necessarily reflect their true emotions.)
wanted to have some more china girl, damn it.
I loved SWWEEET too. He draws girls nicely.
RIP. I stopped reading SWWEEET somewhere in the middle a long time ago , I guess it's time to finish it.
Unfortunately this has happened a few times lately, like Akinari Matsuno, the creator of MM.
One of those things you hear about people in the creative business, whether it be comedians, writers, artists or others is that they tend to deal with a great deal of issues, both internally and externally. It's often said that the work they produce, the laughs they create are their way of dealing with those problems. As a writer myself, I know the feeling.
I'm sure you could find dozens with that background with a simple web search. Unfortunately, you'll find articles like this in that search.
My life is a disaster but I have no intention on killing myself.
Correct or not i respect his decision, he was just a man like me, like you, like us and everybody makes mistakes.
Same here...
Are you me?
Do it faggot
Same... I was actually happy once lot of friend and gf but I broke up with gf, and my friend I had stop hanging out with them because they were really bad crowd (some even stole my credit card I drop in car and they charged stuff on it) and the other part of friends I had were shallow ones that follow my ex gf after we broke up so i am left with no one... yep thats when i started watching anime heavily I think to escape reality from depression... OH and I didnt get into a good prestigous school so future outlook looks shit too...
Well at least I don't really watch as much anime lately since I'm really bored of most the new series concepts... but still i wouldn't kill myself. I want to live, and plus suicide seem scary.
RIP mangaka dude you had balls to hang yourself, so you probably really felt you had nothing left to live for, I'm so sorry man >_<
Yeah, if you're feeling suicidal, that's when you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Go out and destroy the world, or change it for the better.
I'm leaning more towards the destruction end ^^
Well, you have a point, in that when you have nothing, that's when you're free to do anything.
But by directing that, changing the world for the better, even if it's just by a little bit, you'll have gained something.
And that something might just be enough to hang on.
Mine too... I'm so pissed at people offing themselves. I think it's so selfish. If you're depressed, go drink and fight someone in a random pub, goddamnit.
By the way, I don't plan kiling myself, but once I let myself die...
>If you're depressed, go drink and fight someone in a random pub, goddamnit.
Marvellous, foist your troubles on some innocent person. Talk about selfish.
Selfish? Selfish to take your own life? It's their fucking life, it's selfish to say they shouldn't do it just so you don't feel bad. Can't live without them? Kill yourself.
>If you're depressed, go drink and fight someone in a random pub, goddamnit.
But I am fragile and I might die in a fight. Isn't that the same as suicide?
Kyon, ur life is awesome being a babysitter to god and having awesome yuki there to save ur ass.
"I want you to hit me, as hard as you can"
"If you're depressed, go drink and fight someone in a random pub, goddamnit."
I love you.
Don't you dare.
No one else has better qualifications to babysit an omnipotent god and it sure ain't me.
You people are ossom
rest in peace
My condolences for his family.
Oh my goodness....This is very sad news.My condolences to his family also. I liked his artstyle. I read China Girl and I found certain panels extremely funny that I actually chuckled outloud. R.I.P Kei Aoyama
Great, Steve Jobs and now Kei Aoyama.
What in God's green Earth is God doing taking good people away while there asshats that is ruining the world.
“Well, there’s a lot left undone and many dreams left unfulfilled, but I don’t really have any regrets. I’m quite satisfied with the 32 years I lived.”
-Anyway, Suicide is not the answer!
However, my deepest condolences for his family.
Rest in peace, you have fought well.
Why is the net rotten to the core when it is a reflection of people?
Oh I know, you meant the world is rotten to the core*FIXED*
We have the dark side and the light side and the greyscale
RIP Kei Aoyama.
I probably join you sooner or later as soon as I figure whether to get myself an iDead or an open source "anHero" instead.
Very sad...
Why would a talented artist like him take his own life at a primal age...
No, he has regrets no matter what he thinks...There is always regrets...Always...
I hope he gets reincarnated with a better hand than life deal him with...
Rest in peace, and my condolences to his family, loved ones, and those he has left behind (as well as all his fans of his wonderful mangas)...
So a fairly unknown illustrator hangs himself and everyone is all sympathetic, but when Steve Jobs dies the internets is filled with puns?
About half of the internet. You hang out in the wrong half of the places.
"been here"
here is the wrong half.
Well if you only hang around SC it would seem that way wouldn't it...
There is still some places with positive communities, however few they may be.
Shiro_Amada
17:10
read fucking tech news and not pop tech news, apple, sense it became relevant again, has done everything in its power to kill any semblance of competition and uses under handed tactics at every turn, and is amongst the worst place to work in the first world.
instead of innovate, they sue to keep their betters out of the picture.
jobs may be dead and have stepped down as ceo a while ago, but his policies are still there.
There is no right half or wrong half... there is merely...chaos!
