Hiro Mashima

Hiro Mashima is a Japanese manga artist whose major series have appeared in Kodansha’s Weekly Shōnen Magazine. Born on May 3, 1977, in Nagano Prefecture, he gained broad recognition through Rave Master, serialized from 1999 to 2005. The fantasy adventure centers on Haru Glory, a young Rave warrior seeking the five Rave stones and confronting the Dark Bring organization. Kodansha collected the manga in 35 volumes. Mashima followed it with Fairy Tail, which began in 2006 and concluded in 2017. The series follows Lucy Heartfilia, a celestial wizard, after she joins Fairy Tail, a notoriously unruly guild in the kingdom of Fiore. Natsu Dragneel, an orphan raised by the dragon Igneel, searches for his missing foster father alongside teammates Lucy, Gray Fullbuster, Erza Scarlet, and the flying cat Happy. Its television anime adaptation began in 2009; the manga ultimately totaled 63 collected volumes. Rather than leaving that setting behind, Mashima later launched Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest, a sequel manga written by him and illustrated by Atsuo Ueda. It follows the guild’s central team as it undertakes the previously uncompleted century-old mission on the northern continent of Guiltina. Mashima also created Fairy Tail: City Hero, a parody spinoff drawn by Ushio Andō. These projects underline his continuing role in shaping the franchise beyond its original weekly serialization. In 2018, Mashima started Edens Zero in Weekly Shōnen Magazine. Its protagonist, Shiki Granbell, is a boy raised by robots at Granbell Kingdom, an abandoned theme park on the planet Granbell. He leaves with Rebecca Bluegarden and her cat Happy aboard the spaceship Edens Zero, pursuing the cosmic goddess Mother. The series ended its magazine run in 2024, and Kodansha collected it in 33 volumes. An anime adaptation premiered in 2021. Mashima has also worked outside those three flagship adventures. Monster Hunter Orage, his 2008–2009 manga project with Capcom, is set in the Monster Hunter world. He supplied character designs for the 2021 video game Gate of Nightmares and designed characters for Farmagia, a 2024 game published by Marvelous. In 2023, he began Dead Rock, a dark-fantasy manga serialized in Monthly Shōnen Magazine. Dead Rock’s protagonist Yakuto enters a demon school in the underworld. Its debut chapter appeared in the August 2023 issue of Monthly Shōnen Magazine. Edens Zero’s final chapter was published on June 26, 2024. Mashima’s bibliography therefore covers original series, an authorized Monster Hunter tie-in, franchise sequel writing, and character designs.