Mia Ikumi, the artist and cocreator behind Tokyo Mew Mew has passed away at 42 due to a brain hemorrhage.

The news of the artist’s passing was announced by Kodansha’s Nakayoshi magazine, the same serial which published Tokyo Mew Mew between 2000 and 2003.

Obituary: [Mia Ikumi] passed away

Manga artist Mia Ikumi passed away suddenly from a subarachnoid hemorrhage on March 7, 2022.
We sincerely pray for her soul and would like to inform you of her passing.

Ms. [Ikumi] made her debut at Kodansha and wrote “Tokyo [Mew Mew]” and “Super Doll [Licca]-chan” for “Nakayoshi” magazine. We are deeply saddened by her sudden and untimely passing.

Her masterpiece “Tokyo Mew Mew Mew” was to be adapted into an anime titled “Tokyo Mew Mew Mew [New]~♡” to be aired from this summer. In February, the publication of the 10-volume “Tokyo [Mew Mew]: Newly Revised Edition” was just announced to commemorate the anime adaptation.
She has already drawn the cover illustrations for all the volumes of the new edition. We have also received some, but not all, of the newly drawn manga that were to be included in each volume.
Ikumi-sensei has been supervising the anime for the past two years with love and has been looking forward to presenting it to you with the new edition. We, the bereaved, will continue to treat [her] works with great care, and we will continue to produce them with great care while enduring our grief, so that we can carry on [her] legacy.

We would also like to report that the farewell ceremony was held by [her] next of kin.

[Ikumi’s] works have been read all over the world. We would like to express our deepest gratitude to the many readers who have loved [her] works over the years.

Translation: DeepL [Edited]

Image: RightStuf Anime