@Oyashiro-Chama
Spoken like a true master troll. I'd almost believe you, except it's utter bullshit. Proper moderation and community attitude is an extremely at dead stopping the zombie horde. Trolls who can get around that are too few and far in between to destroy a community.
But I suppose you wouldn't know about those.
@alidan
What you speak of is standard corporate tactics. The tech industry sees the worst of it because US patent offices grant ridiculous applications (see Amazon's "one-click buy"), but these "business practices" are neither new, nor unusual.
Energy, food, oil, etc... all of this is produced by a handful of corporate cartels or downright monopolists who got where they are by underhanded tactics. Jobs may have been a rotten apple, but he couldn't even hold a candle to the likes of Monsanto in terms of "evilness".
@ alidan 2215
I never said anything about iJobs, I just pointed out that the 'net is a wrong place to be...
But you know that already, don't you? Otherwise you wouldn't be ragetyping your keyboard to bits. Give it up, the time of white knights and vigilantes is over. Just go with the flow, come to the dark side... It can be surprisingly interesting and entertaining at times.
trying to find purity in economy is like trying to the clit attached to your mouth which happens to be a vagina. Jobs did a lot of shit that all of you guys benefit from whether you use apple or not. stop being a bunch of hypocrites and move on. underhanded tactics? well if he didnt use those tactics to create a certain machine then the internet wouldnt have ever been developed. do some damn research people.
This talented but never heard mangaka didn't make himself a cult.
if positive community is found, anon shall, 1 utterly destroy it. or 2 troll it till its dead. they never go after negative communities because most are already full of trolls *cough*.
Wrong half? There is a right half? How come I never noticed that half for 12 years I've been here?
Just admit it, 'net is rotten to the core.
is it wrong to be sympathetic? im mean honestly. and I dont know what part of the internet you hang out at, by from what Ive read, people found Steve Jobs death as tragic as he made a great contribution to the arts and was a great innovator.
I've thought about suicide from time to time. Ironically my love of anime keeps me alive - for now.
Sometimes you just want to end it all - before you have too many regrets. Maybe you feel like youre not really living - There's a level of honor even in suicide for the Japanese is there not?
Suicide does not happen in a vacuum, there are many reason why people do it, in this case I would say depression would be a contributing factor. Sad that he could not get the right help.
Now what the Fck does this guy taking his life have to do with Steve Jobs? Boy there must be some otoku android users.
So without anime you'll go through with it?
if that's true then it's ironic to have people tell anime fans that they have no life xD.
hold on to your love of Anime,Manga dude,for as long as you have them then you'll still hold on to life.
also, suicide is more pathetic
Yeah, I don't think the puns were intended to be insulting, rather they are a testament of his life's work. It's a celebration of his achievements to contributions to the world. He made a difference with his visions and products.
Decomposing human flesh smells bad; very, very, bad.
I cannot, for the life of me, understand why'd someone kill themselves in a place where others (who aren't used to it) could easily find them.
At least be more considerate, and dispose of yourself quickly.
>16:59
I feel like that all the time. Going to the office, doing pointless work with nigh zero impact, forwarding all the money to the landlord, supermarket, &c. What's the point?
There are some things I want to do, some series of which I'd like to see the conclusion. That's all.
But I might as well not exist.
@00:13 anon
if you're gonna be scientific about it then,what's the difference between dying now and later?
it's the same isn't it? if you take spiritual beliefs out of it then life is meaningless and we are all born to die.
and not everyone gets lucky,you found a girlfriend in gamefaqs? good for you if it's true.
-sighs- You guys really are a bunch of sad humps. If your spiritual beliefs are strong enough, then you may get another crack at life somewhere down the line. But scientifically, this is the only one we got. If your existences are really so empty and pointless, then just save your money up and start a new life somewhere.
If you're whining about how no girl loves you or they're all bitches, then you're obviously not looking hard enough. I found mine on gamefaqs, just from playing Tatsucap.
And no, for the record even Japanese think that gaining honor through suicide is an old-fashioned way of thinking. Do -not- share your ignorance with any of the families of the 20,000 victims of the recent earthquake/tsunami calamity.
00:13 anon
The problem which prevents people from starting new life just like that is that wherever they try to do it they are bound to go there with one, huge luggage on broken wheels:
THEMSELVES.
If they could repair that easily - just by moving somewhere - they wouldn't have to move at all, because they could appreciate living anywhere, with anywhom and most importantly with THEIR OWN SELF. Some realise they have no strength left to repair it, so they just throw it away from the rooftop or drown it somewhere.
Now, I would accept their decision if that was fixed, unchangeable. However, I strongly believe that there isn't a thing that cannot be repaired or at least improved. Otherwise I would dump my luggage somewhere myself... Fuck.
