Shuzo Oshimi was born in 1981, raised in the rural town of Kiryu in Japan's Gunma prefecture, and is now based in Tokyo. Much of his fictional work draws on childhood and personal experiences. In 2002, he debuted in Comic Shousou with Mayonaka no Paranoia Star (Midnight Paranoia Star) and won the prestigious Tetsuya Chiba Outstanding Newcomer Award (Young Division) for "Yume no Hanazono" (Garden of Dreams). Several of his manga have been adapted into other formats: Drifting Net Café and Inside Mari into television dramas, The Flowers of Evil into an anime, and Sweet Poolside into a live-action film. His manga Blood on the Tracks was nominated for a Harvey Award and the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize, and won the Angouleme International Comics Festival's Prize for a Series.