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Super Mario Manga Artist Kazuki Motoyama Dies

Manga creator Risa Motoyama revealed on Instagram on October 2 that her brother Kazuki Motoyama (real name Masumi Motoyama), artist of various manga based on Nintendo's Super Mario series, has died. She did not confirm date or cause of death on Instagram.

Motoyama was best known for manga based on the Super Mario franchise, dating back to 1988 in Kodansha's Comic BomBom magazine. Starting with the NES/Famicom game Super Mario Bros 3., Motoyama covered different mainline games and spinoffs, including Super Mario Land, Super Mario World, Donkey Kong, and Super Mario 64. His final Super Mario manga was based on the Nintendo 64 game Yoshi's Story in 1998. He did not work on Yukio Sawada's Super Mario Bros. Manga Mania/Super Mario-kun manga.

He launched an unofficial spinoff Kinoppe-chan Forever with a character he created named Kinoppe, a female Toad based on the mushroom characters from Super Mario Bros.. His other works include Dokkiri! Angel and Kirara QQQ.

He is survived by his sister Risa, who created the Start With a Happy Ending manga in 2010.

Source: Risa Motoyama's Instagram page