21:10 anon
Makes you wonder how a corpse retriever handles his job. There was a manga about it and highlights the smell and sight of putrid corpse without actually showing the corpse.
Suicide is for selfish people dat juz wana escape it all and do not care about those that are left behind. They are afraid to face things and chose the easy way out. well I'm not saying suicide is easy, takes some courage. I've always thought of suicide in my teen days but I lack the balls to do so. Now, whenever I think of it, I'll focus on my family and friends that are left behind and decide not to burden them with any debts I might have accumulated or generally make them feel sad.
Suicide is more sad than dying from cancer.
@anon 17:18 yeah, it's easy for kid who's still living with the parents to say so.
I have no pity, sympathy, or etc, for suicides of nearly any kind. What a waste of time, emotions, and resources; from the person and those around them. The only example I can think of where I'd accept it would be if someone was withholding information to protect others or any variation of that.
I used to say it was "weak" and advice against it, but if someone wants to do it, then go ahead. The less people in the world, the better. That's not to say each life isn't precious.
I'll give the guy credit for not regretting anything.
Damn, his art is the real deal. Regardless of what the retards around here blabber about, it's an incredible shame for someone with genuine skill to leave this world in that manner. All the effort, the practice, thinking of new stories, caring for your characters... as an artist it's incredibly painful to imagine turning all that to dust, regardless of the cause.
So does Anon recommend the Tibetan Monk Method instead?
A death, be it that of a king or pauper, is a terrible thing.
so what? because steve job got bashed around, everyone who isn't as famous as him must get bashed too?
internets is filled with puns, included you
except first apple, jobs was terrorizing IT business with his useless and amazingly expensive shit for hipsters. That's why.
Well, as far as we know, Kei Aoyama seemed to be a pretty cool guy. (Reports are sketchy as to whether he does or does not afraid of anything.)
Steve Jobs was a heavy-handed, pretentious asshole - nothing more than a ruthless businessman with a fair bit of technological skill under his belt.
Kei Aoyama doesn't have secret corporate police going to employees homes.
Kei Aoyama doesn't use armies of lawyers to protect profit margins.
Kei Aoyama was a talented artist who decided to end his life for some as yet unknown reason. You don't even have to know him to understand this - you can just look at any of the pictures above.
While I hate Apple, good luck trying to find a comment from me anywhere from the Internet explicitly showing joy in his death.
1. This article is about Kei Aoyama, not Steve Jobs.
2. You should fuck off.
Steve Jobs? Who? Pfft.
because job is greedy capitalist, monopolist, slave driver, bastard spawn of Hades.
good riddance
We all know he is a typical businessman, annon. You don't have to repeat the same things four times.
While I hate Steve Jobs, good luck trying to find a comment from me anywhere from the Internet celebrating his death.
1. This article is about Kei Aoyama, not Steve Jobs.
2. You should fuck off.
Steve Jobs had a condition and it was quite certain that he would die from it at some point. His death was not a shocker, it was just a fact.
Steve Jobs also is so popular and well known there is plenty of puns to make in both crude and respectful ways. When you are so iconic and well known as he (as well as having a word in your name, Jobs) there is simply too many puns to make to resist.
This guy is some unknown person that struggled to do well with his drawing skills and decided to suicide. He didn't die from some disease he had for a long time nor did he have a lot of people in his back. He was just some unknown guy taking suicide because he probably saw no future in what he was doing.
How many puns can you make from that?
I hope you're seriously not suggesting that people should be more sympathetic towards the famous. Because that would be a retarded philosophy.
Besides, Jobs was greedy, selfish, egotistic human scum. This mangaka probably was just some normal guy, and therefore deserves more respect.
Well Steve Jobs was a money grubbin' cunt, who cared nothing for the workers at Foxconn, so screw him and may he burn in hell for ever.
yes world sucks, people hate people of worth.
I feel sorry for his family, but his death was a good thing. Maybe the shit called Iphone and Ipad finally vanish from earth so people can live their private life in peace without being spied on...
And I feel more sorry the Mangaka, at least he gave people something so they could cut out reality and concentrate on fantasy.
This means Steve Jobs was successful in promoting his newest apple product: iDead.
It is so popular that Kei Aoyama bought one almost immediately.
You know, you can always get open source "anHero", revision 4c/beta.
That is the most hilarious thing I have read today.
I will probably get open source "anHero" instead.
You, sir just made my day.
I was always tempted to get iDead but resist due to my love for anime/manga/visual novels.
>You know, you can always get open source "anHero", revision 4c/beta.
Thanks for the thumbs up on that one...forgotten about the open source "anHero"
Are you serious? Steve Jobs died and people are treating him like a God now.
That was almost funny.
Admittedly, killing Steve Jobs now that he is dead is really really hard.
It really does sound like a God now.
Except for one little detail, Steve Jobs is real xD
Probably because Jobs was a twit.