Crayon Shinchan Creator found Dead

[Shoujo Q]

News Source



[center]Yoshihito Usui, Creator of Crayon Shinchan found dead on Mountain.

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MAEBASHI, Japan, Sept. 20 (Kyodo)—

A body found on a mountain straddling Gunma and Nagano prefectures was confirmed Sunday as that of Yoshihito Usui, cartoonist of the popular "Crayon Shinchan" series adapted for TV and film. Usui's family confirmed the identity of the body that was found by a climber on Saturday on 1,423-meter Mt. Arafune, Gunma prefectural police said. The body was covered in bruises and no suicide notes were found near the body or in his belongings. The police said he may have fallen from a climbing path.

Usui, 51, had been missing since Sept. 11, after telling his family at his home in Kasukabe, Saitama Prefecture, that he would be hiking on the mountain and would be back by the evening. His family contacted police the following day as he never returned. Near the body, the police also found a broken digital camera, a backpack containing a mobile phone and a wallet, and shoes. The body was retrieved from around 100 meters below a cliff on a climbing path and airlifted by helicopter to a police station.

Usui started drawing "Crayon Shinchan," the story of feisty kindergarten boy Shinnosuke Nohara living in Kasukabe with his family, in a comic book published by Futabasha Publishers Ltd. in 1990. The city of Kasukabe issued a special residence card for the Nohara family in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the municipality and has also been using Shinchan since April as the city's mascot for its childrearing support campaign.

[Falcon]

RIP Usui.



Crayon Shin-chan is just one of those shows everyone should catch at least once.



Although Shin's greatest achievement was on another show altogether...